Lana Del Rey - Norman Fucking Rockwell (2019)

I liked Bartender a lot. The little stammering vocal tick ... I don't know why she made that choice, but it's a good one.

The final track is strong (its melody seems really familiar, but I can’t place it)

Sounds like you guys should listen to a little band called Tool

― Whiney G. Weingarten, Tuesday, September 3, 2019 3:28 PM (thirty minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink]

i like tool and have seem them in concert!

The final track is strong (its melody seems really familiar, but I can’t place it)

― One more cup of yogurt for the road (morrisp), Tuesday, September 3, 2019 3:59 PM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

"hope is a dangerous thing..." is one of the peaks

Great line from Zoladz (that she seems to be citing but google suggests is original?): "Sometimes you wanna go where everybody on the jukebox is dead."

also word up to tool for #honouringthefire and bringing killing joke through arenas in the u.s. this year s/o to the big homie alex in nyc wish the tour was coming to minneapolis

xpost Wasn't that just a doofy Cheers reference?

"hope is a dangerous thing..." is one of the peaks

― na (NA), Tuesday, September 3, 2019 4:02 PM (eight minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

yeah agreed. the alb is really strong in the beginning and end.

Josh - Probably, but it's a great NFR!-like line to describe NFR.

The final track is strong (its melody seems really familiar, but I can’t place it)

― One more cup of yogurt for the road (morrisp), Tuesday, September 3, 2019 3:59 PM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Not her first song to remind me of this but it reminds me of “wicked game”

I can't quite call it her best because the middle faffs around a bit; the first and last couple tracks are new peaks, though.

I really tried but the middle of this album just ain’t grabbing me. I think I’ll get rid of Lovesong, Cinnamon Girl and How to Disappear from now on.

Love Song is the one that stunted my enthusiasm, but I think the album recovers.

Not her first song to remind me of this but it reminds me of “wicked game”

That's it! Thank u

I think there's also a touch of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBwHlKQot0I

this really lost steam for me starting around “california”

she's def in that lineage of samey, Moody cinematic vibes, Isaak, Mazzy Star, Cowboy Junkies, but she has unique spin on it

she's a better songwriter than all of them

I'm not denying the lineage, though (add: Bryan Ferry). I mentioned Chris Isaak last week on a friend's FB thread.

I didn't really notice, is there much (?) any guitar on most of this?

The songs are so uniformly slow & sleepy. She's a good singer, and it's a well-made album, but I wouldn't listen to it again (it's just not my thing).

― One more cup of yogurt for the road (morrisp), Tuesday, September 3, 2019 4:20 PM (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

this is my stance -- it's an improvement that she's not trolling us anymore, but for the past several albums everything is just so dreary, beige and undramatic, for an artist who supposedly embodies drama. people keep comparing her to cat power but it's a very boring version of cat power who never wrote songs like "cross bones style" or "nude as the news" or "speak for me"

The secret is to not have heard anything else she's ever done.

not really sure where you're going with that but I've listened to cat power since high school including songs that aren't tose

*those

I meant LDR. This album sounds good to me, but I've never listened to any LDR.

Can't really speak to Cat Power.

I also don't hear much mazzy star, for what it's worth -- they either have energy (much of she hangs brightly) or a hypnotic minor-key simplicity (most of among my swan; "fade into you" probably qualifies)

I don't mean she sounds like Mazzy Star or really any of them just that they all have a vibe that they pursue and perfect that I could see why the thing that attracts some to them could be viewed as samey by others

I am enjoying this album a lot but it also makes me feel a bit for for Tori Amos' Scarlet's Walk which tried the "overly long soft rock feels-like-a-concept-album about America" gambit first but got nothing like the critical plaudits.

(not that they ultimately sound that much alike although you can imagine LDR doing pretty great versions of "I Can't See New York" or "Gold Dust")

I really tried but the middle of this album just ain’t grabbing me. I think I’ll get rid of Lovesong, Cinnamon Girl and How to Disappear from now on.

these are all among my faves, lol
I attempted a resequence upthread that might address the pacing issue a bit

i've never really listened to her since she bombed on SNL but i'm really enjoying this, a lot—album does often seem to get overlong for the four songs before 'hope is a dangerous thing', though. (i.e. about 45 minutes in)

everyone who hasn't really listened to her before much at all really should listen to Ultraviolence too

is that the one that sounds like kyuss

i've never really listened to her since she bombed on SNL

I'm finding it difficult to imagine an SNL performance being a factor in anyone's enjoyment (or not) of any artist. Like, of all things... Did that really turn you off to her? Why?

Ultraviolence is great, but there are almost-as-good Ultraviolence-length records hiding in the two that came after

xp i dunno, it's not like i even made a habit of watching snl then—i think i saw the video when someone pointed it out. so i just formed a permanent association between her audience- and critic-driven rep and her awful performance, and wrote her off. lots of stuff to listen to! and i find i don't have much of a taste for keeping up with popular/praised artists anymore.

I like Ultraviolence but this one is so much better

i've never really listened to her since she bombed on SNL

Funny, I mentioned the new album to someone this afternoon and she said the exact same thing.

just one more thing SNL has to answer for

Lorne Fucking Michaels

The piano-driven tunes like NFR reminded me of the piano-driven tunes on Court & Spark - I know Joni has been cited as a reference point. Interesting to compare the opening lines of both records: "god damn, man-child, you f'ed me so good I almost said I love you" and "love came to my door with a sleeping roll and a madman's soul." They go very different musical directions - Joni has drums, jazzy rhythms and orchestration, and Cheech & Chong. But they both have idiosyncratic voices & phrasing and both cover similar themes about LA, freedom, lust, and troublesome men with incisive, emotionally resonant lyrics. NFR! seems like an instant classic to me.

For me the Mazzy Star influence is pretty obvious, esp on Mariners and the title track, although LDR seems more interested in engaging with the times (like Joni) than a hazy classicist like Hope Sandoval.

About the middle part, I can understand why people might not like it since it's not as great, bright and varied as the first tracks of the album but to me that's he darkest and most moving part of the album.
From "Cinnamon" to "Bartender" (+ the final track), it's emotional punch after emotional punch.
"Love Song" and "Happiness" could be cut out, though.
Basically, I like to listen to the first part of the album in the morning/day and the second part in the evening/at night !

About the weird arrangements and drums, I love how frustrating AND satisfying it is that the beats only come in in the very last bars of "Cinnamon Girl".

Basically, I like to listen to the first part of the album in the morning/day and the second part in the evening/at night !

I like this division!

OK, I'm hearing the guitar now, there's just not much of it and it's there as window dressing.

I do not hear much hazy dream pop stuff on this album (which would have been pretty easy to achieve with the press of a button or pedal), but it's definitely sunlit dreamy-ish.

BTW, teenager test? She said it's "pretty" and "not like 'Summer Bummer.'"

Spouse test: "it's ... OK. Too much whispering."

"Happiness" is essential if only for the "Don't be a jerk/don't call me a taxi" bit

eheh, I haven't really focused on the lyrics yet (so the album still has a lot to give to me !).
As for the guitars, there are plenty ! I love all the guitar parts/solos in "Venice Bitch", for instance.
As an old Suede lover, this long instrumental jam part in "VB" reminds me of the long version of "Let's Stay Together"...
And to stay on Britpop references, there's a part in "Love Song" that reminds me of... Oasis' "Wonderwall" ! Maybe that's why I don't like it as much as the rest...

More precisely it's the "Love Song" part :
"It all comes down to make the sound of our love song"

which reminds me of the "Wonderwall" part :
"Would like to say to you but I don't know how"

That's the "Strawberry Fields Forever" part, right? More Lennon.

fuck it i luh yuh