ἀμήν (2014)

There's a 2-part abstraction at play here, one inevitable (sound), and one contrived. Because its form is vibration and its style is haze, it inevitably attacks its corresponding sense and then chooses to grab both head and heart, mush them together, and hurl them back in a sort of bombardment further fucked up by its self-conscious rendering of everything as very stoned and/or distant. If we give it/him/Love the benefit of the doubt, this stylistic vagueness aids in universalising the album's theme. It becomes direct and simple and so visceral- if we're made to feel anything while hearing it, it's our pain and/or happiness being felt and whether McMahon feels the same hardly matters at all. This stylistic death of author turns singer-songwriter autobio bs on its head and actually works if we believe in McMahon (Love's) generosity, but it's so obvious that if it fails in its task and we're made to feel nothing, we're supposed to blame it on the smog and not him or his songs. However stoned/distant/hazy, it's initially difficult to let Love float by unnoticed and this is largely thanks to McMahon's vocalisms. Like the music, it's not the details (words) that matter, but the delivery. And as is the case with the music, the delivery actively obscures the details. The reference point for this method is Astral Weeks, and as with Astral Weeks it's hard not to believe that he's beaten, bruised, and is expressing something genuine. The difference is that on Love, he's gone, vanished, and it's just us, the audience, left. Whether we leave feeling heavier (as we should) again comes down to smog- we could potentially just feel more confused, which without that feeling of heaviness means Love falls short- a formal study in smog and not the emotion at all. I sort of felt it but learned nothing- either it lost me, or I lost it. Unfortunately the intention is there but the work is not. And if that's the point I'm glad to let it go.

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pretty days

YAAAY JUST PICKED UP DELUXE EDTN DBL LP HAVEN'T HEARD YET BUT YAAAY

maybe album of the year (like the last one was)
might listen to it after watching police story 2 and eating toblerone
otherwise it'll have to be at work which is SOO BORING
what's your favourite jackie chan movie?
if you get the deluxe edtn like me you can put the graffiti stickers on yourself so it's kinda like your own special version
it's sorta lopsided even without my clumsy contribution
i really like rush hour 2 and think shaolin wooden men is sort of beautiful
probably write cute description of song content tomorrow at work
and for now:

buy it obvs / try BUT THEN BUY IT

(1974)

Mournful, heavy, and full of life where other folkies might force their sounds to be mournful, lean, and desolate. And that's admirable, I think- it's much easier to be affected by the latter. Maybe side 1's too good. Maybe 2's not good enough. But it's the way Fair Play sounds, it's Who Was That Masked Man's falsetto, and it's the inclusion of Linden Arden Stole the Highlights.

A

here

Violent Femmes - Hallowed Ground (1984)

fuckin hell in only a year gordon gano went and lost it (or found it), doesn't matter which 'cause hallowed ground is dark (and hell is hot) and mysterious, whether the insanity on display is collective or his own- that is whether christfag or schizo his appalachian freak punk gives me the damn creeps. on the best song (never tell) he says fuck elia kazan and convinces the listener not to snitch, on the second (country death song) you think he's too nihilistic to be devout but he'll make you second-guess that on the third (jesus walking on the water). still creeps me out

A

here

The Pogues - Poguetry in Motion (1986)

My family refer to The Pogues as the fucking pogues because they hate the fucking pogues. I love the fucking pogues and bought Poguetry in Motion on vinyl because (among other, better reasons) the corny name, nasty picture, and thin paperiness of the cover emphasize the grotesqueness of the fucking pogues. Everything the fucking pogues are/were about is right here for the price of only four tracks. The poetry, the grotesqueness, the identity of struggle. Also A Rainy Night in Soho.

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here

The Pogues - Rum Sodomy & The Lash (1985)

1. The Sick Bed of Cúchulainn

2. The Old Main Drag

3. Wild Cats of Kilkenny

4. I'm A Man You Don't Meet Every Day

5. A Pair of Brown Eyes

6. Sally MacLennane

7. Dirty Old Town

8. Jesse James

9. Navigator

10. Billy's Bones

11. The Gentleman Soldier

12. The Band Played Waltzing Matilda

2004 release

13. A Pistol For Paddy Garcia

14. London Girl

15. Rainy Night In Soho

16. Body Of An American

17. Planxty Noel Hill

18. The Parting Glass

An un-hip, un-sexy album which sets the listener up for something depressing and grotesque from the cover- Gericault's The Raft of the Medusa rendered with the band members' heads- so what's the struggle? Being Irish in London- One evening as I was lying down by Leicester Square / I was picked up by the coppers and kicked in the balls / Between the metal doors at Vine Street I was beaten and mauled / And they ruined my good looks for the old main drag or And now I'm lying here I've had too much booze / I've been shat on and spat on and raped and abused / I know that I am dying and I wish I could beg / For some money to take me from the old main drag- some songs traditional, some new, whatever's gonna acknowledge the band's Celtic roots and/or struggle

MacGowan's lyrics are perfect and unlike the follow up, they're also audible. Whether it's producer Elvis Costello's insistence he enunciate, you hear the aggression of his punk days, the odd voice breaks of his addiction, and the passion of his roots- it ends up not mattering whether the song is a Pogues rendition or a Pogues original, because songs like Dirty Old Town and The Band Played Waltzing Matilda are so convincingly made theirs

An impossible band to sell because they're so polarizing- if you can stand hearing The Pogues for any longer than 30 seconds you probably already own and love the album. That said, Rum Sodomy & The Lash really only connected with me on Friday after years of wanting to like The Pogues' messy folk punk, so maybe it's worth posting any way

A+

spotify

David Bowie - Hunky Dory (1971)

'Cause why not. Bowie's best and one of the best albums ever. From chambery art pop with surrealist lyrics to punk rock with occult lyrics to Bowie's creepy masterpiece below

Whether it's insanely lyrical or just nonsensical, the inspiration for each bit of nonsense has lyrical and/or conceptual origins/intentions and so works on whatever level you want it to

A+

spotify

Neil Young - Tonight's the Night (1975)

1. Tonight's the Night 4:39

2. Speakin' Out 4:56

3. World on a String 2:27

4. Borrowed Tune 3:26

5. Come On Baby Let's Go Downtown 3:35

6. Mellow My Mind 3:07

7. Roll Another Number (For the Road) 3:02

8. Albuquerque 4:02

9. New Mama 2:11

10. Lookout Joe 3:57

11. Tired Eyes 4:38

12. Tonight's the Night - Part II 4:52

This album secured Neil Young's place as all time greatest singer-songwriter (in my mind) when its brilliance hit me. Less free-form than his similarly bleak On the Beach, Tonight's the Night is a unique blend of conventional country rock with skeletal, disorienting parts, making it strange and unsettling to suit the lyrical despondency.

A+

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