Vertimus

But ‘Top 3’ is completely subjective. Here on LB NFR! is thought by the majority to be either Lana’s best or in her Top 3, but I don’t think that, and we know for a fact that I am not the only one here who feels that way. Most love UV and HM, but they’re not among my Top 3 Lana albums. Someone could say, “well, that’s just you, you have BAD Taste’’ but we know that’s really not accurate either, though easy to say.

Well said. Tori Amos has written both songs and chapters of books about this topic, especially as regards the music industry, and was doing so 20 years ago when she was approaching 40. The ‘hey, you’re not selling yourself to the public as a ‘sex kitten’ anymore,’ and then having her labels essentially find a reason to drop her contract or their option.

Aging has been sorely misrepresented by so many since the 1960s. Before then and the hippy/flower children, people looked forward to maturing, growing, and evolving and taking their place in society.

I agree. Or sometimes a new style or vision just doesn’t work, or their muse seems to utterly leave them—which of course can happen regardless of gender or gender identity.

Well, Nico wrote and recorded great music right up until her death at 49, and Marianne Faithfull is still recording in her mid-70s. Debbie Harry is still writing, recording, and performing with Blondie, and Linda Ronstadt continued to record right up until she lost her voice due to Parkinsons’ disease. Tori Amos is going strong at almost 60, and Patti Smith is still recording and performing in her 70s. Carly Simon made one of my favorites of all her albums, ‘Into White,’ when she was 64, and despite illness, Joni Mitchell recorded into her 60s—and is threatening to record again! Bob Dylan, admittedly not a woman, is doing some of his best work right now and he’s 81. Leonard Cohen literally recorded right up until his death. And I am not even including R&B and Soul singers. Look at Dolly Parton— still at it at 76. Natalie Merchant: still recording at 59, and did some of her best work, imo, in her 50s.

Sometimes artists get better as they mature, sometimes they remain about the same, but let’s be honest, some artists tank as they age.

Here here! Full agree.

Dark City!

Also, nothing Lana has released sounds ANYTHING like ‘The Hissing of Summer Lawns,’ even though neither LDR or CL said Lana’s released work did.

Lana probably played a little stupid with CL; they may not have known one another well at that time, or who knows what Lana’s specific motivations were for playing stupid about JM in that moment, if it even happened at all.

I’d like to respond but the way it’s been set up is so complicated.

Then Love’s got bad taste because ‘The Hissing of Summer Lawns’ is a brilliant masterpiece, an artist’s artist of a record.

I think this points to the fact that if Lana's music was more widely played, she's have a huge audience among the general population. 'If You Lie Down With Me' is so catchy, but you've got to hear it a few times, and the same with 'Arcadia.' But they're not played over the radio or on other platforms, and so they go nowhere. The general public isn't composed mainly of music fiends like us, and it's true that radio is basically dead compared to the role it played in American life in past decades (just like the movies, as in "physically going to the movies," and seeing films that sometimes defined entire years, decades, or generations). I know here in NYC, when you turn on the radio, no matter how much you flip the dial, all you hear is bad house music, each piece of which seems to go on forever, and bad, generalized trip hop, none of which is ever attributed to an artist the way it would have been in the past. And this has been the case for over a decade. If I didn't know better, I'd think it was a conspiracy.

I'm in the minority, but I don't think the main OB cover is very well done, artistically speaking. For the most part, for me, Lana's album covers, for such a major artist, are almost always a big disappointment. She started out strong for the first couple, and then the creative design went downhill. At least for me.

Yeah, that's what I thought. Thanks. If the artists featured are barely present or utilized, it seems like a boner move.

It's a beautiful, mature, and subtle song, and of its time.

Which begs the question why she and her team added all those names to the cover....was it just to make it look more like something from the 1960s?

I agree. These are song titles, we’re supposed to believe?

What song/track are you talking about?

Thank you. And the funny thing is I just came in from a long winter walk and the last song I listened to before getting back to the house was 'Violets For Roses.' It's stunning and subtle, especially the "hhh...hhhhmmmms" that anchor the song towards the end and drive home everything that came before.

No, it's one of my Top 5 all-time Lana favorites. So glad it's doing well.

My feeling exactly. It feels so rote and without energy. One t-t-t-ender would have been enough. That she repeats it really irks.

Wow, how did I get here? Twilight Zone moment. Thanks for the guidance. Okay, mine: Off to the Races Carmen Lolita Blue Velvet Pretty When You Cry Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood Coachella* Groupie Love Get Free Lust For Life (and the demo was so much better) Norman Fucking Rockwell Happiness Is A Butterfly Bartender The Next Best American Record Breaking Up Slowly Blue Bannisters The Trio Did You Know That There's A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd Of all of these, the two I dislike the most as 'Please Don't Let Me Be Misundertood' and 'Happiness Is A Butterfly.' *Love just barely escapes being on my list

Really? What is it called? Thank you.

‘American Idol’ was on at a friend’s and as we were talking, someone from the audience asked the contestant to sing ‘Summertime Sadness, by Lane Del Rey,’ and I thought the song sounded interesting, so I checked it out the following day, and the rest is history.