ShadesOfViolence

Thought I’d do a short review and brief opinion about each song.
 
1. Textbook - 7.0 (it’s a bit all over the place in terms of structure and lyrics)
2. Blue Banisters. - 7.5 (A solid title track but drags in parts) 
3. Arcadia 7.5 (beautiful song, but another piano ballad we didn’t really need)
4. Interlude - The Trio 7.5 ( just so random but I love it makes you shake your ass)
5. Black Bathing Suit 9 (An epic song, definitely should have more like this on the record)
6. If You Lie Down With Me - 7.0 (Catchy but a little repetitive, love the outro trumpets)
7. Beautiful - 8.0 (I just love the lyric’s in this one simple but meaningful)
8. Violets for Roses 8.5 (this feels like a classic Lana song, like BBS we needed more of this)
9. Dealer - 8 ( For me Lana killed it here with Miles they work so well together)
10. Thunder -9 ( This reminds of Ultraviolence a little and I adore it)
11. Wildflower Wildfire -9.5 (HOT FIRE HOT WEATHER HOT COFFEE-…what else can I say) 
12. Nectar of the Gods -7 (repetitive & generic on the chorus but it can get stuck in your head)
13. Living Legend -6 (Never really likes this song it drags, but it’s ok)
14. Cherry Blossom - 5.5  (horrible boring production compared to YT versions)
15. Sweet Carolina - 6.5 (cringe inducing lyrics about iPhones and crypto but emotional)
 
Overall it’s an 8 out of 10, It’s definitely an album I’m enjoying, but it was never the direction I wanted her to go in and I’m a bit fed up of piano ballads as I’ve said 1000 times already. I don’t know how anyone could call this album a ‘masterpiece’ as it has glaring flaws but I respect this opinion.  Living legend and Cherry blossom should never have been added to the record they don’t really add anything. 
 
I’d have preferred she did something with more energy ‘Rock Candy Sweet’ grabbed my attention.  A psychedelic alt rock album with lots of songs like Dealer and Thunder is really what I’d love..an Ultraviolence inspired album. But Blue Banisters still fits well in her discography and it’s better than COCC in my opinion.  I just hope on the next record she makes a change in direction and I’m sure it will pay off. 

this could've stayed in the drafts love 

So, now that I've given this a proper listen, I'm sad to report it's one of my least fav LDR records.  There are no great songs or bops (at least Chemtrails had White Dress and Honeymoon had High By the Beach), and this is sonically her least adventurous record to date.
 
Like, Ultraviolence was rock-ish, Norman was surf-ish, Born to Die was pop-ish, Honeymoon - jazzy, Lust for Life - hip-hop-ish, and will someone tell me what Blue Banisters was supposed to be? Piano-ish?
 
I feel like this album is directionless and encapsulates all of Lana's recent bad tendencies: from recording vocals in one take, to lazy and unadventurous production, to recycling her old songs. Frankly, I wish she'd just called a spade and spade and called it LDR: Unreleased, or LDR: B-sides.
 
The closest she got to having a direction with this record was the confessional poetry style ala Anne Sexton or Fank O'Hara that you find in Blue Banisters, Text Book, Wildfire, Black Bathing Suit, and Sweet Carolina.
 
But then the rest of the songs don't fit with that concept at all, especially Dealer or The Trio, or the super conventional verse-chorus Violets for Roses, Thunder or Beautiful. It's a mess. 
 
Track ranking:
 
8/10
Black Bathing Suit
If You Lie Down With Me
Thunder
 
7/10
Wildfire Wildfire
Blue Banisters
Beautiful
 
6/10
Text Book
Dealer
Arcadia
 
5/10
Violets for Roses
Sweet Carolina
 
4/10
Interlude/The Trio
Living Legend
 
3/10
Cherry Blossom (the new "production" ruined it)
 
2/10
Nectar of the Gods (ugh, her most boring track to date?)
 
Album rating:
6/10
 
Album ranking:
 
1. Norman Fucking Rockwell! 10/10
2. Ultraviolence 8/10 (too frontloaded, needed more meat in the second half)
3. Born to Die 7.5/10 (disappointing album on the whole, but many of her best cuts ever are on it so it's undeniably inspired)
4. Lust for Life 7/.5/10 
5. Chemtrails Over the Country Club 7.10
6. Paradise 6.9/10
7. Honeymoon 6.5/10
8. Blue Banisters 6/10
9. Violet Bent Backwards over the Grass 5/10
10. Lana Del Rey (never listen to this) 4/10
 
I really hope she takes a break and goes in a new direction next time. NO MORE PIANO BALLADS, PLEASE. I need the epicness of tracks like Ride, Young & Beautiful, West Coast, The Greatest, etc. 
 

Cherry Blossom hits different when you think that Lana's singing for you directly  almost as if she's looking out for us especially when things get complicated or hard 

Let's just tell her it's a sax so we can get more of it on future records

It's a nice record but saying it's better than Ultraviolence or Honeymoon is barbarism.  Another thing is that, for me, this album lacks a banger. I expected at least one, perhaps in the style of Interlude which alone feels so out of place. Dealer ain't that, it is too slow, unfortunately. Something dreamy would work too.

Blue Banisters has been growing on me a lot in the last few days. Even though I still dislike the tracklist/songs sequence, I feel like it doesn't really ruin the whole experience of listening to it. This is not a LFL situation, there are no skips on the album. It's just that it's sometimes messy and far from being as sonically cohesive as COCC or HM. I wish she had kept NotG and LL on the vault, cause they don't fit. If they were reworked, they would. Cherry Blossom fits cause it's all piano, so there's not really much to change for it to fit the sound of the album. Anyway, stream Don't Call Me Angel

One thing that doesnt change is that lfl is her worst album 

WHAT IF SOMEONE HAD ASSSSKED
PICASSO NOT TO BE SAAAAAAD

Tbh if she takes a longer break between BB and her next album,  I would like to see a shift in sound . Something that it not predominantly piano . I know that she is capable of spicing things up , she is known for changing soundscapes . 

I’m an album guy. I enjoy the aspect of listening to a record from beginning to end. My gripes with Honeymoon is just my opinion of filler. There’s songs like Art Deco and Salvatore that I feel like ruin the flow because they are the weakest songs on the album. I find Ultraviolence to be flawless album.

It's kind of funny that some people (e.g. AJayII yesterday) think the voice of Miles Kane is that of Lana, because he's nowhere mentioned.

My mom says the reason she doesn't like Dealer, is because Lana sounds horny when she screams  
 
Truly the sultry bop we were waiting for...

UK STANS PLEASE STREAM HARD OMG
 
 

Did NY Times review BB? Or even LA Times?
 
Those 14 reviews on Metacritic are driving me crazy.... Let's get this baby up to 89 minimum 

Honeymoon>nfr>btd/paradise>ultra>Bb>cotcc>lfl

have we started ldr9 pre pre release yet? blue banisters is in the past

Wow, this actually blew my mind and makes so much sense! The only line I can't link to that interpretation is " Please don't try my father either. he ain't been home for years"

Okay i know it's really mean & too early to think about LDR9 right now after we just got Blue Banisters. But sorry, i can't help the thirst  Here's a "LDR9" album rollout in my tiny head:
LDR9 title will be: LIZ, I'M CALLING FROM CALIFORNIA
Genres: Psychedelic, indietronica, Alt Rock, chamber pop artpop, dreampop, ofc (a sweet "piano flop" to spite y'all ballad haterz)
Style: An ethereal Witch Rock Album (I'm thinking of Which Witch - Florence + The Machine kind of vibes) mixed with experimental electronic-elements, serving for random drunk screaming/ camp style.
Produced by: herself, Mike Dean
Track 5 - Lemonade has some excerpts/sample contents from old demo "Dance for Money". This will be her 2022 stripper anthem (it will make the preceeders like Brite Lites, Cherry etc. proud). It marks the first time in 5 years since she made her last stripper song. (L4L era).
Track 13: "To Clementine" is a continuation of "Fine China" - The song is a love letter to her future daughter Clementine - "baby, your daddy might be an asshole but im never gonna leave u. I will always protect you in my arms" - The song sets in "Fine China" universe's storyline.
This album is a sister to Lust for Life, but this time, it's not a celebration for her fans, rather than the celebration for herself. The album is a nod to young/innocent Lizzy Grant (yes, she will spill more tea about her past in this album) & how that make her the person she is today, more self-reflecting songs (just like WW in Blue Banisters), more fuck-you media songs (especially annoying-ass twitter stan culture), and how she been through shit to be able to love and appreciate/believe in herself & her art (as she should, she is Lana Fucking Del Rey) & more contemplating songs like in Lust for Life where she shares her thoughts about life, politics, society prejudice towards a woman/a woman in the industry, and although the album isn't an ode to her fans like Lust for Life was, it still has 2 songs as 2 love letters dedicated to her fans - Roses Bloom For You (altered lyrics) & At Peace, At Last.
 
Photographed by me.
 

"And what I never said, why there's a price on my head
It's nothing to do with them, it's my karmic lineage
So I'm not friends with my mother, but I still love my dad
Untraditional lover, can you handle that?"
 
 
ICONIC INCREDIBLE AMAZING PROFILIC LEGEND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Who is dealer about? Discuss 
 
 

BB ended COCC with ease

BB ended COCC with ease

I think Dealer was the most streamed on Spotify out of the non singles when I looked earlier

i still havent done a proper write up about this album yet, but i did have some quick thpughts so far on violets for roses. i do think it's about both a man and the public trying to change her, but one line that stood out for me was the "you tried to trade in my new truck for horses" which made me think of the chemtrails photoshoot. remember she posted that picture of herself on top of her truck but the only official picture we got of her in that outfit was the one with the horse. it made me wonder if maybe it was her managers who were trying to change her? maybe she wanted that as the album cover and they were like "no lets do it with horses, its classier" or something and maybe the official album cover was her rebelling like "whatever i'm not using that one either." but then that could just be a coincidence with the truck and horses.