Palace

Following the release of the essential odds-and-ends compilation Lost Blues and Other Songs, there remained a number of singles, B-sides and stray tracks from the extensive Palace/Will Oldham catalog still uncollected on CD. The 2000 release of Guarapero/Lost Blues 2 proved an official solution to the problem, albeit two years late for the bootleggers behind Gesundheit and Other Songs, an 18-track collection assembled from the 13 out-of-print singles and compilations that Lost Blues neglected. For the vast majority of fans, Guarapero will fit the bill nicely, but for diehards Gesundheit is worth tracking down for the inclusion of five scarce tracks still otherwise unavailable on an authorized Palace collection. Most notable among them: the original studio version of "For the Mekons, Et Al," an early entry included on the Hey Drag City compilation, the original seven-inch rendition of the morbid "Trudy Dies" and "Don't I Look Good Today," from the impossible-to-find Louisville Sluggers comp. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide