Vertimus

I agree. For me, it is her best by far. It's the only LDR album I can place on 'shuffle' and enjoy all the songs (except one, which I can listen to, but just don't much care for). I love songs like 'Old Money,' '13 Beaches,' and 'The Greatest,' but I find myself really pleased with this album of generally lighter, brighter, more 'positive' songs, which are also dreamy and wistful in a good way. It doesn't seem self-conscious at all. I'm thrilled with the buoyancy of 'Wild At Heart,' it's like the old LDR again, who I miss. I think 'Yosemite,' if there's any justice, will go on to be covered by a lot of artists in the coming years and decades, and 'White Dress' as well. From the first day it was announced, I had a quiet, secure good feeling that COCC would be good--I guess it was intuition. I never worried. I didn't care for at least half of 'NFR!', but I like Jack's production on COCC, and of course Rick's on 'Yosemite.' Has anyone figured out what the two presumably male voices are saying in the background on 'NATWW'?

June 1st is also Marilyn Monroe's birthday--a non sequitur?

It's my least favorite of her records. I only appreciate MAC, VB, TG and Hope, which I only listen to occasionally. CG was, for me, ruined by sloppy production. The rest of the songs, to me, sound like something she could have whipped up in a matter of hours, and are, again, for me, not convincing.

I agree--she's used it well, in my opinion, but three times is enough. To my mind, her 70s classic rock references and allusions have become much too obvious and no longer seem 'smart' or clever, but rather somewhat lazy.

There's no use, in terms of any effective outcome, of LDR "fighting her critics." Not today, in this uncivil period. This is what happens when you turn over the keys to the kingdom to a bunch of spoiled whiners who were never told 'no' or given any discipline as children. So if LDR wants to relieve herself emotionally and know that she has made some sort of counterattack, then 'fighting her critics' will serve that purpose, but no other, except to perhaps create more controversy--and generate more attacks. Her best form of counterattack is to continue to release masterpieces like COCC, which make them grind and gash their teeth in hatred, envy and spleen. Let them ruin their health through hatred and stress. She should also think twice and then three times about what she says and writes on IG and elsewhere. Long rambling, seemingly drunken interviews via phone don't help her either.

I agree. She said herself she wanted to see how close to the pure structure of a song she could get without a lot of production on top of it, a la '13 Beaches.' I think she succeeded very well on all of COCC.

I like 'WTWWAWWKOD' and 'Change,' but what I don't like about 'Change,' which I've said here before, is how she sings, "people are powerful beins,' instead of 'people are powerful beings.' It's a small thing in the scheme of things, but it grates on my sense of diction, so instead of enjoying the song, I find myself waiting to hear that, and so I usually just skip over the song. A little more production would also have helped, to my way of thinking.

Think that's exactly right.

Full agree. There's nothing wrong, per se, with talking about 'self-growth' and 'personal evolution'--hopefully we all attempt that while we're young. But it's the wrong kind of thing to talk about publicly and make some kind of case for when you're a musician--it sounds like ass-kissing and virtue signaling--let the songs do the talking or most of the talking, as Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Springsteen and so many other great artists of the past have done. For me, Tori Amos drove me absolutely out of Stanhood by her continual political ranting in interviews. The same with R.E.M. They both express themselves terrifically in music, and that's what I'm there for, that's all I'm there for. The same with Rayland Baxter, Will Stewart and others. My feeling about 'Yosemite' was that, even though there are definite, recognizable seasons in Yosemite the national park, LDR also recognized something there that was timeless and beyond superficial change. Being around a lot of rocks and mountains can do that to you, they can 'speak' that way. I think she related to that timeless quality beyond superficial change.

Well, don't be if you can help it. I think, via leaks, we already have the entire song, at least as it existed then. It's always possible she has or will rework it into a full song, but with her rate of productivity, I wouldn't bet on it. We do know that, like Tori Amos, she's left some of her very best work on the proverbially cutting room floor, which, to me, defies explanation.

I think she already started this process on COCC---she sings about lying in her swimming pool with her jewels on and racing her little red sports car, and then in 'DBJAG,' she mentions 'making out in the parking lot.' All of which are poison to the 'Woke' or, as someone else brilliantly put it here, 'the fake Woke people' and the Cancel Cultiure branch of the politically correct. I, personally, would love more satirical 'pure pop' songs like 'Making Out' and 'Meet Me In The Pale Moonlight,' which I think she does brilliantly, even as I love 'Old Money' and '13 Beaches' and songs like those. I feel she realizes she's bowed to 'the fake Woke people' and Cancel Culture far enough. Maybe she sees they will lay off her somewhat if she kisses their ass, but I think she now realizes they're a bunch of envious, miserable, no-talent trolls who will never, ever support her wholly and genuinely. They're incapable of that.

Hi Elle. It was in a video snippet about the time of LFL's rollout. After the album's release, I believe. She said something to the effect that she wrote it in an attempt to provide a unifying intro and then an outro for LFL, but then scrapped it as such. She did say it was not a complete song or a song in itself. However, as we know, she could have reworked it. With LFL going through so many stylistic changes, with 'Yosemite' probably being planned as the album closer initially and then suddenly 'Yosemite' being cut and 'Get Free' becoming the album closer and 'Change' being written at the last minute, I can see how a unifying intro and outro might have seemed like an answer, especially when she didn't open LFL with '13 Beaches' as she should have, and then segued into 'Love' and 'LFL' and the others.

But she did say that RBFY was nothing more than an intro to the LFL album and then an outro, which she and Rick decided not to use. So whether there's an actual full RBFY song remains to be seen. She could rework it or add to it, obviously.

But what about the 'American Standards' album that was supposed to be released on Christmas? How do you figure that into her schedule? And is that the second album?

What about the well known, not-quite classic folk song 'Big Rock Candy Mountains,' originally sung by Harry McClintock and covered by the Highwaymen, among others? One evening as the sun went down And the jungle fire was burning Down the track came a hobo hiking And he said, "Boys, I'm not turning" "I'm headed for a land that's far away Besides the crystal fountains So come with me, we'll go and see The Big Rock Candy Mountains" In the Big Rock Candy Mountains There's a land that's fair and bright Where the handouts grow on bushes And you sleep out every night Where the boxcars all are empty And the sun shines every day And the birds and the bees And the cigarette trees The lemonade springs Where the bluebird sings In the Big Rock Candy Mountains In the Big Rock Candy Mountains All the cops have wooden legs And the bulldogs all have rubber teeth And the hens lay soft-boiled eggs The farmers' trees are full of fruit And the barns are full of hay Oh, I'm bound to go Where there ain't no snow Where the rain don't fall The winds don't blow In the Big Rock Candy Mountains In the Big Rock Candy Mountains You never change your socks And the little streams of alcohol Come trickling down the rocks The brakemen have to tip their hats And the railway bulls are blind There's a lake of stew And of whiskey too You can paddle all around it In a big canoe In the Big Rock Candy Mountains In the Big Rock Candy Mountains The jails are made of tin And you can walk right out again As soon as you are in There ain't no short-handled shovels No axes, saws nor picks I'm goin' to stay Where you sleep all day Where they hung the jerk That invented work In the Big Rock Candy Mountains I'll see you all this coming fall In the Big Rock Candy Mountains

Could the title be a ‘clever’ way of saying ‘Rock Candy Suite’?

I hope Powers stays out of it. She's a supreme egoist. She thinks that if Lana and all other women don't think exactly like her in all regards, as if they were nothing but defiant reflections of herself, they deserve a public scolding, as if Powers is God herself. Her review and criticism of NFR!--an album I largely didn't care for--was absurd. Powers' name has gone to her head.

Exactly.

In the long run, albums that are remembered and have influence over the decades are usually those that are genuinely critically acclaimed and remain so; COCC has done so well in that regard that I don't think sales really matter a great deal, and most non-Stans probably don't even know the album exists yet. As we all know, Lana's being openly praised by the likes of Joan Baez and Bruce Springsteen..I think she's a lot more pleased with that than with a great deal of sales.

'Tis a near masterpiece: '13 Beaches,' 'WM,' 'WTWWAWWJKD,' 'Summer Bummer,' 'Heroin'....I personally also like 'BPBP' and 'In My Feelings.'

Did Reckless Daughter chime in yet? I don't see anything.

I think WAH is a throwback to the BTD/P era. If it had been written and released then, the production would no doubt be somewhat different, but the essence would be very similar. I love it--I've always liked her lighter 'fun' songs like 'Radio' as well as the gloomier tracks like 'Old Money,' '13 Beaches' and 'The Greatest.' I've been waiting for WAH for a long time without knowing it.

From what I have seen, most of the reviews are very positive. And there’s a great many of them.

Great video, simple but precise, like the song itself. I love how the 'raspy' vocals of WD and repeated towards the end of the album on 'Yosemite.' That bookends the album and can't have been by accident.

Great review!