necessary sacrifice

I hope this project eventually gets a vinyl release too. I know it’s just digital for now, but I’m sure it would sell phenomenally if she eventually released physical copies. I mean, look how well Violet sold on vinyl despite being spoken word and not being on streaming services. Even if we have to wait til after Chemtrails for them to release the physical copies of this project, it’d be worth it.

I’m really excited about her recording a standards album! When it comes to Lana’s covers, her standards tend to be the best ones. She just has the perfect voice for them.

Wayamaya vs Quiet Waiter Blue Forever

Kill Kill vs Fuck it I Love You

If she didn’t have any ruby slippers on hand, hopefully she at least threw on some silver shoes

Aw thank you! The original sleeve underneath is Ringo Starr’s 1973 album RINGO, so you can thank Ringo Starr for the gatefold lol. Now I’m gonna have to find another damaged album to put aside for a sleeve for Behind the Iron Gates if it has a picture disc too because this was so much fun to make.

I decided to make my own diy sleeve for my Violet picture disc since I hate picture disc packaging (they get so stiff and curly over time, and I can tolerate that usually, but Lana albums deserve better). I know it’s scrappy and the epitome of “cheap knock off” but I like it and I’m proud of how it turned out. I took pics with the standard gatefold sleeve to compare mine to.

My brother and I watch Addams Family Values every year so I got excited when I saw Lana’s post and I had to send it to him. Anyone who hasn’t watched it before should do it today, it’s better than the first one. Do it for Lana!

New interview ahead of the Archives box set this week: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/oct/27/joni-mitchell-interview-archives-early-years-cameron-crowe

Sorry but Joni never gave up her child to stay in the music business. She didn’t even start performing or writing music til she was pregnant and it was to make extra money for food because she was— wait for it— pregnant. She had no choice but to give up her child because she had no money or husband and in those days public shaming was a thing. Originally she married Chuck Mitchell so they could adopt her child but then he changed his mind and said he didn’t want to raise another man’s baby, so they got divorced and she started her career. She even said about it “if you make a good marriage, God bless you. If you make a bad marriage, become a philosopher.” That’s what she did, not the other way around. And she said it killed her when she made her fortune because she could finally afford her daughter and it was too late, she had a family. She even said not having her child was the big hole in her life that she tried to fill with songwriting and after she finally reunited with her daughter, her muse went away. She admitted she lost all her inspiration because it was just to fill a void. Yes her art is beautiful and I wouldn’t have wanted an alternate reality without it, but it’s just plain false to claim she chose her career over her child.

Every time I listen to the song, I can already imagine a sea of people holding lighters up, especially during the bridge and final chorus. It’s one of those songs. It’s sentimental and soft but has a big arena chorus and it just inspires so much passion. Maybe that’s what makes it feel like it’s from 1981. I really hope she sings it live someday because it’s a song that’s begging to be sung altogether.

Am I the only one who hears “psalms and poems” not “songs and poems”? It makes me wonder if there’s gonna be heavy biblical themes across this album. But then maybe I’m just mishearing it and making predictions off of nothing. also something very 1980s heartland/arena rock about her vocals in the verses, idk how to explain it.

I’m so excited for this to come out! Almost everyday her team has been posting early days throwbacks n stuff and it’s been getting me so pumped. I have a few vinyl bootlegs of some of her early rare stuff, but it’s nice she’s finally releasing them on her own, mastered the way she likes them. Plus already there are some like Day After Day that are completely new to me. I’m a little jealous the CD boxset is bigger than the vinyl packs since I don’t buy CDs but at least it’ll all be on Spotify too. I hope this is just the beginning of Joni opening her vaults. In the past year with the commercial release of her poetry book, the vinyl reissue of Shine, and now these early years releases, she’s been giving us more than she has in years. Maybe she’s trying to get everything out, with her final say, so that there’s nothing left to mess with when she’s gone (that would be very in character for her).

My copy showed up today! It’s so pretty and I love how it’s the perfect size to carry on my purse. When my man looked at the back photo, he said her blonde hair makes her look like Joni Mitchell lol. Anyway, I’m so excited to read through it finally!

Lana looks so much like Carole Lombard in that story idk what it is

I really like the Violet vinyl sleeve, it’s super cute. Yeah I guess it’s more minimal than Lana’s last few vinyl releases, but it’s still better quality than the cheap packaging the Born to Die and Paradise vinyls had, and those are still cute and haven’t fallen apart yet. I’m actually impressed with how it looks. I truly didn’t even think we’d get a gatefold and that it’d be completely bare bones since we have the poetry book to accompany it. But then again, I’m excited and impressed easily, so of course I’m happy with it lol.

Not sure if Violet really was submitted or anyone else who definitely was, but there’s a good chance James Taylor’s Break Shot was submitted. It seems like most people already assume he’s her biggest competition in the category.

Oh Say Can You See vs Bel Air

Sad Girl vs 24

Right now I’m listening to this song and it’s currently thunder storming outside and it makes the song sound way more dark & haunting, so I just had to share that with you guys.

The mask is ineffective, but we don’t know why she was wearing that one specifically. For all we know, she got to the store and realized she forgot a mask, but did have that one, and figured it would be ok if she was fast and it was still better than nothing. Still not excusable, but that would at least be an understandable situation. She’s only human after all. And she’s probably at home now thinking of course the one time she wears a faulty mask, she gets spotted by a fan and gets dragged on the internet. I mean, she normally wears good masks and even just recently said to wear a mask but not the rhinestone one, so it does seem more likely that it was all she had on her. Half the people I see walking around stores just have broken disposable masks hanging off one ear and exposing their entire face anyway, so she’s at least doing better than those people.

Just realizing now after Lana referred to her kittens as her children that the line “there are children at the end of my bed telling me stories about the friends that they pretend to hate that they will make up with later” is probably about her cats. And it makes so much sense too. Cats are always fighting and pretending to hate each other, then making up later. That’s exactly how I’d describe cats interacting lol.

January February March - Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass April - Norman fucking Rockwell May - Honeymoon June - Paradise July August - Lust for Life September - Born to Die October November - Ultraviolence December - Lana Del Ray aka Lizzy Grant So far I’m getting October energy for Chemtrails and February energy for Iron Gates, but since I haven’t heard them yet, my intuition is irrelevant.

I personally and sincerely think all Lana’s albums are “witchy”

Omg I love musicals! I was a theatre kid back in the day, so musicals are such core part of my being. I honestly probably listen to musical soundtracks (both stage & screen) more than anything else (except Lana). I don’t even know where to start with what kinds of musicals I like, I love stage musicals and classic movie musicals and Disney.. pretty much everything. I guess I’d consider old Shirley Temple and Judy Garland movies the thing that originally got me into musicals, so those are probably the most precious to me. I guess classic movie musicals would kind of be my musical niche if I had one. I love the insane visuals of Busby Berkeley or Ernst Lubitsch musicals. It’s a shame most movie musicals these days seem to have no imagination. And I haven’t seen lots of live shows though, just bootlegs, so I do feel lesser in that department, but I do still adore live musicals. Would love to someday see The Lord of the Rings musical or Wicked or Next to Normal live since those aren’t movies yet, but it seems even less likely to see more live shows now with everything in the world. here’s an example of a crazy Busby Berkeley musical number (seriously I love these wacky old musicals so much) And here’s just my favourite scene/song from the Lord of the Rings musical