West Coast

I think ‘The Greatest‘ should have returned to the refrain once more after the instrumental section...but that wouldn’t have given it the same ‘artistic credibility’ it is credited with by critics having the slow fade instead.  
I agree the record is boring: that’s exactly right. There’s not a lot of ideas present and so it all seems rather ho-hum. Where would VB have been without Jack’s long long outro?? ‘Love Song’ and ‘California’ are things she could have written in her sleep. I certainly can’t take HIAB seriously, that with the serial killer section mashed in.
 
I definitely prefer LFL to NFR, as at least some tracks have the verve, vision and originality of her earlier work, though clearly she had begun repeating herself with tracks like ‘Cherry.’
 
I agree with you about the production and engineering on NFR. Why it is the way it is is another matter, and whether it’s that way by intent, accident or a combination of both, I assume we’ll never know.
 
I feel like the LDR that I fell in love with is receding and disappearing more and more all the time, and probably never really existed, a la ‘Vertigo.’ THAT LDR interested me, the subsequent LDR(s) interest less and less.

This is exactly how I feel about the album, I think Lana would probably not like me using this term, but to me NFR is uncooked.
 
I cannot stand hot flat and lifeless the production and mastering are on this record. We could argue that this was an artistic decision on her part, to make the record sound more "rough to the touch", and I think that it may be it, but it's just not the type of sound that I actually like, it just sounds lackluster to me. I'm still not over how unbelievably tinny the piano sound on this record... and also how dry the guitar come off.
 
I think you've mentioned it in a previous comment, but like The greatest, one of the great songs on this record, it just lacks that climax moment. I very much feel that. Also, I don't like how the vocals sound just super muffled and flat all at once (and also Lana's enunciation here too). To me, after the first chorus, the instrumentation should've pop off and climax, but it just lacks intensity... and that's not just on this particular song, most songs on the record suffer from that in my opinion.
 
I fully agree with your views on Looking for America, I've personally listened to the song just a few times... it's one of those songs on which I really appreciate the message, but it doesn't make me appreciate the song for a song, if that make sense. Same thing goes for Hope. Love the lyricism, but the song itself is quite dull to me (sorry).
 
There used to be a distinct vision on her records, but NFR it feels quite unfinished I find. The last great Lana songs that I've really enjoyed was Get Free if I'm being completely honest. I honestly try to listen to NFR in its entirety from time to time, but I just cannot get into it. I never thought I would use this word to describe Lana's music with this word, but it's quite boring. I didn't like Lust for Life, and still very much consider it to be my least favourite album, but looking back I can definitely pin points aspects that she did better on it, than on NFR. 

Exactly.
 
Do tell, please 
 
 
Yup, it's not like there's much to talk about, like the album is no longer charting (or up there anyway) and like people outside of this fandom have already forgotten about it. Besides this and Lana seemingly recycling her setlist, showing up late and dating the c*p... there's not much going on 

Exactly.
 
Do tell, please 
 
 
Yup, it's not like there's much to talk about, like the album is no longer charting (or up there anyway) and like people outside of this fandom have already forgotten about it. Besides this and Lana seemingly recycling her setlist, showing up late and dating the c*p... there's not much going on 

Full agree with everything you’ve said here. LDR’s best music on the first three albums was visionary, confident, poised and dramatic/melodramatic...whatever it was, when it worked, it really worked (for me, ‘Paradise’ is the best). I have seen spurts of that same power on HM and LFL, but even the best/better songs on NFR are depthless, empty and hollow. There’s no emotional subtext or underlying reverberations. After you listen to them a few times, they feel used-up and dead.
 
So it’s sad to me that LDR seems to think these are among the best she’s written. In terms of songwriting and performance, I will take ‘Yayo,’ ‘Ride,’ and ‘Old Money’ over anything on NFR any day. And certainly something as
scalding and unruly as the original version of ‘Live or Die.’
 
I don’t see anything special about Looking For America.’ Anyone, probably any one of us, could have written it. It’s a very modest little B-side at best. Just because a song arises from a tragedy, or is protest song, doesn’t make it inherently good as a song, or interesting. Since the 1950s, many people have confused the quality of the song with the nature of the problem or tragedy, which is a big mistake.
 
Yes, ‘Suspicion’ is an under-appreciated and relatively obscure R.E.M. track, and, as you’ve suggested, it has all the mood, depth, subtly and ambiguity that everything on NFR lacks. It’s fully realized, whereas as NFR is largely half-baked.

lmaooo alright, i will once i get a hot minute to verbalize all my thoughts 

Exactly.
 
Do tell, please 
 
 
Yup, it's not like there's much to talk about, like the album is no longer charting (or up there anyway) and like people outside of this fandom have already forgotten about it. Besides this and Lana seemingly recycling her setlist, showing up late and dating the c*p... there's not much going on 

oof.. this tea 

Exactly.
 
Do tell, please 
 
 
Yup, it's not like there's much to talk about, like the album is no longer charting (or up there anyway) and like people outside of this fandom have already forgotten about it. Besides this and Lana seemingly recycling her setlist, showing up late and dating the c*p... there's not much going on 

Exactly.
 
Do tell, please 
 
 
Yup, it's not like there's much to talk about, like the album is no longer charting (or up there anyway) and like people outside of this fandom have already forgotten about it. Besides this and Lana seemingly recycling her setlist, showing up late and dating the c*p... there's not much going on 

oh same and i really wouldn't call myself an "audiophile" in any real sense, like i care far more about the actual music than the sound quality...the instrumentation straight up sounds cheap af, like low quality digital instruments trying to replicate real ones 
 
i purposely haven't ever even gone into all my issues with it on this site lol, not even close

How about these young kids get educated by their parents and not Lana Del Rey?
 
I mean I was 17 years old when I first started listening to Lana and I'm now 24, granted I'm not a woman, but still I knew they were just that lyrics? Lana's way of expressing her thoughts, recall events or tell her fantasies? Might as well make it sound romantic and beautiful, yet tragic? 

I totally get what you mean. Though I can see how and why some fans really appreciate this record. It just doesn't bring out much out of me. I still very much revere Lana's first three records as her best. They all have a very distinctive soundscape and that depth of sound that NFR is completely lacking, most songs on it don't have that climax moment or intricacy in the instrumentals to make them sound great and varied.
 
I've said this on several other posts, but the production and mastering on here is quite lackluster, it sounds flat and lifeless. 
 
Edit: That R.E.M. song is great... it's weirdly very NFR-ish, but like in a world where NFR actually sounds like a fully finished and properly produced and mastered record.

You don't even have to be an audiophile to find the production/mastering of this record to be questionable, like from the first listen I already spotted details that sounded hella off and cheap, the further I listen to it, the more I find it cheap and lackluster. 
 
Thank god I don't have to pretend to like this album just because it's Lana's, can't relate to that. 

That's some great wishful thinking!
 
I agree the album as a much more organic sound than its predecessor, but this is not the type of sound that I like personally speaking. I don't actually think that the album as that top notch quality like you said, it for sure sounds more "natural" or organic like we both said, but as it turns out it sounds quite flat to my taste. There's a lack in depth I think. It just sounds flat to me, it lacks bass or percussions, also the vocal tracks on a lot of songs suffer from that too. The vocals on most track feel like they were poorly recorded and it does sound to me like they were compressed as well (cue to Lana's high note when she sings the "you" in the second pre-verse of the title track, as matter of fact the whole track was poorly recorded).
 
To me Honeymoon has a better sound, I've listened to all her albums on FLAC, CDs, Streaming and Vinyl, and Honeymoon has just the best sound out of all her albums, it sounds clear, it's balanced and extremely lush (maybe to the exception of High By The Beach and Freak), but as for the rest, it's crystal clear. I just don't hear that on NFR, but to each their own I suppose.

I totally get what you mean. Though I can see how and why some fans really appreciate this record. It just doesn't bring out much out of me. I still very much revere Lana's first three records as her best. They all have a very distinctive soundscape and that depth of sound that NFR is completely lacking, most songs on it don't have that climax moment or intricacy in the instrumentals to make them sound great and varied.
 
I've said this on several other posts, but the production and mastering on here is quite lackluster, it sounds flat and lifeless. 
 
Edit: That R.E.M. song is great... it's weirdly very NFR-ish, but like in a world where NFR actually sounds like a fully finished and properly produced and mastered record.

cant cry these tears by garbage walked so how to disappear final could crawl around aimlessly

i admire the dedication some of you have to finding your ideal audio format for this album, but i personally would rather just go listen to something else that already sounds good without me having to make adjustments for the...questionable recording and mastering decisions

That's some great wishful thinking!
 
I agree the album as a much more organic sound than its predecessor, but this is not the type of sound that I like personally speaking. I don't actually think that the album as that top notch quality like you said, it for sure sounds more "natural" or organic like we both said, but as it turns out it sounds quite flat to my taste. There's a lack in depth I think. It just sounds flat to me, it lacks bass or percussions, also the vocal tracks on a lot of songs suffer from that too. The vocals on most track feel like they were poorly recorded and it does sound to me like they were compressed as well (cue to Lana's high note when she sings the "you" in the second pre-verse of the title track, as matter of fact the whole track was poorly recorded).
 
To me Honeymoon has a better sound, I've listened to all her albums on FLAC, CDs, Streaming and Vinyl, and Honeymoon has just the best sound out of all her albums, it sounds clear, it's balanced and extremely lush (maybe to the exception of High By The Beach and Freak), but as for the rest, it's crystal clear. I just don't hear that on NFR, but to each their own I suppose.

That's some great wishful thinking!
 
I agree the album as a much more organic sound than its predecessor, but this is not the type of sound that I like personally speaking. I don't actually think that the album as that top notch quality like you said, it for sure sounds more "natural" or organic like we both said, but as it turns out it sounds quite flat to my taste. There's a lack in depth I think. It just sounds flat to me, it lacks bass or percussions, also the vocal tracks on a lot of songs suffer from that too. The vocals on most track feel like they were poorly recorded and it does sound to me like they were compressed as well (cue to Lana's high note when she sings the "you" in the second pre-verse of the title track, as matter of fact the whole track was poorly recorded).
 
To me Honeymoon has a better sound, I've listened to all her albums on FLAC, CDs, Streaming and Vinyl, and Honeymoon has just the best sound out of all her albums, it sounds clear, it's balanced and extremely lush (maybe to the exception of High By The Beach and Freak), but as for the rest, it's crystal clear. I just don't hear that on NFR, but to each their own I suppose.

Agree, looking back now, I feel like Lust for Life never existed, like Love came on shuffle the other day and I was confused for a moment, then I remembered what song it was, this entire album fell into complete oblivion to me. I honestly expect NFR to follow this path too. Like it's been what two months since its release? The only song I actually listen to every other day is the title track, and sometimes once every blue moon I'll listen to The greatest, but that's about it. Such a forgettable record.
 
The accolades on NFR are the cherry on top to me, like imagine being this interesting and polarizing artist and for years you get little to no media coverage, but when you do it's because you said something "controversial" or that people are out to bash your newly released album (because yOu ArE nOt AuThEnTiC !!1!). Now all of a sudden you get this weird round of applause from the very same people that "hated" you all along, basically praising you for releasing what is your most subdued and least "controversial" album thus far.
 
NFR is the joke that keeps on giving for me. 

The first time ever I listened to NFR was on FLAC files, can't get any "better" than that, and it sounded unfinished and tinny.
 
To each their own, but to me, NFR lacks depth, it sounds like I'm listening to Demos or like the unfinished version of an album. Some of fans here like the "organic"/unfinished approach on NFR. But personally, I don't. I don't mean to sound pretentious, but it sounds hella iffy to the audiophile that I am.

That's some great wishful thinking!
 
I agree the album as a much more organic sound than its predecessor, but this is not the type of sound that I like personally speaking. I don't actually think that the album as that top notch quality like you said, it for sure sounds more "natural" or organic like we both said, but as it turns out it sounds quite flat to my taste. There's a lack in depth I think. It just sounds flat to me, it lacks bass or percussions, also the vocal tracks on a lot of songs suffer from that too. The vocals on most track feel like they were poorly recorded and it does sound to me like they were compressed as well (cue to Lana's high note when she sings the "you" in the second pre-verse of the title track, as matter of fact the whole track was poorly recorded).
 
To me Honeymoon has a better sound, I've listened to all her albums on FLAC, CDs, Streaming and Vinyl, and Honeymoon has just the best sound out of all her albums, it sounds clear, it's balanced and extremely lush (maybe to the exception of High By The Beach and Freak), but as for the rest, it's crystal clear. I just don't hear that on NFR, but to each their own I suppose.

I still don’t care for NFR as a whole, and never play it, though a few songs are okay. It’s flat and lifeless for me. Some songs, like ‘CG’ and ‘TG’ could have been so much better with just a little tweaking. It’s LDR at her most boring, persona-wise, whether that’s persona is ‘authentically Lana’ or another intentional or semi-conscious pose. I’m glad to know others feel the same way.
 
I was listening to R.E.M.’s great song ‘Suspicion’ this morning, and it occurred to me that something like it was what LDR was trying to create on NDR, but failed.

That's some great wishful thinking!
 
I agree the album as a much more organic sound than its predecessor, but this is not the type of sound that I like personally speaking. I don't actually think that the album as that top notch quality like you said, it for sure sounds more "natural" or organic like we both said, but as it turns out it sounds quite flat to my taste. There's a lack in depth I think. It just sounds flat to me, it lacks bass or percussions, also the vocal tracks on a lot of songs suffer from that too. The vocals on most track feel like they were poorly recorded and it does sound to me like they were compressed as well (cue to Lana's high note when she sings the "you" in the second pre-verse of the title track, as matter of fact the whole track was poorly recorded).
 
To me Honeymoon has a better sound, I've listened to all her albums on FLAC, CDs, Streaming and Vinyl, and Honeymoon has just the best sound out of all her albums, it sounds clear, it's balanced and extremely lush (maybe to the exception of High By The Beach and Freak), but as for the rest, it's crystal clear. I just don't hear that on NFR, but to each their own I suppose.