Vertimus

She now looks more like LDR’s cousin or half-sister. I barely recognize her; the change is significant. She may be completely to blame, regardless of who is doing the actual work. For me, she looks so much better with a gaunt face, which shows off her cheekbones, rather than with large round cheeks.

But what about most of UV? Wasn’t it largely produced by others before Dan Auerbach got involved, and then significantly reworked by the two of them together? Also, though I no longer remember the source where I saw it, wasn’t ‘Ride’ a reworking of a much earlier acoustic track, very similar lyrically to the Paradise version?

I really liked the vocal arrangements on MAC, and VB is certainly unprecedented in her oeuvre. I still miss her BTD/P voice and vocals, and the trip hop production.

It’s interesting how everyone has their favorite LDR producers. I personally favor Rick Rubin, who did such a great job on ‘Ride,’ and Emile Haynie. For me, the jury is still out on Jack Antonoff, since we haven’t heard the new release yet.

As far as NFR spelled out being the actual title that will still be used, we’ll know that for certain when it’s posted on the Interscope site. LDR and Interscope may still plan to use the NFR title IF it hasn't been successfully legally challenged; I can’t say: I don’t know the facts, and that’s all that matters. The facts. Just because a law is on the books doesn't mean the government necessarily begins to apply it when they see it violated; with issues like trademark infringement, someone with a legal interest has to come forward and file an injunction or a lawsuit, or threaten their intention, and that gets the ball rolling. And we do not know whether or not that has happened. And since LDR has not proven to be a reliable source of information lately, we have to count on Interscope.

No. I was not swearing that. I was not saying, and never have said, I have or had ‘inside information.’ I am a certified paralegal and know something about trademark law in the abstract, and how it can be generally applied, and was arguing from that POV as the most likely reason for the album’s delay. That’s much different than being some anonymous nobody whose only claim is that “I have a inside contact at Interscope who told me ___________.” Or someone who claims to have contacted the Rockwell estate. Or “I have a friend whose barber’s mother’s gardener met Lana on the beach and was told the album would be out in August.’ Raising possibilities and probabilities based on American law and legal precedents is much different than stating any of those have come into play and produced facts, such as "Due to legal action by the Rockwell trustees, the album title will be changed forcibly, though no new title has yet been announced by the artist or Interscope, and no release date has been set." Nor is simply applying American trademark law ‘conspiracy mongering.’

Yes, taking the word of ‘mysterious insiders’ is a huge mistake. Don’t be fooled. Those are the same people who create and post fake track listings and fake cover art. Even with the March release date, endless ‘professional’ websites simply reposted the March 29th date without verifying it or attempting to learn whether it originally came from a credible source. And they’re supposed to be journalists of some kind! That’s why I repeat that only the Interscope website or a new official press release from Interscope means anything. Something from LDR herself might be honestly intended but also half true or half accurate, and likely still subject to change, and thus unreliable.

If she recorded the famous version of STAS than Tim Buckley sang on the second season of The Monkees, that would be wonderful if done right. It suits her perfectly, in theme and sound, and would probably fit well on the new album. She’s clearly into the beach and mermaids at present. So it would be perfect. Good call.

I was lucky enough to be hanging out in the East Village in the years when he was just starting out and playing Sin-e and other small dive cafes. I wouldn’t say he was a difficult person, just an apparently average human being suddenly and quickly being swallowed by fame and celebrity and doing his best to cope with it. The East Village was and remains a very tough place, and I am not surprised to hear that the young Sis or LDR met with antagonism or hostility from Buckley and/or others. That is the norm there. Everyone tends to pose and be as hard, cynical and ‘over everything’ as possible. It’s not a very human place. It’s the birthplace of the Velvet Underground and CBGB, what can you expect?

Speaking of Jeff Buckley, I would love, one day, for LDR to produce a song as perfect, as moving and as powerful, as ‘Lover, You Should Have Come Over.’ ‘Old Money’ comes close for me. I don’t Stan Buckley, but I am a great fan of his and also of his father, Tim, who was certainly a good example of an artist who was give complete artistic freedom and quickly threw his career away.

It’s interesting to witness firsthand the need so many have for gods and goddesses, which goes back to the dawn of recorded history. It’s the motivator behind all celebrity. And it can be dangerous—we see how hero worship can go wrong, can turn to envy and hatred, or how fans can become stalkers and killers, obsessed with their god or goddess, or how some fans can tire of their goddess vessel and blithely transfer that adoration to another artist at the drop of a hat. Jung wrote extensively about all of this. I agree with everything you say. I have been very critical of two LDR albums and certainly don’t care for at least 15 of her officially released tracks. Of course I try to determine whether I just don’t like the song, or if it honestly seems like a very weak song in itself, in its structure, and may also be badly produced or arranged. And of course we can rightfully be critical of the way in which an album is rolled out. I didn’t think anything could be worse than the LFL rollout until now.

Being a cultist is the worse thing any fan can do for an artist, being an all-praising, never-critical worshipper, as if the artist were a god and above imperfection, mistake or error. I have seen this behavior in cults of R.E.M., Tori Amos, Hozier, Bob Dylan, 21 Pilots, Amy Winehouse, Jeff Buckley, Joni Mitchell, Kate Bush, Father John Misty and the Clash among others, and filmmakers like Wes Anderson and Woody Allen. Sometimes a great artist will release one bad album or film after another, and her or his adoring fans will remain silent at best or praise the bad work regardless, instead of saying, “Wow, your new album is really poor, as I see it, for the following reasons...” You don’t have to be mindlessly rude, but you should state your truth if you feel like doing so. I have recently done this on FB with Rayland Baxter, the Cactus Blossoms and Great Peacock, all of whom I follow and who released lousy records over the year or so. Certainly LDR has her cultists. You can be an LDR Stan without being a cultist, insisting that you yourself and everyone else love every LDR song, poem and photo. Maintaining some distance and objectivity is ALWAYS good. It helps you see clearly and without blind emotion.

The new beach selfies give me more hope than anything else that we might be moving into the home stretch for the new album. They could even be, or pass for, liner note photos. They’re certainly much better than those ugly, distorted selfies she posted during the lead-up to LFL. The beach selfies show that a LDR selfie, with or without makeup, need not be grotesque.

She did say that half a year ago, but that doesn’t mean it has continued to be true. She jumped back into LFL and changed it significantly at the 19th hour, so there’s a definite precedent for her doing so—and with her very last album.

There was never ANY official confirmation from Interscope, and official confirmation from them is all that matters. Everything else is speculation, hearsay, or gossip, or more very likely unreliable information from her and her team.

And record companies insisting on changes, or the addition or deletion of songs, or which single is released, or what the cover art looks like, that’s been a reality since the dawn of recorded music. It may not be going on now with NFR, but it’s definitely a reality many musicians have faced.

Maybe LDR doesn’t want to get the reputation of being ‘difficult’ within the industry, if she’s thinking of changing labels, as Tori Amos came to be known after her endless battles with various labels and many public statements about those battles.

The piece in the video is Clair de Lune by Claude Debussy.

Sometimes ‘Indie’ is erroneously seen as a musical genre like ‘Alternative,’ rather than meaning ‘on an independent label.’ I agree LDR is not Indie.

The three singles released didn’t flop. As many have noted, they were ‘fan singles’ and probably no one on her team or at Interscope intended them to chart or make any kind of commercial impact. On the other hand, unless LDR bought NFR back from Interscope, will basically release it herself and doesn’t give a damn who buys or doesn’t buy it (she’s a millionaire already, probably many times over), a new release by a major artist produced by one of the hottest producers out there IS a significant commercial proposition with a lot of money riding on it, and thus one that needs to be promoted. A company cannot promote an anticipated new album when it is being sporadically released in dribs and drabs, amidst conflicting reports from the artist, and in such a manner that the non-Stan general public cannot get a sense of when they can purchase it. So I don’t agree that everything (or anything) that has happened with NFR since last September represents some kind of brilliant release or product build-up strategy.

When the Interscope website lists the album, only then, with whatever title is used—NFR or not—will we be sure of anything. Even if there’s no release date, at least we’ll have something official. Can anyone name one or more albums that were made available during the last 20 years—since the advent of iTunes and streaming services—which were released as a series of singles over the period of a year, culminating eventually in a hard album release?? I can’t think of one.

As far as we and her Stans everywhere go, I really doubt we figure into equation at all. Stans are part of celebrity culture, and if she’s distancing herself from its direct, major aspects, and aspects she sees as toxic, she’s very likely distancing herself from thinking much about her fans. She has hundreds of thousands, and many are of the more casual, non-Stan variety.

Well, we have almost all fully agreed to the point you’re making, that announcing an album as finished, saying it will be out within a few months, teasing songs, etc., was unprofessional at best and self-destructive and stupid at worst. But there were aspects we liked, like the release of the 3 singles. Don’t assume her life is in some sort of chaos, large or less than large, BUT, within THAT chaos, she is able to somehow make smart, objective choices about her career and the album’s release. The messiness of this era only underscores some problem or series of problems about which we know nothing, and can only guess at and theorize about.

Isn't 'White Mustang' also a phallic double entendre? Seriously. That's how I've always interpreted it, and not because I necessarily wanted to. Something made the narrator love crazy, and could only his car and his album dropping have done that? Full agree. Imagine any of us going through all of that, and trying to remain sane and coherent. I have a hard enough time balancing my long, high-pressure work days, long commute, wardrobe (I have to wear a tie and at least a sports coat to work every day in addition to everything else), family life, dog, and the fact that my Spectrum cable keeps going out and I need to make time for a cable guy to come out and fix it again.