Taco Truck x VB

I'm starting my 4th listen right now..I'm addicted 

I think this is her saddest album to date. Queen of sadness has outdone herself in this department.
 
I don’t see how you can sit through this whole album and not feel emotionally wrecked, whether you like it or not. The fact that it’s rainy, cold, and dark here today might not be helping.

The way I get withadrawls when I haven't listened to this album for a few hours. I'm truly  addicted to BB and cigarettes
 
Wait does that mean Lana is my Dealer now

the way that BB is THAT butch. this album is some of her best work what the hell?  the way she never misses and gets better and better with each record i actually collapsed last night listening to this 
this album could SAVE LIVES!!! CHANGE LIVES.
 
i literally can’t even rank this album but my faves are: BBS, Dealer, violets for roses, WFWF, Thunder, Text book and Sweet carolina
 

I'm too scared to form an opinion rn as my tastes have been changing so drastically lately (NFR, an album I didn't even like before, became my fave recently ) so like who knows what my mind will think a month from now  
 
But I have to say, while I love some songs on BB and don't care for some others, there's not a single BAD song here imo. It's easily a cohesive and solid album in that aspect. There's not a single BB song where I'm like "ugh, not this" and I really appreciate that! + love the photography and aesthetic of this era, easily a 10/10. She really served this era.

Inaccurate when it seems like all people did was shit on COCC when it first dropped.

This album really caught me off guard. I already said last night (in the midst of a breakdown bc my boyfriend said some really mean shit to me but Lana was there to comfort me with BB <3) I didn't expect it to be this good  I'm so content with this record! It's very cohesive imo, something I thought wasn't going to be the case at all. This is my little review (faves in bold):
 
Text Book: 8/10. Great opening track IMO. Only thing I still don't like is the BLM reference, feels kinda out of place and a little performative (don't come for me please, I know Lana is not a performative artist but it comes across as that because with QFTC and the accusations of being racist, seems like it's somehow "forced"? idk)
Blue Banisters: 10/10. Can't think of a better title track, this song is the embodiment of Lana Del Rey. The piano at the end makes me weep.
Arcadia: 9/10. Great melody. Loved both videos. Only thing I don't like is the mixing, in the chorus my ears hurt a little bit lol
Interlude: 3/10. Feels out of place, it's good as the ending to Arcadia's og video, not so much in the album, it doesn't go anywhere, feels pointless (I have to admit tho if I didn't know Clay had anything to do with this, I'd probably like it a bit more lol)
BBS: 10/10. UV vibes to the maximum. Love the chorus and ending so much. Also love the West Coast similarities (different tempos coming and going throughtout the song)
IFLDWM: 9/10. More UV vibes. Love it! Only thing I don't like is the "muffled" sound. Idk if it's because it's an older song but her voice is not so clear at times.
Beautiful: 5/10. Don't really like it. Still a good song but a skip for me.
Violets for Roses: 5/10. Don't like it either. Not a bad song but a skip for me. I like the message tho.
Dealer. 10/10. Fucking explosive. Love the tempo, their voices sound so hot god. The outro makes me wet. I hope Lana explores more of this type of sound in the future.
Thunder: 10/10. I already loved the demo but this has more of a Lana - Blue Banisters era sound, it goes so well with the rest of the album. A fucking masterpiece. Creepy - heavenly violins and backing vocals really did that!
WW: 10/10. Currently a skip because it's very relatable to me and it makes me cry everytime I hear it, and I can't cry everywhere I go lmao. A necessary and amazing song, helps the general public and us to understand where Lana is coming from and why she is the way she is sometimes.
NOTG: 8/10. A classic, good song from Lana. I like it ever since it leaked. Only thing I don't like is she didn't rework it. A few more instruments would have done wonders to this amazing, timeless record.
Living Legend: 9/10. Same as NOTG. Thank god she left the wawawas! One of my fave unnowreleased songs! 
Cherry Blossom: 9/10. Sweet, nurturing, lovely ballad. I understand why she put it in BB. Goes great with the closing track. A few more instruments would have done wonders to this one too! I listened to the unrealeased so much that I'm already a bit bored with it but I still don't skip it because I like that it's followed by SC.
Sweet Carolina: 10/10. One of her best closers. Some love it, some hate the "crypto forever, fuck you kevin" line. I personally love it, it's fun and sounds great with the little piano in the background. So Lana. Love the melody, simplicity and purity of the message.
 
Conclusion: one of my favorite records from Lana. I really needed this at this point in my life. I thank god for Lana and for music.

Yes.
 

ok but new thunder slaps forget what i said
 

agreed. the new version matches the album much better but it definitely doesn’t have as much potential as the demo 
 
the louder drums/guitar/backing vocals were definitely good for radio, but oh well

I love the part from the trio till thunder. Idc for the rest.

gotta say something, i don't think this new version of thunder has "hit-single" potencial as much as the old version had

1. ultraviolence
2. honeymoon
3. blue banisters

Tex and Mex playing the piano at the beginning of Beautiful  

it'll be awhile before i can figure out where it fits in my ranking of her discography, but i love BB and think it's such a gorgeous addition to her corpus.
 
text book: i love the moodiness of the verses, bringing together a sort of '60s jazz/pop sounds with twangy guitars to boot– you really see lana bringing together so many of her influences in new ways.
BB: the storytelling on this song is unbelievable. i know lots of ppl here hate lana's super specific references to her friends but i think it adds a level of intimacy that really brings the story home for me. also still think the "jenny" in the song is jenny lewis and the thought of the two of them discussing the difficult of finding a male partner when you're an iconic woman genius is wild.
arcadia: i have to admit that this song doesn't super hit for me. i find the verses, melodically, to be a bit meh and while the chorus is gorgeous, it's also a little corny/sounds like a sweeping hilton hotel commercial. i don't hate it but i also think i'll be listening to it much. thank said, the orchestral horns add SO much (i want horns in lana songs..all the time lol).
interlude: fine, cute, random, don't mind it.
BBS: one of my favorite songs on the album and, as everyone has already discussed, a new sound for lana that to me sounds like chemtrails warm, organic instrumentation but expanded, looser, wilder, messier in an exciting way. i was also delighted to see the quarantine voice notes songs come together here...would love to hear the original voice notes to see how lana's process of building a song happens.
if you lie down with me: def a fav on the album. this 2013/pre-UV era of lana's songwriting is an all time favorite, she was deep in her 70s rock shit and those songs feel so timelessly perfect to me. the lyrics are very different to to her current lyrics in many ways– certainly there's not the complexity and questioning of the newer songs– but that's also typical of many UV songs (some of which are my favs, so no shade, looking at you sad girl). the horns at the end are pure HEAVEN and i truly feel blissed out when they come in. i hope lana does a jazz album in the vein of the other woman and these horns someday.
beautiful: i'm so sorry to say it– i know many of you love it!– but this is my least fav lana song is years and years. corny, overwrought, generic sounding af. it's not a bad song but literally any of these girls could sing it. it joins lucky ones and love as the few lana songs i seriously dislike. all that said, sometimes it takes me years to come around to a song (hello love song and music to watch boys to) so i may be singing its praises eventually.
violets for roses: love this one! as a die hard COCC fan this song spoke to me, imo it could easily have fit on that album. i'm also obsessed with lana singing/writing about flowers so any song w TWO kind of flowers in it is my jam. this song is like a warm breeze on a sleepy, hot day, thinking of the past but only to notice that the present is so much better.
dealer: love it! it could not be more different from what i thought it would be based on the interview from last year– i thought it would be a super melodramatic dirge about pain and suffering. but the reality of it is so much weirder and more quintessentially lana. also love hearing her do new things with her voice. she moves so easily through so many genres, moods, and expressions and dealer is a great of example of how this continues to be true.
thunder: loved the leaked version, love this version. while the leak is looser, it's also less dynamic. the violins have that jangly, 60s pop sound that works perfectly with the melody and rhythm of the song.
WFWF: the initial fav of the three singles that were released and imo the most "lana" sounding song on the album for people still wanting high drama and electronic sounds. lyrics are obviously devastating. again we see how she tries new things and tries to build new structures even for expressing themes that are familiar in her discography. the stardust lines and some of my fav lyrics on the album period.
NOTG: was one of my all time fav unreleaseds and now one of my fav released. lana's vocal performance, combined ennui and deep feeling, is unreal, in top form here. lyrics that read a little stupid by themselves ("i get wild on you baby/wild and fucking crazy/like the color blue") sound like the words of god when she sings them. idk, there's just something about her vocals and emotional presence in this (old) era of songs that kills me.
LL: as an unreleased this way always an almost-there song for me; it always seemed a little like the slightly crappier (but still good) version of ITTJ, and maybe it's just the fact that they leaked around the same time so i was listening to them both a lot. i think that has colored my view of the song and that i will soon come it really love it in it's own right, but that hasn't happened yet. i understand that it has what NOTG, CB, and IYLDWM have and am a little annoyed that that's not clicking in my brain yet.
CB: again, a fav unreleased and still a fav. what i love about these slow, moody songs is how much space there is in them, how she's drawn out the melody to create just the right amount of tension between each phrasing. the vocals are SO intimate, fragile, and tender, it absolutely kills. next to sweet carolina it makes me want a full piano lullaby album– lana's tori amos era incoming??
SC: just gorgeous. the lyrics make me want to weep ("we love every hair on your head, love you like god loves you" omgggg...i am agnostic but understanding that loving someone like god loves them aka absolutely unconditionally is so fucking sweet and earnest), the melody is very early disney princess (i forget who first mentioned it in the prerelease thread but shoutout to you), i'm thinking snow white, v 1930s vibes. the piano is also a goddamn serve, shout out to rob. i love lana's weird lyrics, they're obvs super personal ref to her life, in jokes, so the iPhone etc lines don't bother me at all.
 
overall, a killer album, lana truly being her most lana self (old songs new songs loose songs lullabies rock and roll jazz folk), a wonderful and much needed addition to her brilliant catalog. DYING for a damn tour in 2022!!

Bish, where’s If You Lie Down With Me?
 
just replace it with For Flop and it’s gonna be a hit.

NFR and BB are on their thrones as my favourite LDR records, and HM and COTCC are fighting for the third spot… I think it’s impossible for me to like an album more than NFR, because it’s literally my favourite album of all time, but BB is insanely good, I knew from the title track that the album was going to wreak me emotionally and I was right

okay you don't like it and that's on you but she definitely  doesn't deserve a 60 for this project
it ain't any honeymoon or ultraviolence but wishing her to fail like this... idk seems really unfair just because you're not connecting 
 

If the unreleased tracks were taken out of this album and replaced with White Dress, Chemtrails, Tulsa Jesus Freak, Dark But Just a Game, Yosemite ooof this would have been an insane album. I love it though! Both bodies of work are special and have their own story and mood.

At first I missed the jangly rock version of Thunder but now I appreciate the sadder, more beautiful version we got. It fits the album a lot better I think.

so BB is...interesting
usually im all for unreleased songs being released, but in this case (except for Thunder), she should've keep NOTG, LL, and CB in the vault. I think in this case I'd rather new songs, especially since we've had these songs for a while.
i honestly feel like COCC and BB could have been condensed into one album. Take some off each, and put the rest together, and bam, you'd have an amazing followup to NFR!

of her last 3 albums, BB is definitely her best. and there are three songs (WW, iyldwm, thunder) that are top 10 songs for me and there are other good songs (violets for roses, dealer, arcadia,black bathing suit, living legend) but for me it is not a top 3 album. if you had put together the best songs by cocc and bb as suggested here, a masterpiece would have been created, but unfortunately there are too many skips on both

This album is amazing from the beginning to the end  No skips. The middle part is  absolutely god tier  I can't believe I'm listening to it for almost a week now, times flies by so fast but lemme tell you this album aged beautifully so far & I'm pretty sure it will age like a fine wine

one thing that's missing from BB is reused and reworked How to Disappear instrumentals

beautiful's intro literally looks like this