Vertimus

So is The Trio LDR and her two siblings? Someone has probably suggested this.

Why do you think so? Do you mean commercially or critically, or both?

Due to the 'supply chain shortages' of many routine items we keep hearing about in the news, with the cost per load of cargo from cargo ships from China rising from $3,000 to $18,000 overnight, anything is possible with the physicals, even if the physicals are coming from elsewhere, or even here in America. There seems to be gridlock and lack of supply somehow at the same time, or that is what is being reported. Only God knows what the truth is.

BAM it leaks, I say. Then word gets out, like 'wildfire.' Anything else comes afterward. In my experience, LB users have nothing to do with it; it comes from elsewhere, somewhere in the wide world, no one claims responsibility.

Hilarious.

C'mon--they're in the music business; they're legends of the post-50s music business. You think they know less about everything related to it than we do? Just because they're artists in their own right doesn't mean that they don't Stan other artists of all kinds. To come forward with the kind of public praise for Lana that they have, I'd say they follow her pretty closely. And we know Courtney Love, a legend from a more contemporary era, is a huge fan.

Yes, but IMO, the more recent attempts at humor and levity, like 'Groupie Love,' and, to a lesser degree, 'HIAB,' failed. Back in the early LDR era, when 'Hollywood's Dead,' 'Making Out,' 'Radio,' 'National Athem,' and 'Meet Me In The Pale Moonlight' were written, she apparently didn't focus predominantly on composing 'deep' songs like 'Hope,' 'Text Book,' and 'WFWF,' and those earlier songs, sonically, had such verve; they were so clever, like pastiches of contemporary pop songs rather than sincere attempts at pop songs. I'd like her to feel secure enough in her artistry and self to compose and release some more relaxed, buoyant songs if she so choses; 'Arcadia' is actually a move in that direction, like the 'COCC' title song, it encompasses both light [or 'lite'] and serious themes brilliantly, and, musically, has a light touch.

I agree. Culturally, it's like, 'WHAT new Lana Del Rey album?" That's what I meant a week or so ago...she's turned her back on the press and by now they've turned their back on her. She caved somewhat to PCism on NFR!, and she was praised to the heavens for that album, and that, from the critics' point of view, was her commercial/critical peak, so now, as Joni Mitchell once sang about herself, the critics "get out the boards and the nails" and wall you off and wall you out. It's like many actors who win the Oscar for Best Actor; Hollywood turns its back on you after that. You've reached the peak of your career in their eyes, even if you're only 25, and you're largely finished. She's free, of course, to make whatever decisions she wants to, but I think releasing an album with 4 or so previously-leaked [great] tracks only furthers that impression. Because any dieheard Lana Stan, even people like Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Nicks and Joan Baez, have probably all heard the leaked tracks dozens or hundreds of times. And critics as well.

I loved the tongue-in-cheek humor, bounce and levity some of her songs had in that era. She didn't take everything she wrote, or herself, so deadly seriously. That's one of the reasons I wasn't greatly overwhelmed by UV.

The BB songs co-written with Barrie will put some money in his pocket, badly needed, I suspect.

And it’s great.

A-men.

I intuit--and I may be wrong--that LDR's major period as a public figure, chased and sought after by the media, is over, whether it's for interviews, magazine covers and articles or public appearances. She's not exactly encouraging them. This may be exactly the way she wants it.

Barrie is a brilliant vocalist in my opinion---his work with Kassidy was amazing--but his solo career, thus far, has been a creative nightmare (no pun intended). He's literally dropped off the world stage. So I hope he's actually put some work into this record, as his last album sounded like it was recorded in a bathroom with a handheld tape recorder from the early 70s. Is this 'Riverside' the same version we already have, leaked 5-6 years ago that was 3:46 minutes? It's somewhat hard to believe LDR would record a new version with him. It's a beautiful song except for the line, "I'm up a creek and you're my paddle,' which is "cringey."

Were 'you there,' 6 years back or so, were you Stanning Lana at that point? I was. FMWUTTT came out right after their feud, such as it was, and Lana did say, to paraphrase, 'Lorde criticized her for her lyrics about the Hamptons and the lifestyle Lana was projecting, and then Lorde stole her sound.' I think the FMWUTTT are pretty clear--"'I'm a dragon, you're a whore | Don't even know what you're good for | Mimicking me is a fucking bore." And then Lana changed her sound completely, from BTD/P to UV. We know that a lot of songs more like those on BTD/P, like 'I Talk to Jesus' and 'Living Legend' were dropped from UV, and the album was given a tougher edge. The Lorde thing went on for a long time, in different ways, like bad karma for Lana, including David Bowie saying Lorde's "sound was the future' before he died, and we know Lana admires Bowie--she had just quoted him on 'Terrence Loves You'---and Sam Smith, on SNL of all places, bringing on Lorde as a guest musician when he was the musical act that night--Sam Smith, whose Bond song won out of Lana's.

Isn't 'Fucked My Way Up To The Top' partially about Lorde and Lorde copying Lana? They did have a brief public feud about the time so many things started to go wrong for Lana, like the SNL appearance. This current 'feud' and article are probably fake, and are merely feeding off the past and trying to present it as contemporary.

Hilarious. Yes, Stans wanted an 'unreleased' album, but I think most wanted the unreleased but leaked material on a separate, stand-alone album, not mixed in with new material. Now that she's doing this, she may continue this practice going forward, with 'Serene Queen,' 'JFK,' 'Hollywood,' 'Valley of the Dolls,' 'Angels Forever,' etc. Personally, I would expect critics to take notice and at least mention this, if not drag her for it. I may not like her choices on occasion, but I stand by her total right to make whatever artistic choices she sees fit. It's lyrically very clever too. I miss the sometimes-humorous LDR of that era.

I agree with you, it is on us. But somehow I feel LDR's major creative/commercial era is over (and of course I may be wrong). The lazy COCC cover, the lack of promotion she did for that album, the horrendous NFR! release, the 'American Classics' album that wasn't released last Christmas Day, that last rambling telephone interview she did with Annie Mac, the 'question to the community'...it all seems kind of sad to me. What happened to the dynamic quality she used to embody, the verve, the sense that she was above the fray, at least to all appearances?

It may be true, or not. But we do know that she scrapped an earlier version of the album which presumably contained a lot of new material, which we may see later on another project. To me, BB the album still seems like a compromise, something lukewarm, neither hot nor cold. But we'll have to wait and see. I personally wish BB, TB and WFWF were also not on the album. When it is released, like NFR!, we'll have heard at least half of it.