Originally posted in the Online Kitchen Party Chatroom.
As I mentioned in my "Shorthand Comments on TURN," I think this is easily the guys most sophisticated album, and so felt the need to give my comments on it in detail. Hopefully this will serve to kick off some fun lyric analysis threads--my favorite thing!
A couple of words of warning before you begin reading. My musical terminology is rusty, so I may not be able to come up with the word for the musical concept I describe, or some of my musical observations may be a bit off--feel free to correct/educate me on these items as needed. All views expressed are mine, mine, mine, and are not intended to be other than a highly personal reaction to the album from my own perspective, which is by definition different from everyone else's and from those who actually wrote the dang thing! You'll also note that I use the word "album." I am actually talking about the CD, but I'm old enough to remember records, and the word "album," in my mind, is that larger-than-life combination of all the individual tracks that appear upon it.
That's actually one of the things that makes me believe this is a really superior album. It's whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and the parts are pretty d€mn amazing. I'm fascinated by the way different sounds and themes weave their way in and out of the different tracks, creating a kind of narrative across the album as a whole. This is more than party music, here (though it is certainly that, too)...this is some really masterful and complex work. The referentiality between the different tracks lends a coherence to the album that I have not seen heretofore in their work, despite the fact that I adore UP and am quite fond of the self-titled and PLAY.
I'm going to start with the tracks that grab me the least, since I'll probably have less to say on those and what I do have to say will be less substantive. Plus, I'm just the sort that likes to end on an UP note. ;-)
Just how satiric is MARGARITA? I don't know, and it bugs me. The tune's catchy, and I like the fact that it's a departure, that it lends to the overall variety of sounds on the album. And there are definitely some clever little twists in the lyrics. But like the girl it describes, it seems more surface than substance. That's ok--a hundred deep tracks might get annoying. But I also have to take issue with the line "nothing underneath and everyone knows." Are we talking underwear here? Because I seem to recall a certain band being asked what the essentials for a Picnic were, and them replying "Uh, bring condoms. Don't wear underwear." Can we get some equal time on the goose-gander principle here? I'm not saying that I personally venture forth without foundation garments, but if I chose to, I would not appreciate being judged slutty on that account. Moving on...
FERRLAND SEALER: I have raging ambivalence over this track. It has a lot of what I like in traditional material: the rhythm of it matches the task it describes, it uses onomatopoeia, it's strong on local detail, it's in an appropriately haunting key, the music and the words interact and intensify one another, rather than existing independently. But, in all honesty, I almost threw up the first time I heard it. Seriously. It's not the premise that gets me--with a title like "Ferryland Sealer" it's not like you don't know what you're in for, and I do myself eat dead animals on a regular basis--but its graphic quality caught me by surprise. I actually think that the raw physicality of the song is one of its strengths, but it also keeps me from being able to listen to it comfortably. Maybe that's the point--certainly the people described in song are not living a comfortable life--but if the goal is to get me to sing along, it ain't happenin'. I'm fully aware that this is a cultural context issue, but the song does not bridge the gap into MY cultural context well. I might be willing to jump the cultural gorge myself, because I like the rest of the album so well, but I couldln't do so without some misgivings...and vertigo. This one may get filed under the category of, to borrow a phrase from Pearl Jam, "this is not for you" (meaning me).
Still on the cultural issue, I have to say that TROIS NAVIRES De BLÉ doesn't do a whole lot for me, but it may be because I don't speak French. Not a friggin' word, and believe me I curse that fact on a regular basis. Why, oh why, did I take Latin? Anyway, I do own a couple of albums with French language tracks, but my main attraction to those was the fluidity of the language's sound, and that doesn't seem to be the main goal of this track. So I'm wandering lost in my cultural abyss on this one, but I do like the fact that they're stretching themselves, trying some new stuff.
Now, on to the unadulterated praise!! (or at least only mildly qualified praise--so sue me for having an analytical mind). Where to start?
When I first heard CONSEQUENCE FREE, I have to admit that I dismissed it as the mandatory pop track. But I think was too hasty with that judgement. That rhythm is really grabbing hold of me and not letting go. And the prominence of the mandolin is...giggly. It's such a light, floating little presence in an otherwise rock-based song. I also like how Alan seems to be showing a lot of development in his lyrics, and the strong visuality of this track speaks to that. I'll say more on this issue later.
JACK HINKS and OLD BROWN'S DAUGTHER are great choices, really solidly executed. I'm very attracted to the points in the album where Alan's singing crosses the border into speaking, whispering, sighing, and so on. It's like his voice steps out of the frame of the song and comes out to find you. EXCELLENT! I wouldn't mind a little rougher-around-the-edges aesthetic on these, though. I actually liked BROWN better live, and I think it's because the harmonies are more blended (rather than having Alan at the forefront), and because the singing sounded more desperate and wistful when done live. But then, this is coming from someone who actually misses records because I liked that little hiss when the needle would hit the vinyl. MMMM.
As much as I'm really drawn by JACK HINKS and OLD BROWN'S DAUGHTER, I think I like ROVER and CAPTAIN WEDDERBURN even more. I'm very into the aggressive guitar that drives, pushes, and punctuates "Rover, " "Demasduit Dream," and "Can't Stop Falling." It's playful and edgy at the same time, and creates a nice continuity across these otherwise disparate tracks. And I think Séan's voice mimics the punchy accents of the guitar, making an effective interplay between the voice and the music. Plus, "Rover" just rocks. No question.
I think if "Captain Wedderburn" were done wrong, it would be downright creepy. But this rendering is pleasantly sweet and untainted. I also like their choice of versions. The one I encountered before used the refrain, "you'll lie next the wall," and I think the "roll me over" line works so much better. Not only does it lend a reflexivity to the singing--his voice rolls a little when he says "roll." Utterly charming!--but it also keeps the theme of the album going. I love the repeated emphasis on turning/ falling/gravity/circularity that seems to spin itself out within and across the album, and I think this song contributes well to this overall feel. Especially when Séan places that little accent on the world "fall," as if he's daring us to be reminded of similar references in "Consequence Free" ("never worry 'bout the fall") and "Can't Stop Falling." It pulls and bonds the songs together for me, making the album a more unified whole.
Yow, I'm getting tired writing this, and the music just gets better from here! What next?
How about BOSTON TO ST. JOHN'S? I have to give you a little background on myself before I review this one. I am romantically imparied. I swear I have a romantic streak, but it's REALLY dormant. I almost never cry at the movies. Not even "Beaches." I'll never forget the time my first college boyfriend looked at me, all moony-eyed, a month after we'd met and asked me if I knew what day it was. I didn't have a clue what he was talking about! I said: "Uh...Tuesday??" With this background, it should be all the more impressive that I get choked up EVERY TIME I hear this song. I may not have Alex's flood of tears, but I don't have her disposition either, yet this song manages to burrough through the rock and get to the wellspring. Maybe it's the longing quality of Alan's voice. Maybe it's that subtle blending of the traditional seafaring sentiment with the contemporary dilemma, that bending and blending of times past and present. Maybe it's that almost Shakespearian fear-of-the-dawn sentiment (lark speech, anyone?). But whatever it is, it's compelling. Touching. Almost painful. And wonderful. I'm also drawn to the level of detail in the lyrics, a quality that I've missed since "Goin' Up." It's highly visual as well as verbal...I can "see" this bedroom, this guy laying awake agonizing, this woman with her morning hair half across her face...it's a powerful thing. I always craved this kind of detail in ballads like "How Did We Get...," but never quite felt like I got it. Now I have my wish. There's also a lovely echo in the repetition of the "don't tell me that it's morning" lines in the first and last verses. It works well with the flowing and spherical sensations evoked by the album overall.
Anyone who read my review of the last Ark show might recall that there was one song I liked, but couldn't quite make out amidst the technical difficulties. It's DEMASDUIT DREAM, and hearing it on the album is like the experience it describes--remembering the fragment of a dream. This song is really masterful in its synthesis of form and function, of sound and lyric. It is beautifully WHOLE, with the song's rhythm mirroring the "thunder of their walk," shadowing the rapid heartbeats of love and fear. The hard-punctuating guitar makes a stunning contrast with the dreamy "oooh" in the backup vocals. Welcome to music-as-art, folks.
I'd also like to give Mr. Hallet the gender prize for awesome depcitions of women. "Seagulls" was the first GBS song to really grab my brain--I still find that image of the woman with seagulls in her eyes to be incredibly imaginative, simultaneously solid and dreamy--and this song does the same and then some. I think Bob has a real gift as a storyteller, creating a very striking scene and putting the listener in the middle of it. Fine, fine work.
Is there enough praise left in my vocabulary--nay, in the world--for FEEL IT TURN? I wasn't able to read all that was said about this song last week, but I'm certain I would've agreed with it. Again, like Demasduit Dream, this total ability (this time by Séan) to create an atmosphere through the blend of words and music. Those whole-step note ascensions in the chorus--where the music literally takes you up into the heavens with it--are truly impressive. It both recalls and inverts "Something to It" in my mind, where the music's gradual descent matched the sentiment of "looking for a place to land." Zounds! I know others have mentioned possible musical lineages for this one--Spirit of the West (yes, I read your post Jim) and the Beatles--but I hear definite resonances of "Astral Weeks" in here. Some of that is in the instrumentation, but it's also in the feel of the song...that combination of folk and almost jazzlike abstraction, the simultaneous control and musical abandon. Truly ethereal.
CAN'T STOP FALLING is a great dance track. If Alan really wants to do away with the mosh pit, then why does he keep putting all these mandatory slamdance sequences in the middle of his songs? It was there in "Ordinary Day," God love it, and it's here, as surely as it ever was in the chorus of the immortal "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" But aside from being my favorite of the upbeat songs, this song encapuslates a lot of the album's best qualities. Again, the strong visual sense of the writing, the detail of the storytelling. The continued spinning out of the themes of turning and falling, of gravity at work, defied, and gone awry. The use of rhythm and note progression to intensify the meaning of the lyrics, and vice versa. Thematically, I see this one wrapped up in the same package with "Something to It," "Feel it Turn," and "Buying Time," and to see this tightly woven network of songs developing across such starkly varied musical styles really convinces me that this album is not to be taken lightly, except in the sense that it floats free of its confines, of gravity itself.
I had to end with BAD AS I AM because I think it's the perfect track to end the album. The way the repetition in the lyrics creates a circle--only broken by the forceful and gutsy assertion "I'm still here"--and the repetitive crescendo of the drumming throughout reinforcing the circularity of it: Good, good, good. Even the slight after-beat entry of Alan's voice into the "bad as I am" lyric. It all creates a marvelous drive to the song, but a cyclical drive that moves you simultaneously forward and back. It really does take the album full circle, which makes it a thing of beauty that the song ends on the upbeat. Say what you will, I LOVE that touch. I think it comes damn close to perfection on earth.
Whew! I'm exhausted. And I'm still astounded that anyone could critique this album for not being danceable enough. I think it's brilliant, in all the best senses of that word: bright, glowing, refracting, smart. I always knew this band was good, but I didn't know how good until now.
Copyright: Dr T. Do not reproduce without express permission.
