Bitter Sweet Symphony, heavily based on Andrew Oldham's loosely (very very loosely!) based version of the Rolling Stones' The Last Time, sits very awkwardly on an album that otherwise drifts between guitar ballads and psychedelic rock. For me, the song has been played to death, so all I can fairly say is that I'm over it. However, as inspired by Cruel Intentions, if I was ever fleeing the scene of a coldly served revenge in a stolen E-Type convertible, I can't think of a better song for the journey!
Then things abruptly change into pretty much alternating between guitar ballads (Sonnet, The Drugs Don't Work, Lucky Man, One Day, Velvet Morning) and trippy rock (The Rolling People, Catching the Butterfly, Neon Wilderness, Weeping Willow, This Time, Come On). While I haven't ever tried the right drugs to properly appreciate the more psychedelic stuff(!), the simple hooks and beautifully mourning lyrics of the ballads are very moving. It feels like someones' heart and soul has been poured into this artwork.
The use of strings also deserves some praise. Where many pop albums will randomly shove a violin down your ear canal, the use of strings here is restrained and adds a wonderful layer.
Velvet Morning ranks highly amongst my favourite songs ever, thanks to brilliant lyrics, such as:
Time... stands still
As you take... your last pill
Also, the unusual time signature of the verses and the gentle ebb and flow of the songs intensity are great.
Favourite songs
Bitter Sweet Symphony (if I hadn't heard it a million times), Sonnet, The Drugs Don't Work, Catching the Butterfly, Space and Time, Lucky Man, One Day, Velvet MorningWould I buy it again?
Yes. It truly deserves its status as a modern classic.
Epilogue: For some reason I'd given the recording quality a rating of "average". Looking back, the only explanation I can think of is that the lead singer isn't the most melodic of vocalists. But the recording itself is wonderful: detailed and crisp yet also spacious and grand when the situation calls for it. The balance and layering are also superlative. Thank goodness this album somehow escaped the Loudness Wars.
Whilst I understand that the purpose of this blog is (for the most part) a trip into your CD cache and wonder what on earth made you buy this CD, if you want another album to listen to where you delve into the heart and soul of the artist who wrote it, listen to Alice In Chains' Dirt album. I told you in an email that AiC has been on circulation on my phone for a fair while whilst doing work, but that album was the only one that I continuously listen to. I don't actually know much of their other stuff except what features on the MTV Unplugged session. Probably because Dirt is so emotional, although I cannot possibly review it as well as you've reviewed all your albums.
ReplyDeleteBasically Layne Staley wrote about the things that were plaguing him at the time - drugs. He writes many a song about what it's like to be a junkie and the haunting composition by Jerry Cantrell just combines to make what is on its own lyrical beauty something well worth listening to. Put it this way, whenever I'm going through a mood of 'what the fuck', I put this on. It sums up my mood beautifully, it actually speaks for me because I may not be able to deal with my mood due to having to do something else (namely work), so I put this on and it calms me down. I don't know what it is about listening to mood music that helps you, but it does.
To quote Bill Hicks: "See, I think drugs have done some *good* things for us, I really do. And if you don’t believe drugs have done good things for us, do me a Favor: go home tonight and take all your albums, all your tapes, and all your cd’s and burn em’. 'Cause you know what? The musicians who’ve made all that great music that’s enhanced your lives throughout the years...
Rrrrrrrrrrrrreal ------ high on drugs."
I didn't realise that The Verve were more alternative than Bitter Sweet Symphony, although The Drugs Don't Work certainly was a pretty good song. Perhaps I will check them out.
Mmmmm... always good to remind ourselves of the wisdom of Bill Hicks.
DeleteThanks for the tip about Alice in Chains. That's exactly what this blog is for- appreciating forgotten classics and discovering something new. I'll check it out.