Vertimus

Who comes up with these categories?

Nor me.

It's terrific--there's a good chance I'll use it rather than the final album art, which usually disappoints me. Will the Christmas | Winter Solstice | Winter Holiday gods bless us with the leaked vintage Lana track on the 25th? A la Fine China?

It's terrific--there's a good chance I'll use it rather than the final album art, which usually disappoints me.

I think Margaret would have worked fine without the Jack vocal and without Lana speaking at the end. She seemed to be aiming for 'cute, something we can all relate to, like a cozy rom -com,' but it doesn't work as is. It's too syrupy and JA's vocals and Lana speaking break it up, and it's a short song to begin with. The melody is nice and I think with better judgement, it would have been a decent Lana song, more in vein of the songs on BB than on OB. As it is, it's like OB's Tomorrow Never Came. She did say at one point that the lyrics on Lasso/TRPWS were lighter and broader in tone, which does suggest songs like Margaret and Sweet. Maybe that's changed with all the other changed and reconceptions. From what we've heard of Henry, it doesn't sound middle-of-the-road or something that would appeal to a wider swath of listeners a la Margaret. But as we know from Happiness Is A Butterfly, snippets can be deceiving.

I see the themes and tropes you've listed on all of her albums, including her family and her relationship to God, except the tunnel image, which failed as a workable symbol for me. The Candy Necklace video also included loose references to the infamous Black Dahlia murder of the 40s but didn't add up to much; she seems to have thought very highly of that song, when I think she's done 'darkness' a lot better, on, for example, Gods & Monsters, Swan Song, Heroin, The Greatest, Hope, Money, Power, Glory , the UV title track, and unreleased masterpieces like Live Or Die. To my ear, OB just repeated a lot of what she'd done before, with A&W having the Ultraviolence Bad Girl vibe, and several songs being repetitive, like Fishtail with Tulsa Jesus Freak and The Grants with Terence Loves You. I'm glad you enjoyed OB as much as you did--and I wish I heard it as you do.

What was the concept of OB?

LFL had scope, variety, depth, and dimension. With Paradise and BB, it's among my favorites of her records. There were a few tracks I didn't care for and still don't, but the enjoyable tracks certainly outshone those. For me, the songs really played off and contrasted with one another, whereas on Honeymoon, the overall vibe was monochromatic. I still see 13 Beaches as one of the pinnacles of her recording career and don't understand the general lack of love for it. To me, it's kind of an ultimate statement of the Lana Del Rey Mood & State of Mind. I've heard people say, 'OB is what Lana was trying to achieve with LFL,' but I think just the opposite. OB was an attempt to create another album as full and varied as LFL. I also wouldn't mind an album trailer of TRPWS like we got with NFR!, though maybe not yet. It would be great to see the track listing so we know whether or not it will include Take Me Home, Country Roads, TPGICM, HBB, or Tough, or if, with Henry, we'll be getting 12 totally new tracks. If plans are still on track for two more singles before the end of the year, they'd better hurry. It seems more likely we'll get one or none, at this point.

I agree with that.

The way you feel about UV is the way I feel about most of the tracks on Paradise. Maybe the recent vocal style is the result of maturity, who knows—she's been singing about children and family, about watching TV and doing the laundry-- she's been mellower on NFR!, COCC, BB, and a lot of OB. She's singing more naturalistically and in a more relaxed manner, which is, to my ears, also less creative.

Well, Heart-Shaped Box is a good example, but I think they are few. Belting is just not her style or an approach she's used or seems a part of her essence as an artist. I'm referring to her vocal range more than I am her style (it was another member who thought I was referring to belting). I saw Linda Ronstadt in concert years ago in an enormous audotorium not known for its acoustics, which she opened with Lose Again, one of her much older songs, and her voice was powerful and crystal clear. It was one of those moments where you could imagine a crsytal goblet shattering just from her voice. Tori Amos has that sort of voice too. That's what I'm underscoring—Lana does not have that kind of voice, her voice and range are more in the Stevie Nicks-Debbie Harry category.

I'm not advocating for Lana to purposefully attempt to write songs that will become classics or songs that will enter the American Songbook. Obviously, that would be folly and a losing formula and has been since the rise of the idea of the popular song. For every Moon River or Shadow of Your Smile there are no doubt thousands of recorded songs that didn't even make a dent in the charts or the culture upon release. I've said here many times that I don't care for the production on most of NFR! and OB. To me, of her last four albums, the new tracks on BB, which JA didn't produce, sound best to my ears.

That may be accurate, but as I see it, it's putting the cart before the horse, trading in the immediate for her legecy. In fifty years, I don't think it's songs like Let Me Love You Like A Woman or Love Song that are going to be remembered, covered by artists of future eras, or become a part of the wider culture. But then almost everything goes into the dustbin of history anyway, so maybe she's right to do what is most comfortable for her. Full agree—or The Right Man Will Stay, presuming she's completely or predominatly romantically interested in men. Person is so clumsy, it sounds like an awkward attempt to get around naming a gender.

I think she was more vocally daring and creative in earlier eras too. Since NFR!, she seems to 'just sing,' and her vocals, to my ear, sound more monotonous and have a centered, plainer quality. I still love her voice, but the vocal approach is not as interesting or as challenging as in eras past. I prefer the Lana that kept more distance between her self (or her 'real self') and the lyrics, vocals, and music. But I'll support whatever she does on principle (knock wood).

The last thing Lana could ever do is 'belt' vocally. I'm not talking about the style of singing but the vocal power and range that allows someone like Aretha Franklin to sing the way she could when she chose to or a song requited it, or a Tina Turner, who could certainly 'belt,' or Linda Ronstadt. Lana is unique in her vision and approach, I agree.