Vertimus

The Rockefeller song, I think, is very likely the FJM collab, as it sounds like it might have rolled right off his last album.

Full agree about everything, especially the mess that TNBAR became, though I liked the earlier 'Thunder' better.

The new N word!

I hope if this project, or part of this project, is the 'Standards & Classics' album, she steers clear of overplayed, famous-the-world-over songs like 'Country Roads' and other obvious, more contemporary popular songs. I'd much prefer cover much older and more sophisticated songs ---- she could bring a whole new audience to songs like 'Laura,' 'All the Things You Are,' ''Round Midnight,' 'Ebb Tide,' 'Sky Lark,' 'Smoke Rings' and 'So In Love,' as well as a full studio version of 'The Good Life.' As much as I love 'Country Roads,' the thought of 'Country Roads' and Lana Del Rey together gives me a queasy stomach.

How about Chaotic Fucking Lipster? No offense intended. You know you’re one of my favorites, with your dry and laconic sense of humor.

Gravy Potato Salad On Toast Shellfish Over Macaroni Fruit Walnut Halibut Diet Sausage Fajitas

We know she likes long titles in some cases, as clumsy as they can be, as, for me, 'Hope' was. I didn't mind, though, WTWWAWWKOD. If she's reciting into a mic while she daydreams and 'automatic writes,' I could easily see the resulting titles being something like GPSOTSOMFWHDSF. There's a pseudo-precedent for this in Fiona Apple's 'When The Pawn..." album title, which, in whole, was 90 words long.

I also wish for a little more 'traditional professionalism' from her in terms of her rollouts, not the lazy album art like we saw on COCC, especially when good album art is one of the easiest things to achieve if you have a great deal of money at your disposal and an entire world of talented conceptualizers, artists, and photographers to bring it to fruition. Taken as a whole, to me, her LDR album covers are largely disappointing. The Hissing of Summer Lawns is my all-time favorite album, so I agree, but I just can't see Lana, musically, producing that kind of a sound on her own. Lyrically, yes, I think she's more than capable of taking a hard, objective look at life in Los Angeles and distilling it into critical word-pictures.

It would be, IMO, a huge mistake for Lana to cover a song as classic and over-exposed as ACITW, which she has already referenced lyrically too many times in the last several years. I love early EJ, but I can’t see LDR bringing anything new to ACITW or even coming close to matching the original in quality.

Me too.

Anything! Throw us a nut or kernel.

Gemini Lana Fan is a close second, and I love the indescribable tone of Chaotic Lipster’s posts. But Venice Peach is a human legend!

You do a fantastic job, and your good brain, dedication, and service are truly appreciated, I think, by all or most of us!

You are the most royal and loyal member of this board IMO, and you have made this thread so much easier for me to understand now that I am back in the office with much less time to post and read. Thank you.

All of this sort of makes me wish album releases were still done the way they were 30 or 40 years ago, when a one-line piece of news in a music magazine would announce an artist or band was in the studio, and then there'd occasionally be release date floated sometime before the album dropped, and then a few ads of the cover art, and that was it.

Me neither. And I don't even find it especially cohesive. 'California,' 'Love Song,' 'How To Disappear,' the title track, even 'Bartender' and 'FIILY'--these represent Lana taking it very easy in terms of her own songwriting. And Jack is probably responsible for 95% of 'Venice Beach,' though of course Lana 'green-lighted' it. 'Do'in Time' was dragged in at the last minute from another project, and the redo of 'NBAR' is a nightmare. I also agree that nothing that Lana has released so far sounds anything like any of Joni Mitchell's jazz work, from 'Court & Spark' through 'Mingus,' or even its later rare appearances on songs like 'Moon At The Window' or Mitchell's own 'standards' cover album. Jazz is a huge genre with endless sub-genres and sub-sub-genres; you could study it and its history for a lifetime and still not become conversant in it.

I didn’t think BB or, for that matter, COCC, were snoozes—they’re among my favorites of all her albums—but I’m ready for something different. And I think Lana is too. Hopefully, by releasIng the older, already-leaked tracks on BB, she’s gotten that out of her system for good. if she does go some sort of a jazz route, there’s a million contemporary hybrid styles of jazz, so unless it’s the covers album, I do not expect her to do something like 1950s Peggy Lee or Sarah Vaughan. Or for that matter, the way jazz was introduced into folk and rock in the 60s and 70s by Donovan, Pentangle, Joni Mitchell, or Steely Dan. I’m sure it will be something we love, a la BR.

Among her best, says I. Grossly underestimated.

The Rockefeller song could easily be in the style of the Buddy’s Rendezvous song and the entire last FJM album.

Lana for Christmas after all?

An album at Christmas which isn't Christmas-themed is not a bad idea necessarily, in terms of sales, as people may want to give it as a gift or ask for it as one. But, I agree, if it's another low energy release like the last two, it will just get buried. I appreciate her approach to her releases, and respect her right to do as she sees fit, but a really strong, visible rollout would be terrific, suggesting she really matters, is a 'somebody,' even if she doesn't want to be perceived as a celebrity. Despite his strong image as an 'authentic outsider,' Bob Dylan, for example, has never shirked away from heavy public promotion of any of his albums, not in 50 years. So why Lana feels it may be counter-productive is not clear to me.

One of the best and so much better than a lot she has released! THAT is the LDR I love the most.

I know you’re not just addressing me, but what I said was that the initial thief who broke into her car may not have known who’s car they were breaking into when they shattered the windows and took whatever of the car’s contents they did take; it may have been the person who bought the laptop ‘hot’ that was the in-the-know person, or even the second buyer, if there was one. Someone with very little to lose would be more likely to smash a car’s windows, because if caught or photographed doing so, there would be virtually no risk to their livelihood, if they were arrested at all under today’s laws regarding theft. Police in Los Angeles might just let the person go if the thief was determined to be homeless or addicted, or both. It might also be that if LDR has a determined stalker, she or he paid someone with very little to lose to commit the actual theft. It still seems odd to me that a Lana-savvy person ended up with the laptop one way or another but has leaked nothing that any of us are aware of. If they will do anything else with it, time will tell.

That was my theory from the start, especially with 'Lizzie,' 'Elizabeth Grant,' and other possible names found on the devices. Or she/he simply didn't know who Lana Del Rey was, right. The thief's objective was fast money. They may not even have wiped them (or known how), just sold them and the buyer may not know who LDR was either. Whoever ended up with her laptop and planned to actually use it for themselves, it was probably they who wiped it. Lana Del Rey is still not a common name in America, and Lord knows there are dozens of contemporary artists of lesser or no commercial stature whose names we are not familiar either. When I open the main iTunes Store page, I don't recognize 3/4ths of the artists presented.

You are our wise and dedicated thinker.