slang

https://www.musicomh.com/reviews/albums/lana-del-rey-norman-fucking-rockwell These guys should impact her score and raise her critic count to 23. I'm really hoping she gets more reviews, as number of reviews is also an indicator of quality of interest (regardless of the score).

Unless the website we first saw was originally hacked in some way, they have now changed "Ray" to "Rey". My guess is Ann discovered "Ray" after it was posted and requested it be corrected. However, while "Ray" was up I was interpreting it as #sorryNotSorry posturizing (maybe on the part of Scott Simon).

LDR should have critiqued the thought-piece by Ann Powers in a better way than just taking it personally. I thought Ann's review was like reading a James-Joyce-esque NFR review. She also made the comparison of LDR to Joni look like a comparison of Raymond Chandler to William Shakespeare (two famous writers I pulled out of my ...), which I guess one can do, but when one does something like that, then *adequately* emphasizing the fact both are good for different reasons seems crucial (I think Ann was actually trying to do just that, just not very well apparently). As to the Kanye point being more interesting to write about, I agree totally. I'm not a critic, but here's an idea. I think there was a highly unflattering Mike Love reference too (he's the Trump supporter right?) at the beginning of the song. This balances out the Kanye diss at the end of the song. It's where she refers to Dennis Wilson, and then immediately follows that up with the Kokomo reference (a Mike Love associated song, and not too well liked in the BB's discography, as I learned from an NFR review). Dennis was married to someone claiming to be Mike's out-of-wedlock daughter shortly before Dennis died in classic rock and roll fashion (i.e. via a series of self-inflicted misadventures). While this is not an explicit reference to Mike, I think there are enough bad vibrations to assume a simple nostalgia reference to the BBs is not what LDR intends in the song. IMO, she's implying these two particular Beach Boys were/are fucked up, just in different ways (i.e., Dennis via RnR culture; Mike via <fill in the blank>). Refs: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/dennis-wilson-the-beach-boy-who-went-overboard-43037/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kokomo_(song)

Got my physical CD, today. The maritime photography seems more New Englandy than West Coasty, imo. I'm guessing Chuck did most of the cover spread. No photography credit via words is given, but the last page of the booklet has Jack in the upper left page, looking like an NFR, and in the lower right page is a picture of Chuck looking like FWN (Nietzche) staring off into the abyss (taken by LDR?). No thank yous (let alone a grandiose thank you page like LFL). NFR! appears to be the working title for award-show consideration, and possibly to make it easier on both the Rockwell estate and LDR's mother when she shows the CD to people. Oh --- the Jack "Are-you-real?" rant at the end of HIADT... exists on my CD, but not on the digital download (auto-rip) I got for it. Wow, she did that. And my final Oh -- my itunes rip of the CD lists the genre of songs as Electronica! If that was intentional (with all the real instruments listed in the credits), ugh her mind! Overall, an excellent album, and I hope to be seeing her at the grammys. I'm not gonna say I like NFR better than her other albums, but it's at least as good (and anyway, AKA will always be my favorite; it's a forbidden-fruit thing, and I can't help that).

The collected Sylvia Plath poems is available for 4 bucks as a kindle book on Amazon. Not that I'm trying to compare LDR to her or anything, but LDR could easily sell her book of poems for $1, as a e pub, and still make money. Or she could just self-publish on the internet as she's been doing. I don't think LDR poems are that bad. They are quite interesting as a roadmap of her mind, so I'm still hoping she does some kind of release.

JFK lowkey uses jinglier bells and nobody ever complained about it. Must be the in-your-face quality of the "bells" on HTD, but I think of these as less Xmasy and more Jazz bells. Anyway HTD is great; it's one of the places where the ethereal/schmaltzy/NewOrleans/dirge style peaks for me.

She and Jack did fine (my reference is an Amazon autorip, from having just bought the CD there). It's going to take me a while to process this album, but I suspect it's going to be as good as her others, in addition to being a "normal" departure from her other albums in not repeating an album style. I'm supposing a Leonard Cohen/Simon&Garfunkel type of album style and (way) more folk than rock was intended, and I think she succeeds quite well. There are lots of innovative flourishes, character-driven vocals, crisp production elements to keep interest and make it not a ponderous pureblood folk album. Given this album, it makes perfect sense that she stans Weyes Blood and Father John Misty. I'd (first-impression-wise) describe the production as ethereal/schmaltzy/NewOrleans/dirge with its horns, strings, and piano, at least at times. I'm not hearing (at least on first listen) some of the flaws in Jack's production people have noted. I like DT being there (as the HBTBesq song that nevertheless fits in, and the video is cute AF). I like the wacky x subdued production on HTD (i.e., she didn't have room for another strict piano ballad, imo). TNBAR did seem re-produced to me (albeit with the same ideas from the demo), and the lyric change reflects a change of meaning for the song that I'll just have to think about. The demo seems quite vindicative; the released is definitely more conciliatory. Either way, I'm just glad it's there (i.e., a quality leak officially made it to her released discography, about 200 more to go). Wondering if the Bar t-t-t tender guy is related to the Quiet Waiter guy (probably not, because I suspect the Quiet Waiter is Jesus, but I'll leave that for another post). No vocal-monologue observed on the last track, which I think is a very fitting closer.

Lou Reed gave a highly complimentary review of Yeezus at thetalkhouse.com.https://www.talkhouse.com/lou-reed-of-the-velvet-underground-talks-kanye-wests-yeezus/ Also LDR likes Kanye's art; she's just disappointed in his political leanings. She called him a "loss to the culture" (I suppose) in anticipation to Kanye using his art to promote Trump, but I don't think Kanye's going to do that, although he might criticize LDR's criticism of him in a future song (I mean what's Rap/HipHop w/o a diss or two among friends). As far as LDR dissing him in a song? I see this as a minor cultural-appropriation of a Rap/HipHop stance, but that's ok, folk music culturally appropriates everything under the sun, basically; that's its style/MO.

Can't stop thinking about Taylor Swift. It's like she just released an album or something. Tool too. And check this out (best of both worlds):

Nothing to see here! Post 666. Just move along!!!

Lyrically, a great song; musically and singing-wise, a bit more average for me (relative to her leaks, not other artists). While people can (and should) take the high road on interpreting decay/death of civilization as a main topic of the song, which clearly bothers her, there seems (imo) quite a lot of personal death anxiety in it as well. Primarily her lyric reference to Dennis Wilson makes me think this. (I found out, from this song and a google, he got really drunk and drowned at Marina Del Rey in California!) . Here's an interesting bio-piece on him. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/dennis-wilson-the-beach-boy-who-went-overboard-43037/ Also the slow panning over the music artists on the juke box. While Bon Iver and the National are alive and current, the next juke-pan has artists that are all dead and/or had careers curtailed by death (Joplin, Wilson, Sublime, Bowie, Buckly, Cohen, Valens, Redding, Springfield). The dead clearly outnumber the living, which I suppose is not surprising. Sure some are just old influences, who died "naturally" at a reasonable age, but a lot were prematurely ended. The titles on some songs are suggestive too. So perhaps a fragility of life thing (and her fear/resignation to it) is a major but stealthy topic of the song, with the Greatest [loss] being her death, actually, and her seeing her profession as a minefield of sorts (see also Hollywood's Dead as an example of that kind of song).

I don't hear them as single bumps but as stacatto pulses, as if from a distant rapid-fire weapon briefly triggered. She also has a history of gun-sound effects in songs (e.g. cocking noises in Love and the more obvious gunshots from GBA...). So I think it's plausibly intentional.

In the parallel universe I'm partial to, she re-released the Lana Del Ray (sic) AKA Lizzy Grant album on Mar 29th. And it didn't dis NFR but just gave it a proper heralding.

Most popular songs (including LDR's) are about some rando significant other that you can't have, has done you wrong, or makes your life complete and/or worth living, so why not hire some rando guy (even if he's Jack Nicholson's grandson) to inhabit the role represented in all those songs on your album cover? I mean it's surprising it hasn't been done before, although the concept is at least common on some cheesy-romance-novel covers. However, with the NFR cover, there may be an important elaboration. He seems to have an smirk and may be coldly staring off into the distance, while she's grabbing him by the waist, and reaching out with a yearning expression, away from him. Could she have fallen for another loser? Turn the record over; he's alone on the back, so maybe she's left him? Feminists take note.

With respect to the Cherry/expletives discussion that was all the rage back in the NFR pre-release thread just a little bit ago, I'd like to come out in favor of her expletive use in that song. My reasons range from "eeww"- types (i.e., she swears really sexily, imo) to more critically-inclined ones (i.e., the production literally drips with reverb and percussion, like a leaky faucet, so why not drip with expletives?). I would also be remiss if I did not mention the deeply feministic message minimalistically conveyed. Bitch is an expletive directed toward her; whereas Fuck is an expletive aimed outward coming from her (to her paramore/critics?), so with this interpretation the song ends optimistically. Btw, in the spirit of a bad-acid flashback, here is an earlier take of mine on the issue of expletives in a different context. Shameless, that I would bring it up, but well .... fuck it. https://lanaboards.com/index.php?/topic/517-kesha/?p=515799

It's my best-case scenario. It also makes it really hard for her to announce a date. Anything other than Aug 23 is "oooh, she's avoiding Taylor" and on the 23rd it's "oooh, she's taking on Taylor". As it is, making no release date comments would allow her to have a "surprise" release the 23rd, while paradoxically having announced the date. As I've heard others say here, it would be a classic case of "ugh ... her mind".

I agree with everything you say here, but in the spirit of "what if", if she intends the 23rd, it might be something like a "metal machine music" statement minus the emphasis on the music (Lou Reed's infamous last record to a label he was leaving). In the spirit of LDR ambiguity, LDR might be distancing herself from the type of artist Taylor is, or distancing herself from the "charts" mentality, or both (and she'd be doing so paradoxically, by drawing attention to herself "competing" with Taylor, in what is basically a futile "battle"). I don't know if not getting a #1 on a chart will actually impact sales for NFR (certainly not more than the music will). I mean there are plenty of #2s that sell quite a lot (e.g. BTD, but also Sam Smith's debut, which was eclipsed by UV, also Tyler's Flower Boy eclipsed by LFL). However, there should be lots of evidence getting a grammy nom/award increases sales (e.g. sales spikes after the event), and Taylor might not be as happy with LDR competing on that front, by being eligible at the same grammys. Anyway, at least LDR is putting pressure on herself to release NFR, whatever, in fact, she ends up doing in the near future.

So August 23rd for NFR is a possibility. Wouldn't that be something.

She's back. Her confidence is up, so I'm happy. She's going in a different direction, which is very admirable compared to her competitors. I see her more Regina Spektor/Leonard Cohen on this one than Fiona Apple. Barry James O'neill should also be close to an album release, and I've always wondered if they were going to (amiably) synch them (though he's not the NFR model, of course).

In Rowling's case, she was actually accused of being "authentic" and not fake. Christian fundamentalists found Rowling supportive of, and/or glamourizing of magic (aka satanism). (BTW, stream Lucifer, lol). Next is more a reaction to your posts responding to @LanaFlowers. The lying issue is not really understood, imo, unless people refer to specific songs (and specific things in songs). Some songs seem more autobiographical than others, and I doubt she says about every song she writes, "hey this is my life". What she may have said rashly (or stoned) during some early interview can be forgotten or discounted, imo. This doesn't mean I have a problem with viewing Brooklyn Baby or Carmen as representing her, but strangely, a song I find even more "authentic" about her is, Last Girl on Earth, which I know is a literal lie, but that's just me (and my feelings) being weird. Or maybe this authenticity thing has to be explained a bit more. I am waiting on pins and needles to see what's going to happen with NFR, just like everybody else. But I don't want to criticize her; I just want her back musically. Authenticity isn't an issue for me, but her being inhibited for some reason is an issue, a depressing one.

In the spirit of conversation: I did skim earlier discussion, but my response was only about Kim's criticism. The evidence suggested to me that if Lana had a reaction to Kim (because she liked Sonic Youth), it would have been "poor Kim". LDR's response to criticism has also evolved over the years (e.g. both SNL performances are on LDR's channel now), and at least some of her poetry contains elements of things she was criticized for in her songs. It's a bit of an enigma why NFR isn't being released, but I doubt it's possible critical reaction to it that bothers or motivates her. Somebody should ask her if her delay is strategic or reflects a lack of confidence, rather than the more usual "bitch, where's the album?".

Well you can have that as a theory but there's no evidence for it. LDR never responded to Kim and Kim substantially walked back her remarks. My recollection was that it was embarrassing for Kim in the sense there were a lot of google hits with LDR and KG (as if they were touring together), but it was just about whether her criticism was justified, and I don't think it was very sympathetic to Kim, despite the fact she was breaking up with her husband (cofounder of Sonic Youth) at the time. There's also no evidence that LDR ever stanned SY, although they are certainly worth checking out.

I see the 3 covers as topically different. The first is obviously humorous and sluttishly nostalgic (I think she's done stuff like this before). The second is very harsh mistress, and, to me, looks a lot like Christina Applegate. I had hoped the "sounds beautiful" in the caption meant an NFR reference was incoming; instead she at least is posed singing in the last photo (?). The third cover I would guess is mystical and she looks a little bit like Sophia Loren (way back when, of course). As for the new poem, I like it relatively more too, as it gets more clearly inside her head (if poems are less excusable as fictional stances than songs are). And it is a bleak head. We all know the path Plath took, yet it is better than the other path (which seems to resurface at the end of the poem). But is Mt. Rushmore fame worth a warm embrace, which seems elusive for LDR? And why can't she get it? I mean does fame preclude such? And if it doesn't, then what hope is there for an ordinary sophont (which makes the poem pretty depressing, imo). I really wish her music sustained her more (as it does her fans). Maybe we'll find out if it can, when she starts touring.

Yeah, the non-responding (and obvious topic deflection) is making me anxious. It could either mean that she is vituperative (oooh good slang-type word), or more disturbingly does not herself know what she's going to do about the album (and therefore she can't actually say anything about it). Obviously just asking her bluntly has failed. Need to be more subtle, so if someone commented: If we hold on to hope We'll have a happy ending (?). If she liked, it's encouraging; if she deleted, it's worse-case scenario; if she ignored it, it's still informative by her not deleting it (a bit optimistic here). I'd do a comment like that myself, but you're it for me social-media wise, so you get the comment. Another tactic is ask her more interesting questions (I don't know if people are doing that or not). I mean a non-response to a "bullying" or "entitled-seeming" question is always non-informative. Will there be a kindle version of her poetry book? Why does it makes sense to use a poetry book to promo an album rather than the more reasonable using the album to promo the poetry book. And if it should be a fear-of-failure sort of issue (I don't know how she would ever divulge that), remind her of the 200 hundred or so very entertaining "failures" in her leaked/unreleased, and how much sadder the universe would be without them. BTW, given I liked NFR, I'd still owe her a buy given my enjoyment of that suppressed/leaked stuff. But that's just me.

Yeah, I mean I agree with you, but the specific issue is whether her singing about being in abusive relationships (and maybe lower economic stratas) is something she has ever experienced significantly and, if not, whether she has said on many occasions that she *has* experienced them (rather than her saying she's role-playing or empathizing). I'm saying that the only time I remember her saying specifically the stuff she depicted happened (in a more mundane and less cinematic way, of course) was the Ride video. I actually think a lot of her songs are autobiographical (e.g., Carmen, Fordham Road), but I also *don't* think every song is *purely* autobiographical. I don't need an "authenticity certificate" on every song. Finally, in order for the "authenticity" discussion to really get somewhere, we need to know what the most triggering songs are.