a fffffffflasssssssssssssssssssh in the poll
― a permanent mental health break (difficult listening hour), Thursday, 7 February 2013 00:07 (eleven years ago) link
When they opened for U2 in 2001 they already sounded wan, but then they took off when Larry Mullen, Jr. took over on drums for "Only Happy When It Rains."
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 7 February 2013 00:28 (eleven years ago) link
the EMPTINESSthe CRAZINESSsatisfy this LONELINESS
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 7 February 2013 12:07 AM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
This is a great song btw.
Was thinking more about the discussion upthread re Shirley on the debut vs the sequel.
I think Alf is right that Shirley owns the material on the second album more but I don't think this is always a force for good - like, you see more of her personality but that personality is often pretty shallow or perhaps rather (what's worse for some reason, although it shouldn't be) callow - thinking of stuff like "on a cruise to freak you out" in "When I Grow Up", or the "Somebody Told Me"-style random-one-liners-strung-together of "I Think I'm Paranoid" or basically all of "Medication" (least successful song here?).
Courtney adopted a pretty similar persona on Celebrity Skin but it works much better as a persona; even when she's dealing with very familiar-to-the-point-of-hackneyed tropes, she comes across as if she's lived them.
Whereas ironically Shirley comes across best on the second album when she's embodying a kind of impersonal rush ("Temptation Waits", "Hammering In My Head", "Push It", arguably "Sleep Together" but see below) or desirous siren/observer/narrator/temptress who gazes but remains first and foremost the object of the gaze(the chorus of "The Trick Is To Keep Breathing", all of "You Look So Fine", again arguably "Sleep Together" - hence this may be the secret key song to unlocking the second album's charms).
All of which feels like a continuation and enhancement of the kind of bewitching blankness she offered on the first album - effectively, she's best at selling stuff that isn't necessarily (i.e. doesn't need to be) by or about her.
― Tim F, Thursday, 7 February 2013 00:32 (eleven years ago) link
but then there's the middle eight in "Medication" -- "And still you call me co-dependent" with the synth accents acting as quotation marks around the last word.
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 7 February 2013 00:33 (eleven years ago) link
btw her shallowness was so obvious that even I -- who voted this my favorite album of 1998 and still think it is -- knew they were done after this record.
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 7 February 2013 00:34 (eleven years ago) link
That's one of the most irritating lines in the song though!
Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if she hadn't previously sung "please don't call me self-defending / you know it cuts me to the bone".
― Tim F, Thursday, 7 February 2013 00:39 (eleven years ago) link
like, you see more of her personality but that personality is often pretty shallow or perhaps rather (what's worse for some reason, although it shouldn't be) callow
and this is the entire problem with the third record
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Thursday, 7 February 2013 01:42 (eleven years ago) link
incidentally i listened to the first one the other day and i think i prefer this one now, almost willing to argue that the songs are stronger on this one but maybe i just find the hooks more commanding and machine-perfected
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Thursday, 7 February 2013 01:44 (eleven years ago) link
like "hammering in my head" is kind of a driving mess but the chorus is so gorgeous, sucks all the air out of the room, lands these exact syllables
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Thursday, 7 February 2013 01:47 (eleven years ago) link
I can never remember which part of "hammering in my head" is actually the chorus without listening to it - and that's a compliment not a criticism.
My favourite bit of the song is "YOU SHOULD BE SLEEPING ALONE / TELL ME WHAT YOU'RE DREAMING OF"
― Tim F, Thursday, 7 February 2013 01:51 (eleven years ago) link
hammering in my head is above choruses
― a permanent mental health break (difficult listening hour), Thursday, 7 February 2013 01:53 (eleven years ago) link
"Temptation Waits" and "Medication" leave me cold but no track falls below the ideal conception of late nineties machine-tooled verse-chorus-verse, complete with charismatic singer.
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 7 February 2013 01:54 (eleven years ago) link
let me play lex for a moment: it's impossible to imagine a scenario in which Garbage is better than Version 2.0. It ends with that boring ballad with a Beatles mellotron, and before that it's got classic hits-plus-filler.
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 7 February 2013 02:05 (eleven years ago) link
yeah it's not even remotely close.
― a permanent mental health break (difficult listening hour), Thursday, 7 February 2013 02:08 (eleven years ago) link
supervixen, vow, only happy, stupid girl, done. and then the album of the decade.
on the third one i like "can't cry these tears", "cherry lips", and the Slow Closer v3.0.
― a permanent mental health break (difficult listening hour), Thursday, 7 February 2013 02:10 (eleven years ago) link
like Joan of Arc coming back for MORE
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 7 February 2013 02:12 (eleven years ago) link
i voted for "hammering in my head" but the chorus of "temptation waits" is >>>>>>>>>>>>>> anything
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Thursday, 7 February 2013 02:20 (eleven years ago) link
i did too but it was totally arbitrary really; could have been any one of like five.
― a permanent mental health break (difficult listening hour), Thursday, 7 February 2013 02:23 (eleven years ago) link
i just love that chorus so much. a proper burst upward from the verses, an adrenaline fulfillment, and then that nice melodic shift during the lyric "i'm like an addict coming at you for a little more," like the song twisting away from you slyly
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Thursday, 7 February 2013 02:28 (eleven years ago) link
btw 'don't forget your ventolin'
daaaaaaaaaamn
― 乒乓, Thursday, 7 February 2013 02:28 (eleven years ago) link
that was what put it over for me
― a permanent mental health break (difficult listening hour), Thursday, 7 February 2013 02:29 (eleven years ago) link
and yeah otm on "a little more"
stuff about shirley being way more important on v2 really borne out by "hammering" which if i'm remembering it right wouldn't even actually exist without her; it'd just be a clatter.
― a permanent mental health break (difficult listening hour), Thursday, 7 February 2013 02:30 (eleven years ago) link
or yknow. a lot closer to one.
― a permanent mental health break (difficult listening hour), Thursday, 7 February 2013 02:31 (eleven years ago) link
as a sufferer of childhood asthma that line destroys me
― 乒乓, Thursday, 7 February 2013 02:33 (eleven years ago) link
(xp which doesn't mean anything bad about the rest of them; it is ultracool how the song is designed to just be this whirling mess just barely held together by her gravity. i read an interview or something when i was in high school where they talked about how "hammering" had SOME VERY LARGE NUMBER of tracks, and it was the first time i'd ever read anything about "tracks" but it made perfect sense.)
― a permanent mental health break (difficult listening hour), Thursday, 7 February 2013 02:34 (eleven years ago) link
rhymed w "don't forget i meant to win" no less
― a permanent mental health break (difficult listening hour), Thursday, 7 February 2013 02:36 (eleven years ago) link
Too old to serve as a gateway for me, Version 2.0 no doubt served this purpose. "Hammering in My Head" is Fisher Price Patti Smith, with the primary colors, flashing lights, and cool noises left in. Chrissie Hynde and the Beach Boys we already know.
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 7 February 2013 02:37 (eleven years ago) link
dangling modifier but whatever: I'm listening to "Dumb" (suckin' your THUUUMB).
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 7 February 2013 02:38 (eleven years ago) link
oh absolutely. i discovered it cuz the senior girl i had a crush on said she loved it.
― a permanent mental health break (difficult listening hour), Thursday, 7 February 2013 02:38 (eleven years ago) link
btw the radio mix of "Special" -- it drops one of the guitars and isolates the ah-ah-ahs and foregrounds the rhythm loop -- is another dimension of sexy.
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 7 February 2013 02:40 (eleven years ago) link
(she had purple hair and wore a little bell around her neck. lol.)
― a permanent mental health break (difficult listening hour), Thursday, 7 February 2013 02:42 (eleven years ago) link
on which song is that?
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 7 February 2013 02:42 (eleven years ago) link
all of em
― a permanent mental health break (difficult listening hour), Thursday, 7 February 2013 02:43 (eleven years ago) link
"Hammering In My Head" is the secret (more successful) blueprint for the new The Knife single.
― Tim F, Thursday, 7 February 2013 02:55 (eleven years ago) link
What is the filler on the first album? Is this commonly agreed upon? Without having listened again yet I instinctively feel the answer is "Dog New Tricks" and "Not My Idea".
― Tim F, Thursday, 7 February 2013 02:56 (eleven years ago) link
"As Heaven is Wide," "Fix Me Now," those two you mentioned, "Milk."
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 7 February 2013 03:09 (eleven years ago) link
― Tim F, Wednesday, February 6, 2013 9:55 PM (16 minutes ago) Bookmark
hah was thinking that the breathed vocals in 'push it' put me in the same headspace as some of karin's vocals
― 乒乓, Thursday, 7 February 2013 03:12 (eleven years ago) link
i think i first heard "push it" after catching the video on mtv and the ramping pre-chorus made me absolutely CRAVE it, to the point where i watched mtv for hours on end waiting to see the video again. only did this with a few songs (en vogue's "free your mind" is the other one i remember immediately)
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Thursday, 7 February 2013 03:20 (eleven years ago) link
Voted "when I grow up" but the album is solid start to finish
― Raymond Cummings, Thursday, 7 February 2013 05:16 (eleven years ago) link
Reading this I seriously need to revisit
― Raymond Cummings, Thursday, 7 February 2013 05:24 (eleven years ago) link
the thing i like about "push it" is when she says THIS IS THE NOISE THAT KEEPS ME AWAKE there's a weird whirring noise that until that point has not appeared in the song
― a permanent mental health break (difficult listening hour), Thursday, 7 February 2013 08:16 (eleven years ago) link
it's like that fever ray song w the boomerang but not as on-the-nose
― Tim F, Thursday, 7 February 2013 02:56 (11 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 7 February 2013 03:09 (11 hours ago) Bookmark
http://www.monsterthinking.com/wp-content/uploads/pencil-snap.jpg
― r|t|c, Thursday, 7 February 2013 14:57 (eleven years ago) link
bend me break me any way you need me
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 7 February 2013 14:58 (eleven years ago) link
not really seeing an adequate response to tim's entirely valid "yes but she is not supremely annoying when indulged" point, like pray tell how is 'when i grow up' anything other than dire
then again perhaps i shouldnt be surprised at alf's myopia towards overconceited twaddle
― r|t|c, Thursday, 7 February 2013 15:10 (eleven years ago) link
I don't see her indulged on the second album like she is on the third and fourth, in which she comes off as the worst kind of cipher, but I appreciate the compliments!
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 7 February 2013 15:13 (eleven years ago) link
"not my idea" is the only really cringey misstep on the debut - but even then that's just distance talking, i remember loving it at the time. "milk" and "as heaven is wide" were and continue to be excellent. i concede "fix me now" is not great.
the trouble with the second album is that its uniformity might be a strength to it as an album but also means that the lesser songs, like "when i grow up" and "sleep together", really seem pointless: they're exactly like the great songs but underdone (or overdone)
― lex pretend, Thursday, 7 February 2013 15:14 (eleven years ago) link
also i definitely don't get this whole "second album is all about shirley manson, first album could be anyone" thing at all - maybe she's not as focused on one aspect of her persona on the first but that whole glam/goth/grump thing totally comes through loud & strong
― lex pretend, Thursday, 7 February 2013 15:16 (eleven years ago) link
It’s one of the first 10 albums I bought based on how impressed I was by “push it” when I was 12. It sounded like no other pop song I had heard in my life and it was glorious
Debut album has aged better though.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Sunday, 24 September 2023 06:32 (eight months ago) link
Debut album I was obsessed with. 2.0 I don't like quite as much but I remember getting excited the first day I heard "Push It" drop on radio.
And it's a great album that I played non stop regardless. Mad consistent.
Used to be the album I would put on at bedtime.
― Make the chats AI (Neanderthal), Sunday, 24 September 2023 14:27 (eight months ago) link
Don't think there's a song on here I love as much as "Vow", my fav Garbage tune, but "Special"'s my high water mark, that chorus.
― Make the chats AI (Neanderthal), Sunday, 24 September 2023 14:30 (eight months ago) link
i want a whole album that sounds like that todd terry remix
― ufo, Sunday, 24 September 2023 14:35 (eight months ago) link
"I Think I'm Paranoid" and "Dumb" are here, ready for you to ask'em out.
― hat trick of trashiness (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 24 September 2023 14:37 (eight months ago) link
well i never.i had never noticed the clash sample before.the todd terry remix was on the second cd of absolute.
― mark e, Sunday, 24 September 2023 17:42 (eight months ago) link
i mean fuck. i seriously can't get enough of some of these songs.
― Swen, Tuesday, 27 February 2024 06:36 (three months ago) link
i was so baked listening to i think i'm paranoid in my gf's car at the time and paranoid af tbh
― Swen, Tuesday, 27 February 2024 06:40 (three months ago) link