Vertimus

I thought it would sound good on OB too. It was a mistake for anyone to expect that it would be a fully-developed song, especially after hearing the instrumentals over the last several months. 'Hollywood Bowl' might be a 'full song,' but I would think that a 'full song' would detract from the album as a whole. The more I hear 'LAS,' the more I like it. And it's not as if Lana tried to hard-peddle it as anything major or life-changing.

It's dreamy and pretty, very much what I expected it would be. I didn't have high expectations. I like it. Ultimately, it doesn't add much to her catalog, but perhaps the second song will.

'Lost At Sea' is out now on iTunes.

Exactly. I'm a huge BB fan except for the title track, and I've not been offended by all those who discount, dislike, or hate it, or the member here who continues to mock me for loving 'VFR.'

Look, GeminiLanaFan answered someone's question about NFR!, and, in good faith, stated the generally-accepted opinion of the album and its theme, and I challenged that on a factual level, because I think it's incorrect, and that many people have just repeated the same thing over and over and over without thinking or checking to see whether it was actually accurate. Just like the ''Blue' is Joni Mitchell's best album" phenomenon that was, as I understand it, essentially started by Brandi Carlisle about a decade ago. The psychological phenomenon of "jumping on the bandwagon" is a century old, it's a real thing that we can and do observe daily, such as 'trendiness' in matters of dress, politics, or the color you paint your kitchen, so why do you think it doesn't happen here sometimes? Of course it does. I've pointed out numerous times how much 'sociology' one can observe in boards and chatrooms, just as you can in parks, beaches, at the airport, or bus depots Why it's so terribly offensive to point that out, I don't know. We are all subject to human nature, obviously. That's all. I never said I don't want people to love or cherish NFR!. Obviously, a great many people do. But I think most of the claims made for it are inaccurate as presented.

Terms like 'hive mind' and 'group think' have existed for 7 or 8 decades--'hive mind' since the early 50s and 'group think' since 1971--and and don't belong to anyone or any one group in particular, and shouldn't be co-opted. They certainly were not used against LGBTQIA+ persons in those eras. Thanks for informing me that these terms are seen by LGBTQIA+ people as 'dog whistles,' because, while gay, I do not generally conform to LGBTQIA+ politics and am not 'hardline,' and so have never heard them used in that capacity. Here in NYC, they're used all the time in a variety of capacities, especially at the workplace. Had I known, I would not have used those specific terms, but the idea/ideas behind them are still absolutely valid and accurate. Exactly. It's been as if you don't follow the NFR! drumbeat, you must be silenced and crushed.

How is anything I said "dog whistling conservative talking points in a LGBTQ safe space"? I'm gay myself, on the bi-side. I've stressed free speech here multiple times, all interpretations are acceptable. I'm debating points stated. And as far as I can tell, every LDR album is 'accused' of being over-rated and then defended vigorously by its admirers.

It's ranking by an objective standard among her albums for Stans has gotten way, way out of control, and yes, I remember that era you speak of. I was there, here, in fact, on LB. It wasn't that long ago. I am glad so many people the world over enjoy NFR! it, which they obviously do.

I accept that may be the concept, but for me, if that is the concept, then it fails in its goal almost completely. What does 'Love Song' have to do with that? Or 'How To Disappear'? On the previous album, LFL , despite a few silly tracks, we had direct political commentary in 'WTWWAWWKOD' and subtler social, or social-political, commentary on 'Change,' 'God Bless AMERICA,' 'Heroin' and 'Get Free,' and references to many aspects of American life, past and present, on '13 Beaches,' 'Love,' 'White Mustang,' 'Summer Bummer,' 'Heroin,' and 'Tomorrow Never Came.' What happened with NFR! is that some influential internet critic said, "The entire album is a kind of metaphor for an America in decline," which she or he did not say, as it happens, about LFL, and that sounded really astute to a lot of people, who all began repeating it everywhere, until it became the general consensus whether it actually reflected the individual's own impressions of the album or not. In this age of the internet, we see this happening again and again, this bandwagon-jumping, like "'Blue' is Joni Mitchell's masterpiece." People who don't know the first thing about Mitchell's 70s work will repeat that--and do repeat it---because it makes them feel in-the-know and part of a movement, however small in the scheme of things. And then, having repeated it a few times, they actually buy a copy and listen to it for the first time, and never bother with any of her other brilliant 70s work, besides which 'Blue' pales. It's fine to see it as the album of a "woman with a weak constitution," but she also had a weak constitution on '13 Beaches,' 'White Mustang,' 'The Blackest Day,' 'God Knows I Tried,' 'Swan Song,' 'Pretty When You Cry,' 'Ride,' and several from 'BTD.' Don't underestimate the power of 'group think' or 'the hive mind.' We see this every day in our own lives, like, someone asks you where you would like to go for dinner with the rest of the group, and you are the kind of person that immediately says, "Well, where does everyone else want to go? What are others thinking?" It's just a very extroverted way of thinking, there's nothing wrong with it.

But none of that is any different than what she did on all her earlier albums.

There is no problem. Just perceptions and opinions.

You're projecting.

Firstly, I didn't call "mac, vb, hope, and the greatest" mediocre; I said they were the exceptions to the mediocre songs. Secondly, I was an English major and am a published author, so I think I do know what a theme, metaphor, or trope is. Thirdly, I was born in the OC in Laguna Beach and know a great deal about California/West Coast culture, especially So Cal.

I know that's the general, wide opinion of NFR and its 'vision,' but I don't see it. There's a couple very mediocre tracks, the awful 'Next Best American Record' redo, and 'The Greatest,' 'VB,' 'Hope' and 'MAC,' with 'Doin' Time' thrown in at the last minute, and so not really a part of the album's "vision." 'Hope,' 'VB,' 'MAC,' and 'The Greatest' are all narrated from Lana's POV, so I don't see how she stepped outside of her "realm" or subjective world, or added commentary about loneliness or the decay of the" American Dream." 'Bartender,' 'Love Song,' and 'California' also told from her POV. Where is there a reference to the decay of the "American Dream"? 'The Greatest' is about the end of the entire world, not just America, and it's due to meteors striking the Earth while at least some people have been relocated to Mars. There's nothing in the song about the decay of America. And she's written about the end of the world before, as in 'Last Girl on Earth.' 'Hope' is very personal, it's about her own madness or mental ill health, how is that a commentary on present-day society? Because some of the standards of 1950s America were constraining for women? But those particular constraints on women were destroyed by the cultural revolution of the 1960s. I find all of 'NFR' to be mediocre with the exception of 3 or 4 songs. The mawkish ending of 'How to Disappear' is embarrassing for a songwriter of Lana's stature, and she completely ruined 'Happiness is a Butterfly.'

'VFR' is one of my all-time favorite LDR songs, along with 'Ride,' 'Old Money,' 'Yosemite,' and 'If You Lie Down With Me.' I never, ever tire of it. As you said, it's beautiful and the COVID lyrics make it of its time. And the melody is simple but subtle and magical. Full agree about the "aaah aah haas" which drive the song home and are actually its climax. Enjoy it. BB remains my most-played LDR album.