Vertimus

Imagine Lana covering Bessie Smith's 'Banana In My Fruit Basket.' Why not? It's a Blues standard, if not an American standard, per se.

If they're standards and/or folk songs, then 'The Good Life' would fit as a song, and, at a stretch, 'Chelsea Hotel,' but CH isn't really an American standard, especially because Leonard Cohen was Canadian. At least my understanding is that she would record other classic American songs from the 1920s through the mid-19609s, when Hollywood's golden age ended. Scarborough Fair has such a long pedigree and is certainly a folk song. I would think what she would include would be more along the lines of 'Ebb Tide,' 'Skylark,' 'So In Love,' 'Love For Sale,' 'I'm A Fool To Want You,' 'Round Midnight,' 'You Go To My Head,' 'The Shadow of Your Smile,' 'Laura,' and songs like that as 'American standards.' Imagine Lana doing a great. or even a good, version of 'Love Is A Many-Splendored Thing.' Folk songs can be anything going back centuries to songs from the 50s-60s folk revival, Pete Seger, Bob Dylan, Odetta, The Brothers Four, Joni Mitchell, etc. So what she will interpret as 'folk songs,' if she's including any at all, is wide open.

Well done!

What do you mean by the tradition?

So, as usual, we just don't know. The only thing we do know for certain is that we'll have Buddy's Rendezvous by June, in one form or another. It will be available to listen to at least, if not purchase. And judging by the things we've been told here lately, the 'American Standards' album is/was just a pipe dream of Lana's and doesn't exist in actuality (that's unverified, of course). We don't know the status of the Nikki Lane collaboration, whether it's in process, has been stalled for the time being, or has been cancelled. We don't know what's happening with Iron Gates the album. We know she has a fairly large collection of produced, album-ready songs that she cut from her two albums with Jack and that she cut from 'Blue Banisters.' Probably enough to make an album, maybe two. It's a truism that "most artists are poor judges of their own work," and, on occasion, that does seem to be the case with Lana regarding the songs placed on albums and those cut. I can understand, from her perspective, how having, say, 40 fully-recorded songs from different recent periods to choose from for a new album could be difficult to shape into something that she feels represents her as she is now. She might feel like she is no longer interested in any of those for the time being, and wants to write completely new songs for LDR9. I don't see LDR9 coming this year. But we can hope.

She mentions God on every album in some way, as she feels the inspiration to do so, and that’s enough for me. I wouldn’t want her to force it. She’s already quite unique in this regard outside of artists and/or groups who choose perimeters like ‘Christian Rock.’

What would have been the reasoning for releasing both a 'Tropico' EP and either a Paradise EP or a Paradise of full album length after BTD? If for some reason Interscope scrubbed the idea of her releasing both within a year or six months of one another (or simultaneously), wouldn't Lana still have been able to release Paradise as a full album? I know, I know. Her brain does work in mysterious ways. I recall after UV's release, she said she wanted to "rerelease UV with different songs," which made no sense to me, and could only lead to confusion. Why not just release the "new songs" as a new album with a different name (like 'Honeymoon')?

That’s when she ruled the world, before “the simple life, I chose this.”

The unreleased songs from that era were, in my opinion, among her best. 'Forever Angels,' for example, is so powerful, confident, sweeping, and majestic--and yet really so simple in terms of the music and arrangement. 'Hollywood' is fantastic too. 'JFK' seems unfinished in the leaked version, but still moving. It's because of songs like those, and 'Bel Air,' 'American, 'Cola,' and 'G&M' that I found UV disappointing, especially with 'Black Beauty' and ''Is This Happiness' not officially a part of the 'regular' release.

And it IS an American standard, even if from the second half of the 20th century. I like the Perry Como version best. Lana could really do a wonderful version.

Plus the beautiful song, ‘The Shadow of Your Smile’ is from The Sandpiper, and I would love to see Lana cover it. By ‘Album cover,’ LFL means the cover album of American standards?

What if they started making the vinyls for LDR9 right after BB dropped? Long-range planning?

I feel she's definitely got at 1 or 2 albums completed that she could drop, and probably 2 more she's working on or polishing. It makes no sense to let them pile up; it's not as if she's at the end of her career.

Oh boy. That's hilarious. What dedicated and needy little Stans we are. Thank you.

Is there any hard or hard-ish news? What's all this about?

I agree about what seems to be a little media teasing from Lana lately---is there a point, a purpose? If so, it can't just be for BR, which I am also fairly excited about. She's sitting on so many projects, it just doesn't make sense to not begin releasing them sooner or later this year, and she's in a good place in right now with the media, the public, and her fan base. The maturity shown on COCC and BB seem to have solidified her public position and finally impressed her critics that she's an adult and an artist, and not some kind of arrogant, anti-feminist hellion. Sadly, I also think that her more natural, relaxed physical appearance has pacified the envy of her critics (as if it were any of their business), though I'm sure these recent changes were certainly not motivated by that on her part.

I'm with you, 100%. I'm not at all excited about a collab with Nicki, and I still don't quite get what Lana herself, alone, means by 'country,' since she said she thought both 'Ride' and 'Wild At Heart' were country-esque or potentially so, perhaps if produced and arranged another way. But country as it exists today is, to me, country pop, and not at all appealing. To me, most of it is junk and has been for three decades. What used to be called 'country' 70 years ago and before, today I call '21st Century Americana,' as practiced by the Cactus Blossoms, early Dylan LeBlanc, the Brothers Comatose, early Secret Sisters, Great Peacock, the Yellow-Bellied Sap Suckers and others. I listen to a lot of '21st Century Americana.' I'm also hoping for LDR9 and the covers album, but she seems to be imbuing the project with Nikki the most right now, at least more so than the covers album. I would also like a bigger sound and something new-ish and unanticipated. I loved the sound of 'Serene Queen' and would like to see her move in that direction. I'd really like to know what the songs cut from BB sounded like.

Personally, I can't imagine Lana utilizing a "new sound" at this point in her career, at least not an entirely new sound. It's possible, of course. I doubt she'll 'go commercial' in terms of sound, like the anemic LFL title track, because she doesn't seem concerned with commercial success, just as some of the artists she admires, like Joan Baez and Joni Mitchell, never cared about it either. She didn't follow up on the 'Doin' Time' sound on COCC, though DT brought her a lot of airplay. I feel that whatever is in her mind, whatever she's feeling in the studio, whatever is resulting from her creativity and being gifted to her by her muse in the moment, that's what LDR9 will sound like, assuming it's 'new' material and not one of the side projects she's presumably got sitting on the shelf. But something calculated? I don't think so.

Serene Queen; If I Die Young; Unidentified Flying Bill; Angels Forever; Hollywood; JFK.

Ride, Old Money, Yosemite, If You Lie Down With Me, Violets For Roses. Unreleased: Serene Queen.

Nicely done!

And song titles like 'Marriner's Apartment Complex.' Yes.

It's very possible she's waiting for 'the right man,' and perhaps she thought Clay was. A lot of woman don't want to actively have a baby with just any man. Of course, I don't know where her mind is on the subject of children right now, but she said, around the LFL era, that she wanted children.

No one can accurately say Lana "doesn't want to work" after 2021, especially with 'WCE' dropping earlier this year, and 'Buddy's Rendezvous' on the way. We know she wants one or more children, and she's getting older, so the time is now. She's a Cancer--family is important. Maybe'll she'll adopt, but I don't see her going that route. Whatever comes next in her life, she'll continue to work, which she clearly loves doing. I remember she once said her muse was "achingly slow," which I've never understood, since she's so prolific. Even if she takes a break from recording, she's got the songs cut from BB, the covers album, the country album with her buddy, and she could also release the 'Unreleased' album. I don't think we have long to wait, and obviously, releasing two full albums in one year worked, more or less.

Just a note to others in case others have the same problem, but perhaps because I had never accessed this thread, it was buried deep in 'Lana Thoughts' and not near the top. Thanks all.