Vertimus

I like IYLDWM and VFR the best--they're the really standout tracks to me. They're not too light and they're not too heavy. VFR still seems to me to be 'American''s big sister.

I can’t listen to the title track either, especially the first third. I have the ‘skip when shuffling’ box checked in iTunes.

I think Lana may one day return to her original trip hop sound for a few songs or even a whole album, like Madonna has, because that's part of being free and doing what you feel like too. 'Meet Me in the Pale Moonlight' and 'Making Out' are, to me, classics of their kind. That they're just superficial pop songs makes no difference to me. The problem with a lot of BTD, as I see it, was not that the production was off (though we know Lana said she didn't like some of it), but that some of the songs were very weak, almost filler. I'm sure she could do a few songs or an album utilizing a contemporary, 2022-2023 version of that sound. I think there are touches of the BTD sound on 'Black Bathing Suit,' and 'Wild At Heart' from COCC sounded very like a BTD track to me.

I agree, but some of us might be 13, you never know.

One reason I love VFR so much is that it reminds me a lot of 'American,' one of my favorite 'simple, lighter' LDR songs. With the COCC title track, 'Arcadia,' 'Beautiful' and SC, as much as I like LDR's sad and/or dramatic songs, I'm glad to see her in this more reflective, forward-moving mindset. For me, VFR competes with IYLDWM as my favorite from the album. Those horns!

Plus, we know that NOTG was very likely written before 'Not All Who Wander Are Lost,' so she was lost, but has now come to an understanding about herself and her current path; "not all who wander are lost."

We know she reuses words and phrases a great deal--I hope, for example, that she never writes another song with 'beautiful' or 'beauty' in the title. A lot of people thought what is now called 'Nectar of the Gods' was 'Wild One' due to the similarity of the lyrics. 'Black,' 'blue' everything, 'pools' or 'by the pool,' 'wild,' 'fuck'in crazy,' guns, drugs, older men/daddy, flowers of all kinds, the beach and the ocean----these are words, symbols, phrases and ideas Lana loves. We haven't seen the 'Queens of Saigon' in a while.

Not only no line about being "a candle in the wind,' but no other classic rock references whatsoever, as far as I can tell. I have no problem with such references if they're genuinely clever, or especially meaningful, but on the last couple of albums they've become way too obvious, and it cheapens the whole concept.

From me, it's not hate, I just don't think he was the producer for her, even though he did produce many great tracks, like 'The Greatest,' 'Venice Bitch,' 'White Dress,' and the COCC title track.

That's what I just said, more or less. I agree.

Thoughts: My favorites, equally, are IYLDWM and VFR, easily. Both are so subtly melodic, and their 'hooks' are incredible. Personally, I liked the original version of 'Thunder' a lot better, though in time, I may come to like it as much as the first version. BB is one of her best albums, as most here seem to agree. The horns on IYLDWM are my favorite part of the entire project. Brilliant. I loved COCC, but it was, overall, a little passive. It didn't have a song with an 'edge,' like IYLDWM, though it had (at least) three LDR classics: COCC, 'White Dress' and 'Yosemite.' However, I think VFR, 'Thunder,' and 'Cherry Blossom' would fit perfectly on COCC. I would like to have seen COCC and BB released as a double album, that is, one album title for both. I think BB proves that she doesn't need Jack Antonoff; I would have liked to have seen what the BB producers would have done with the COCC material. I've only read one review, and it was largely political, not musical, in nature, and seemed to want to misread LDR's lyrics, and to cast her as a masochist. What's new? I expect more of this. The critics just don't get LDR and don't want to. BB has some of her most 'human' and vulnerable lyrics, and it's funny how we all understand and relate to her lyrics and songs, but the critics don't at all--I can't imagine what their romantic and inner lives are like. Lana, great job. Right now, BB is at the top of my list as her best album, even though I don't find the title track very compelling. It's my least favorite. Enjoy, friends.

People are much, much nicer here than they used to be, believe me.

As did I. I'm in the Northeast and it was beautiful, cool and windy day here yesterday, and I listened to BB all day outdoors, even though I still don't have 'Beautiful' or 'Thunder.'

Me neither.

And she's said she wants to have children...if she has one or more biologically, and she has her first child, say, next year, she'll be 57 when the child graduates high school. Nothing wrong with that. But, there is such a thing as life and living, and she's been singing about that a lot lately, from 'Venice Bitch' to the COCC title track to songs on BB.

‘I Talk to Jesus’ is a magnificent song, and my appreciation has nothing to do with Christianity. I would like it just as much if she swapped Jesus for Vishnu.

Me too.

My favorite of the new songs. There are definitely great similarities to COCC. Both together would have made one terrific double album.

VF

That’s my favorite soundtrack; it’s certainly better than the movie, which I like. I didn’t think of the piece in relation to that scene towards the climax.

Violets for Roses. It’s very catchy after a few listens.