Vertimus

Cranekiss is a hater.

Hey, from the start of this thread I’ve said I like every (new) song on BB except the title track, with its embarrassing name-dropping and other lyrical faults.

And there are far, far more where she sounds awful. Even the last live country thing she did in TN or TX, she sounded very weak vocally.

Outside of the studio I said, outside of the studio. I’m pretty certain she recorded ‘Arcadia’ IN the studio. She does have a lovely voice, but she needs the studio, just as Nicks and Harry always have. Since laziness is a fan theme, rightly or wrongly, of the entire BB project, maybe she was also being lazy with her recording of ‘Arcadia’ too, or no one around her had the nerve to speak up, or perhaps they did and she just blew them off.

In response to LittleRedPartyDress: I wouldn’t say that. I think it’s very in keeping with the rest of her catalog, and better than some of her other albums that are generally more highly praised. I still think adding the leaked tracks was a mistake, especially in their original form, and/or using 8th rate copies of them—that’s pretty inexcusable and reflects poorly on her own self-respect for her work as well as her respect for her audience. I remember when the delay was announced and Honeymouns or BOZ wrote that she had scrapped some tracks, and was, instead ‘revisiting her past.’ What happened to the scrapped tracks? Apparently, none were reworked for OB.

One of her best.

I love it too. Seriously.

As to her poor vocals on ‘Arcadia’ and (perhaps) others on BB, she doesn’t have the strongest voice to begin with. This should be apparent to at least her older Stans by now. She’s in the Debbie Harry/Stevie Nicks category, not in the Whitney Houston/Linda Ronstadt/Ann Wilson/Tori Amos category. Outside of the studio, her vocal ability is greatly reduced, as most live footage reveals.

I don’t think an album by any artist has to a narrative, a concept, or overall cohesion. It may purport to have one of all of those, but that’s another issue. I like a handful of songs on each of Lana’s albums and I don’t ask for or expect more than that. If I find more than a few on an album of hers, great.

It's the Donald Trump of Lana albums, for many. Addendum: in fact, I think many members prefer Donald Trump as President to BB in Lana's official catalog.

Sure, thank you. It's my pleasure.

I believe that because, in the stanza above, she's just said "I guess you could call it textbook, I was looking for the father I wanted back," and whom she thought she had finally found in Brentwood (in Sean?). But just as she's currently still haunted by longing for her father or the father archetype, she's also haunted, in 'textbook' style, by her mother, or the mother image and archetype, whom she had to compete with for her father's love and attention. Perhaps she's now seeing her 'mother' again in someone new, someone who is coming between her and the new man in her life--a member here said it could be Sean's daughter, which it could be, if Lana perceived the daughter as doing exactly what she perceived mother had done--come between her and her father in her childhood and youth. It happens. This is all classic Freudian 'family romance.' So in a way, she's blaming all or some her adult life romantic problems on her mother, "on the issue of her," and, as we know, she doesn't have a good relationship with her mother, which she's (also) addressed on WFWF and again on OC.

Yes, very much.

Full agree. Why Lana apparently chose the entire production to come off so 'dim' and muffled is beyond me, especially on the vocals. It makes the whole album feel sleepy and distant. To me it sounds as if she were singing on the other side of the room from the mic during the whole time in the studio. And that goes for the music too. Crisp, clear, direct, it is not. I agree about the AirPods too, even the most current model. And that's why this thread died, IMO. It's not because of the early leaks, it's because the album is not exactly vibrant. To use Chaotic Lipster's phrase, I don't think the replay value is strong the way it is on many other of Lana's albums, that we've literally been listening to years and haven't tired of.

I've always thought her was Lana's mother, who she had to compete with for Rob's attention. It's classic Electra Complex---textbook--stuff.

Thanks. I like that. I live by logic.

Can you characterize @graham4anything a little for me? I don't recall that member.

Are you being serious? I hope not. It's an observation. And I don't recall you ever speaking that way about your reaction to a LDR song, though you may have.

I think we have to acknowledge--there could be an entire thread about this--that apparently something like more than 50% of Lana stans live, right now, on a day-to-day basis at a very emotional level, ready to cry tears of anger, deep sadness, grief, rage, depression, frustration, hopelessness, etc., at almost any moment, as members here often report. Not being of this frame of mind or heart, it really jumps out at me on LBs. The high percentage does surprise me at times. We know most of us tend to relate to Lana on an emotional level as well as an artistic one---if we didn't like her music artistically, we wouldn't care about it or want an emotional relationship to it---and her catalog is generally very satisfying in this way, including leaked tracks like 'If I Die Young.' I, too, would like more "trashy bops." I wouldn't mind if she made an entire album of songs like 'Making Out' and 'Meet Me in the Pale Moonlight,' or the original 'Live or Die,' in fact, I think I'd prefer it to another generally sleepy album like OC. But it doesn't seem that that is what most here want, based on the strong emotional reactions to 'Fingertips' especially, but also 'Candy Necklace,' 'The Grants,' 'A&W,' 'Grandfather' and 'Kintsugi. On the other hand, almost everyone loved 'VB' on NFR! and it's certainly not a overly-emotional track.

I still love BB the album and haven't tired of it in the least, a year and a half or so on, though I tend to skip the leaked tracks, which I've known for years. For me, BB is better than COCC, which I also like and haven't tired of, and much better than NFR! And for me, BB is better than OB too, though I recognize that with OB Lana was trying something different on some of the tracks, 'broke the mold,' and went out on a limb creatively, which I appreciate. But I find myself already bored with it--if the songs come on while I'm shuffling through almost 10,000 songs, I play them, but I don't seek the album to play. And I prefer the clear vocal production on the new BB tracks to the more distant sound on OC.

Right. It's not as if she says, states, or speaks out loud for anyone to hear every decision she makes. We know she changes her mind all the time. Any creative person knows--especially writers of any kind--that it's a fluid process, and there are all kinds of sudden new ideas, inspiration, or whims, alterations, and reversals. I'll say it again: if they had 'Madonna Studies' in some colleges and universities in the 80s, there should be 'LDR Studies' now, because an entire lengthy book could be written about what is known factually about her, what is speculation, and what is completely unknown about her and her recordings--the unknown has to be acknowledged as such, especially when, now, we're suddenly finding out information and getting complete files of songs about which we formerly knew nothing.

Because we Americans foolishly give them power, instead of saying, "try seeing the glass half full," or even "tough shit, that's your problem," or "No one cares." It's one thing for a person to have a genuine grievance based on a rational argument, and another for a person, or, a group, to go around constantly looking for things to find "offensive" or "insulting" because they get attention and some degree of momentary power.

A PULSE.

Another great, passionate song gutted and made bland.

She'll have become a new member of The Grants.