Vertimus

I think most here just feel, “If NFR IS going to come out JULY 17th, September 14th, or November 6th, JUST SAY THAT.” Like any professional would do, like 98% of artists do, whether it’s the Cactus Blossoms, Rihanna, Barns Courtney, Royal Deluxe, Frankie Lee or Marina. LDR’s unreliable and seemingly scattered comments since last September seem like a combination of manipulative behavior, unprofessionalism and incompetence, and are a huge turn off. I don’t think it’s anything more than that on the part of fans. AND if a major hitch did come up, she could easily just admit it publicly in this era of varied instantaneous communication, and once she’s absolutely certain of the new date, say, “Sorry everyone, the album has been unavoidably delayed until ______.” And if she wants to give a reason, she can. It may be that there has been some factor involved completely beyond her control that has caused the delay, and, if so, I am sure we will accept it and eat personal crow.

How can that be predicted, much less forced? The releasing record company can really get behind it, give it a huge promotion and contact influential DJs and radio personnel, but short of that, what can they do?

I have known men and women like her too as I perceived her then, so I was pretty impressed as well. But I also wanted to believe. So I take responsibility for buying the fantasy. I have lived in NYC long enough to know that few artists are as they seem when you encounter them in person. But sadly, this new LDR is so much drearier than the fantasy in terms of her presentation as an artist that I cannot help but continue to be disappointed. Even her tour posters and graphics were actually hip back in the day—now we get things like the interior photos of LFL and the album cover, with the fake-lookin daisies in her hair and the awkward hippy dress. Remember when BTD came out and all the DJs wanted to remix her songs, and did? That sure stopped abruptly. I don’t know why she dropped the Trip Hop production in the first place.

I think she played a seductive role most of us loved for the first few years, but has abandoned that role and now we’re left with the genuine human being, and it’s difficult to adjust. But she’s been forcing us to a little at a time, via the very unflattering short clips and photos. That’s why I say the album art of NFR will tell us a great deal about who she is now and where she’s headed. It’s sort of like Hitchcock’s classic film ‘Vertigo,’ in which Jimmy Stewart falls in love with a seductive, poised and cultured woman who turns out to have only been a rather lower middle class shop girl ACTING due to a third party’s manipulations and murder plot. When Jimmy Stewart finds out his obsession never existed, he goes mad. That’s us!

I wouldn’t mind 20 tracks. Tori Amos has one or two good albums with a great number of tracks. Unlike many here, I don’t tend to see much of a ‘story’ in LDR’s released albums so far, certainly not on UV or HM. At best, there’s a ‘sort of’ theme or, more frequently, a musical aesthetic. LFL seemed very disjointed, with some tracks reflecting one another but those collections of reflecting tracks in turn not jibbing with one another. Aesthetically, ‘Love’ and ‘Summer Bummer’ were about as different from one another as could be. So if NFR ends up being a loose collection of tracks, that’s okay with me. Some I will like, some not.

I have no problem with plastic surgery per se for anyone, female or male. But I don’t understand why she would want her face to be fuller since she already tends towards being apple-cheeked. The gaunt look of the Paradise and UV album covers is what brings out her beauty and cheekbones the most.

It’s probably being extensively reworked rather than scrapped completely, though there are precedents for announced albums being scrapped completely.

It’s probably being extensively reworked rather than scrapped completely, though there are precedents for announced albums being scrapped completely.

She probably just wants to appear as an average ‘pretty’ woman in her thirties now, whether in her daily life or on stage. What the forthcoming NFR album cover will look like will tell us a lot and the direction she’s going in. I don’t ever see a return to the “haughty conqueror” of the Paradise era. I think it’s a mistake for her to discard the glamour altogether or almost altogether, but there are precedents in popular music, especially among female musicians and performers. Nico famously destroyed her looks so that she would be taken more seriously by the male-dominated music industry of the era, and Marianne Faithfull did the same thing a little later. Tori Amos, on the other hand, was roundly criticized by fans, feminists and some on the Left for years for having a lot of facial surgery and airbrushing her album covers in the extreme.

There has to be a legitimate, practical reason why the album is delayed and she’s saying nothing. Maybe she’s learned she’s her own worst enemy in that regard, and so has decided to remain mum until everything, absolutely everything, about the new record and the poetry book are ironed out and she, Ben and Interscope are on the same page. IF there was no problem of any kind with NFR, it would have been released by now, unless she has foolishly held it up because of the poetry book. Sadly, NFR, if it has remained unchanged since she finished it, probably feels dated and old hat to her, and she’s probably completely moved on to something else in her enthusiasms. Promoting it now probably seems like torture to her, and additionally, she’s going to be asked endless questions about the delay.

She said so about the time of Paradise’s release in an interview. Thus the ‘sweet child of mine’ lyric as well as the mention of ‘roses.’ If you Google it you might find one or more mentions of it. There was a 2012 Rolling Stone article about the two of them dating, plus she wrote ‘Axl Rose Husband ‘ about him.

I agree. We have no idea what the new album is going to contain. The three tracks released may or may not be on the album—I hope they are not. It doesn’t make much sense for them to be on a ‘new’ album almost a year after initial release in two cases. I also agree the new song sounds like a bop and a banger, and doesn’t seem to fit in with what we’ve heard so far, but it does fit in with her ‘surf rock’ comments from last year. Maybe it will feel ill-fitting the way ‘Summer Bummer’ did on LFL.

There was something about the person in question being a very reclusive rock legend—to me, that sounds like Brian Wilson, founder of and mastermind behind The Beach Boys. He’s got to be in his late 70s now. At one point a few years back, LDR was supposed to appear on his last album, but her participation fell through. He’s been a huge influence on surf music of all varieties. Another rock legend option from a later era with close ties to LDR is Axl Rose. Rose is also ‘reclusive.’ We know LDR loves him and wrote ‘Bel Air’ for him.

The issue with HIADT is that it’s not a pop song, and most of LDR’s fans became fans because of her talent at creating interesting pop music, like VG and ‘Cola.’ For me, she made pop music, specifically pop music, interesting again for the first time in a decade or more. She’s branched out in all directions since, and obviously not completely left the pop field. But while I like HIADT and recognize its artistry, I don’t think it’s pop music. It’s honest, it’s brave, it’s touching, but there’s no catharsis, at least not for me. Despite the ending, it’s kind of flat. I don’t think most people actively dislike it (though no doubt some do), they’re just looking for something more energetic. LDR used to project such a winning quality, such a commanding persona, she was an international sensation and style guru, what happened to all of that? Maybe she’s simply being more ‘real’ or ‘realistic’ now, but I really miss the haughty conqueror she used to be, or pretend to be.

The lyrics might equate being in love with doing time in prison, though that seems rather obvious.

Many were suspicious about ‘Heroin’ too, largely because of the famous Velvet Underground song of the same name and her brief UV-era association with Lou Reed, the Velvet Underground’s founder. I doubt the new single is a cover. Many were suspicious about ‘Heroin’ too, largely because of the famous Velvet Underground song of the same name and her brief UV-era association with Lou Reed, the Velvet Underground’s founder. I doubt the new single is a cover.

Full agree. ‘Color Blue’ is one of her best and most intimate songs ever. Why does she cut so many great tracks from her albums but release weaker songs like some of those on her last three releases? She’s getting like Tori Amos, who, as the years passed, tended to do the same with her best and brightest compositions, which became B-sides or were saved for compilations. To me, ‘Color Blue’ has more intimacy and genuine feeling than even ‘Old Money’ and ‘Terrence Loves You.’ And it’s that exact quality that so many artists tend to lose quickly. Before you know it, they’re releasing saccharine power ballads. I hope we see something like it on NFR.

I think the classic rock lyric and title references in her songs are getting too obvious. They used to be clever and insightful, but now they often seem redundant and lazy. This is one reason I can’t agree that LDR’s lyrics are always sterling. I mean the “I’m your man / Crimson and clover / Stairway to Heaven / Rosemary and thyme / Hotel California / Lay lady lay / Ground control to Major Tom” stuff.

How to delete?

Sorry for the repetitions.

I think the classic rock lyric and title references in her songs are getting too obvious. They used to be clever and insightful, but now they often seem redundant and lazy. This is one reason I can’t agree that LDR’s lyrics are always sterling. I mean the “I’m your man / Crimson and clover / Stairway to Heaven / Rosemary and thyme / Hotel California / Ground control to Major Tom” stuff.

I think she tried to do it again with 'Groupie Love,' but it didn't work, at least not for me.

I'd like to see some pure, fun pop songs on NFR (or whatever it turns out to be), like 'Radio,' 'National Anthem,' 'Making Out,' 'Go Go Dancer' and 'Meet Me In The Pale Moonlight.' I miss her lightness and humor, the clever lines like those in 'Hollywood's Dead,' which seemed to be full of brief but accurate commentaries on what was going on around her.

I agree, it's one of her most personal and daring songs and places her in Joni Mitchell/Tori Amos territory, but for me, personally, it's not what I look for when I look to LDR. It's not the rawness and vulnerability that is a slight turn off to me, it's just that musically, I don't find any sort of catharsis in the music or by the end. Objectively, I admire it and can see everything valuable and progressive in it in terms of her songwriting, but subjectively, I don't care for it a great deal.

About her songwriting, I agree that it's suffered at least a little. I don't we'll ever get anything as pure or personal as 'Yayo' again, though there were some weak songs on BTD, certainly. About the time of 'Paradise,' she wouldn't have used phrasing, I don't think, like "People are powerful be-ins" the way she did on 'Change,' which mars the song for me, or the way she sang, on 'Coachella,' "..and what about all their parents" in the inexplicable hard manner she did, which jumps out at me every time I listen to it, which isn't often. I wonder where the un-PC LDR has gone, the writer of 'Gods & Monsters,' the more visionary LDR. I like MAC very much, but it does seem 'safe,' 'warm and fuzzy' to me, and at least a slight example of 'virtue signaling.' When we find out how it fits in with the rest of the album, it will probably seem more that way, or less that way.