Vertimus

Obviously, I disagree with all of that---I don't see things through a Marxist lens, or a materialistic "You have more, I have less" framework, because that is the way of the world, where everything is literally, naturally unequal, in the sense that nothing is identical except perhaps on a subatomic level (I'll leave that to the physicists). Share with us what you have found to be 'equal' in life outside of a humanistic philosophical position? I don't see any politics in 'Not all Who Wander Are Lost'--as we know, people of all frameworks, backgrounds and types have 'gotten the urge to wander,' like many soon-to-be hippies did in 1960s America, and most were lower middle class at best. People have gotten the 'urge to wander' since the dawn of recorded time, prepared or unprepared, well supplied or, more likely, just taking their chances with fate. Look at Jack Kerouac and the Beats. What is political about 'Yosemite'? The framework of their relationship, which the narrator finds liberating? Where are the politics in 'Dance Till We Die'? Do you envy or begrudge LDR the time she spends dancing in bars and nightclubs on occasion? Hopefully, many of us find the time for such release, whatever that release is. Do you hold it against her, when we know how hard she works, how prolific she is, how much time she spends on her craft? Where are the politics in 'Wild At Heart'? There are slight political angles to 'White Dress,' but it's a coming-of-age story, and a happy one ("and I felt seen"). All coming-of-age stories are hard, by nature. It's one's first testing of one's self in the outer world. She's recalling one of her first jobs as a waitress--don't most of us start out at difficult or unpleasant jobs, where we may be harrassed or bullied as newcomers who are green behind the ears or impressionable? She moves from realizing she can handle the waitress job ("'look how I got this') to succeeding at the 'men's music convention,' where she also 'gets this.' It's a success story. What's political about 'Dark But Just A Game,' a look at music industry, contemporary Los Angeles decadence? LDR worked very hard, for years, and took a lot of flack, to get the multiple homes she owns, the money she's accrued, her jewels, her 'little red sports car' and other aspects of the life she's living. I certainly do not begrudge her for it. Most of the time, 'the people who own the mansion on the hill' have worked hard for decades, made sacrifices of all kinds, tightly disciplined themselves, taken on debt, gambled a little and have luckily managed to succeed. As Camille Paglia says, in life, for every one who succeeds, 100 fail. I would put those odds at closer to 500 to 1. There's no guarantees, as most of us know already.

She should steer clear of politics, and almost everything is political today. That's why I think COCC succeeded: it's apolitical. She may want to get 'revenge,' presumably on her critics, but let's face it, they will counterattack in a huge and endless way. She doesn't even have to address them in any sense to be endlessly attacked and condemned by them.

I feel exactly the same way. It's Spring here in the Northeast, and the magnolias, tulips and cherry blossoms are all blooming, and COCC goes perfectly with the landscape, and the still-cool but warmer air...NFR! is my least-favorite LDR album so COCC is like an antidote to me, and I've regained my faith in her. And now Blue Banisters....

Exactly. I love the 'sad' LDR of 'Old Money,' '13 Beaches,' et al, but I'm very pleased with this more thoughtful, upbeat and confident iteration of LDR. She sounds mature, level-headed, happy, almost content. I think this is the closest to the genuine Elizabeth Grant that we've heard in some years.

No; but I hear "safe" when she says "seen."

Yup. I always rearrange the songs, remove any I don’t like (like ‘Coachella’) and add any songs removed that I really like, such as adding ‘Serene Queen’ to LFL (and eventually ‘Yosemite’ too).

It’s easily my favorite of her albums. Glad you’re enjoying it as much as I am.

Speaking of IG, I know LDR went to Texas to perform, perhaps among other things. Are the new 'cowgirl' IG photos she's posted a sign that RCS is the country album, 'country covers' or perhaps of her own material?

In terms of "she ironically displays some of what she protests about in some ways-Narcissistic values as displayed when she gets irritate with the tiniest amount of critique," that is accurate but also an understatement, purely on a material level. She can't complain or speak out against IG culture NOW, after years and years of producing and releasing hundreds or thousands of photos of herself in a great variety of styles, poses, moods and themes. It's clear she's spent a lot of time being photographed and also that a lot of it was precipitated by her, not by her record company or magazines. It was something she enjoyed (which I have no problem with). And since Hollywood has given up on the concept of 'stars' and glamour, IG is merely filling a void with all the beautiful, mostly young, people making small fortunes off their glamour alone. I also agree she often seems hypersensitive about criticism, which is to her detriment, as she is a star, despite what she says in 'Wild At Heart,' and she's only going to get more of it as long as she stays in the public eye, whether as a 'star,' a famous 'musician,' or whatever. Bob Dylan is an old man and a legend, still producing one album after another, and he still gets criticized, of course. I am often baffled with LDR's practical blunders (like the COCC interview) or misconceptions about reality and the wisdom of doing or saying certain things in this persecutory era, which seem so different from the wisdom she often reveals in her songs.

Agreed. I LOVE IT. There's only one track I don't care for, and I wish she had sung all of 'For Free.' COCC is 'unshocking,' 'quiet,' 'meditative,' "there's no bangers," nothing as grim as 'Hope' and nothing as experimental (at least for LDR) as VB, LDR did not give it a lot of press support, and it seems to show her moving into a more mature phase of her career. And, on the day after its release, she announces RCS coming out in less than three months. So naturally a great deal of Stans and media people took that fact and ran with it instead of focusing on the just-released COCC. Someone above said COCC is "fully realized" and I agree 100% with that.

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