Blue Banisters - Pre-Release Thread: OUT October 22nd, 2021

[wildflowerwildfire 7,142]

BB DROPS THIS WEEK OMG

[SalvaWHORE 34,995]

me removing BB l-worded zip file from my phone, computer & my memory to pretend to hear the album for the first time on this Friday: 

[Alison by Slowdive 26,165]

confused abt the timeline of bb and what constitutes her past present and future. the intro of 

  Reveal hidden contents

black bathing suit

sounds like either a flashback or flash forward - guessing the latter, since it's very much about "today"? 

 

[fessle 730]

Can we talk about how Dealer is SUPREME

[Neohumanist 330]

  On 10/18/2021 at 7:50 AM, Alison by Slowdive said:

confused abt the timeline of bb and what constitutes her past present and future. the intro of 

  Reveal hidden contents

black bathing suit

sounds like either a flashback or flash forward - guessing the latter, since it's very much about "today"? 

 

I think it would be fun to find the chronological order of the songs. 
The ones I’m sure about are:

-Blue banisters : first song that link COTCC with Blue banisters (the reference to Nikki Lane and even the sound)

- Sweet Carolina: last song, because is dedicated to Chuck’s baby 

-Text Book: Before Sweet Caroline, because it talk about recent events  (Black Lives Matter)

 

[yourman 60]

My best to least list. Let me know if you strongly disagree with any - i will be forced to revisit. 

  Reveal hidden contents

1. Wildflower Wildfire

2. Arcadia

3. Black Bathing Suit

4. Violets for Roses

5. Living Legend

6. Thunder

7.  Sweet Caroline

8. Text Book

9. Blue Banister

10. Dealer

^i like all and below i just don’t care for.

11. Beautiful

12. Cherry Blossom

13. If you lie down next to me

14. Nectar of the Gods

[The Siren 30,543]

  On 10/18/2021 at 8:04 AM, yourman said:

My best to least list. Let me know if you strongly disagree with any - i will be forced to revisit. 

  Reveal hidden contents

1. Wildflower Wildfire

2. Arcadia

3. Black Bathing Suit

4. Violets for Roses

5. Living Legend

6. Thunder

7.  Sweet Caroline

8. Text Book

9. Blue Banister

10. Dealer

11. Beautiful

12. Cherry Blossom

13. If you lie down next to me

14. Nectar of the Gods

No such thing as best to worst with Lana. It's only best to lesser best x

[yourman 60]

  On 10/18/2021 at 8:12 AM, The Siren said:

No such thing as best to worst with Lana. It's only best to lesser best x

I never said worst

[SalvaWHORE 34,995]

Plot twist: Lana signed off from all her socials to finish the LDR9 and i've just taken a noon-nap and had a had a dream that she would announce LDR9 (first) title on this Friday  it has to mean something 

 

[Thunder Revenant 20,997]

Soooo I finally listened to the leak for the first time.

Many users complained about the album having too many outtakes however

  Reveal hidden contents

I have to admit that the only songs that I have problems warming up to are the ones we hadn't heard before.

If You Lie Down With Me is probably my favourite unheard song so far. It's a bit weird, I like the lyrics and vocal performance and the 20-esque outro. It still kinda lacks focus and is all over the place.

Black Bathing Suit is a huge mess. I guess it will unfold after some time, but at least after my first listen I had very little motivation to go back to it and figure it out. I' guess Id really like it if it wasn't for that whacky post-chorus and they'd invested that energy in a more exciting production - maybe something slightly more cinematic like Text Book.

Violets For Roses is nice but not sticking out too much. I like her low-register delivery and the melody but the whole track is something she's done before.

Beautiful and Sweet Caroline are solid tunes but they kinda feel very filler-ish.

None of these unheard songs really got me excited, even though I did not actively dislike any of them. All of the leaked/ previously released songs actually provided the best moments of the album to me, at least during my first run through it.

 

 

Also, I think the tracklist is pretty messy

  Reveal hidden contents

First of all I don't get why she interrupted that perfect transition from BBS to Beautiful.

Then there is that interlude, which is a lot of fun, but the fact that it interjects this trap beat in between two ballads kinda defeats its pupose.

I also feel like IYLDWM should have been next to Arcadia, they seem like sister songs with the jazzy piano and the horn sections.

I'd personally also put VFR after IYLDWM, it works a bit better that way. And Dealer hits even harder if it's coming after the Disney-ballad that is Beautiful.

Soooo if I had to rearrange the tracklist it would be:

 

01. Text Book
02. Blue Banisters
03. Arcadia
04. If You Lie Down With Me
05. Violets For Roses
06. Black Bathing Suit
07. Beautiful
08. Dealer
09. Thunder
10.Wildflower Wildfire
11. Nectar Of The Gods
12. Living Legend
13. Cherry Blossom
14. Sweet Caroline

Considering the outtakes

 

  Reveal hidden contents

I already said it many times, but I'll say it again - I think that rework for Thunder was a huge downgrade.
It's still a good song but she really sucked a lot of the energy and fire it had out of it. The build up was not worth stripping all of the momentum off the first half of the song. I could see a piano-driven first chorus work if the drums and backing singers would kick in for the chorus, but the fact that this first one is just her singing over the piano and violin makes it sound empty and powerless. We already have a stripped down variation of the chorus after the bridge, which has a much bigger effect. The way the watered-down percussion kicks in for the second verse does basically nothing, it's no big suprise or hard-hitting change, it's just this lame beat lurking into the song without making an impact. The worst thing is how they underuse the backing singers. It was that chemistry between their chants and Lana's delivery that made that song shine, it's not something you are supposed to strip back.

I think Living Legend and NOTG make a lot of sense on this record, placing them back to back with one another and then also adding Cherry Blossom was probably not the best idea though since they all sound pretty similar and it makes them hard to distinguish when you're not really paying full attention to the music.

Dealer is great, I'm glad we have it and I think it fits BB much better than CoCC. However it has a similar problem like The Trio. Everything about that tune screams BREAKING MOMENT! however after it's over, the album basically just goes on the way it went before. Not watering down Thunder could have helped here.

All in all I really like that album and I think it will grow on me even more. It's a very good autumn/late summer album.

It definitly has its flaws and could have been better but it's still a huge improvement after the uninspired CoCC.

I don't see it surpassing NFR, HM or UV for me, but it will definitly take place 4 in my Lana album ranking for now.

[yourman 60]

  On 10/18/2021 at 8:16 AM, Thunder Revenant said:

Soooo I finally listened to the leak for the first time.

Many users complained about the album having too many outtakes however

  Reveal hidden contents

I have to admit that the only songs that I have problems warming up to are the ones we hadn't heard before.

If You Lie Down With Me is probably my favourite unheard song so far. It's a bit weird, I like the lyrics and vocal performance and the 20-esque outro. It still kinda lacks focus and is all over the place.

Black Bathing Suit is a huge mess. I guess it will unfold after some time, but at least after my first listen I had very little motivation to go back to it and figure it out. I' guess Id really like it if it wasn't for that whacky post-chorus and they'd invested that energy in a more exciting production - maybe something slightly more cinematic like Text Book.

Violets For Roses is nice but not sticking out too much. I like her low-register delivery and the melody but the whole track is something she's done before.

Beautiful and Sweet Caroline are solid tunes but they kinda feel very filler-ish.

None of these unheard songs really got me excited, even though I did not actively dislike any of them. All of the leaked/ previously released songs actually provided the best moments of the album to me, at least during my first run through it.

 

 

Also, I think the tracklist is pretty messy

  Reveal hidden contents

First of all I don't get why she interrupted that perfect transition from BBS to Beautiful.

Then there is that interlude, which is a lot of fun, but the fact that it interjects this trap beat in between two ballads kinda defeats its pupose.

I also feel like IYLDWM should have been next to Arcadia, they seem like sister songs with the jazzy piano and the horn sections.

I'd personally also put VFR after IYLDWM, it works a bit better that way. And Dealer hits even harder if it's coming after the Disney-ballad that is Beautiful.

Soooo if I had to rearrange the tracklist it would be:

 

01. Text Book
02. Blue Banisters
03. Arcadia
04. If You Lie Down With Me
05. Violets For Roses
06. Black Bathing Suit
07. Beautiful
08. Dealer
09. Thunder
10.Wildflower Wildfire
11. Nectar Of The Gods
12. Living Legend
13. Cherry Blossom
14. Sweet Caroline

Considering the outtakes

 

  Reveal hidden contents

I already said it many times, but I'll say it again - I think that rework for Thunder was a huge downgrade.
It's still a good song but she really sucked a lot of the energy and fire it had out of it. The build up was not worth stripping all of the momentum off the first half of the song. I could see a piano-driven first chorus work if the drums and backing singers would kick in for the chorus, but the fact that this first one is just her singing over the piano and violin makes it sound empty and powerless. We already have a stripped down variation of the chorus after the bridge, which has a much bigger effect. The way the watered-down percussion kicks in for the second verse does basically nothing, it's no big suprise or hard-hitting change, it's just this lame beat lurking into the song without making an impact. The worst thing is how they underuse the backing singers. It was that chemistry between their chants and Lana's delivery that made that song shine, it's not something you are supposed to strip back.

I think Living Legend and NOTG make a lot of sense on this record, placing them back to back with one another and then also adding Cherry Blossom was probably not the best idea though since they all sound pretty similar and it makes them hard to distinguish when you're not really paying full attention to the music.

Dealer is great, I'm glad we have it and I think it fits BB much better than CoCC. However it has a similar problem like The Trio. Everything about that tune screams BREAKING MOMENT! however after it's over, the album basically just goes on the way it went before. Not watering down Thunder could have helped here.

All in all I really like that album and I think it will grow on me even more. It's a very good autumn/late summer album.

It definitly has its flaws and could have been better but it's still a huge improvement after the uninspired CoCC.

I don't see it surpassing NFR, HM or UV for me, but it will definitly take place 4 in my Lana album ranking for now.

So crazy how my opinions on IYLDNTM, black bathing suit and violets for roses are so opposite to yours.

[SalvaWHORE 34,995]

I'm still curious about the thing that "Lana wanted to do & been planning for a long time" that Ben/Ed mentioned beforehand and what was Ben reposting the fan's story about Lana having 2 projects coming for?

[wildflowerwildfire 7,142]

  On 10/18/2021 at 7:20 AM, Whore of Tropico said:

me removing BB l-worded zip file from my phone, computer & my memory to pretend to hear the album for the first time on this Friday: 

i did the same because else i’ll be listening 20x a day until friday because i can’t control myself 

[MagicalTrancePotion 1,675]

  On 10/18/2021 at 7:50 AM, Alison by Slowdive said:

confused abt the timeline of bb and what constitutes her past present and future. the intro of 

  Reveal hidden contents

black bathing suit

sounds like either a flashback or flash forward - guessing the latter, since it's very much about "today"? 

 

 

I'm a little confused too, but  I think 

  Reveal hidden contents

BBS is probably somewhere in the middle, like a little after Arcadia. They kind of have similar themes, but BBS feels like it has a little more acceptance.

 

 

[GeminiLanaFan 50,362]

  On 10/18/2021 at 8:27 AM, Whore of Tropico said:

I'm still curious about the thing that "Lana wanted to do & been planning for a long time" that Ben/Ed mentioned beforehand and what was Ben reposting the fan's story about Lana having 2 projects coming for?

Her cover album? 

[Coney Island King 26,389]

  Reveal hidden contents

Sweet Carolina is a bit whatever to me i must say. Not sure if it’s because by the last track I’m just ballad-ed out, but it’s very forgettable to me.

Cherry Blossom already feels like an “ending”.

[lanasgirl 3,803]

  On 10/18/2021 at 1:19 AM, fantascination said:

I just wanted to say this, and I have nowhere else to say it:

 

For me, Lana's music - especially Born to Die, Ultraviolence, and Honeymoon - is so nostalgic, and so evocative of my teenage years. It triggers those memories and those sensations for me in a way that nothing else does. I first discovered Lana in 2011, with the Video Games MV; I was 13 years old. I'm 23 years old now. I literally grew up with Lana and her music. 

 

I remember riding in my best friend's car when I sixteen years old, screaming the lyrics to Born to Die and Off to the Races, not really understanding what they meant back then, but, simultaneously, understanding exactly what they meant. I remember being sprawled out on my bed, drunk, listening to West Coast, feeling every inch of it in the marrow of my bones. I remember Honeymoon, and Art Deco, and The Blackest Day, and all of the things those songs made me feel.

 

Lana was an integral part of my childhood. An integral part of my formative years. And Blue Banisters feels like the ultimate cumulation of that; it feels, in a way, like we've grown and matured together. Here I am, ten years later, an adult who's seen so much and been so through so much in the last ten years. And I just feel like Blue Banisters reflects those feelings, and that maturation, so well.

 

I don't know. I'm drunk, and I'm probably being over-sentimental. But I can already tell that this album is going to be significant, and sentimental, to me.

GIRL LITERALLY SAME SAME SAME 

We even have the same age omg

[GeminiLanaFan 50,362]

  On 10/18/2021 at 5:55 AM, RainbowEyes said:

I would love to see the BB Video, the tiny snipped she posted weeks ago got such a VIBE  but i think she scrapped that completly because of the breakup with clay, we will never see that thing

Hopefully she will release a new video anyway, i mean just 2 proper Musicvideos for Chemtrails was a little bit of a let down

And i personally didn't like the WD Video at all, it was a little bit boring and the thing with her stunt double is a kind of

Didn’t BoZ say that there never was a complete MV for BB? That what she had filmed was for promo only and what we saw is probably all that there is? 
I agree with you that this album needs another MV.

Beautiful has the potential to be a single and a MV would be lovely 🥰 

[GeminiLanaFan 50,362]

  On 10/18/2021 at 4:21 AM, Deadly Cruel Girl said:

Is the new album better the Chemtrails? That's all I wanna know.

Many feel it’s better, yeah. 
to me, Chemtrails was very good but a bit incomplete (add one or two sexy songs à la TJF and it’s a complete album), and I didn’t get that feeling with BB. There is a lot to go back to. 

[Thunder Revenant 20,997]

  On 10/18/2021 at 4:21 AM, Deadly Cruel Girl said:

Is the new album better the Chemtrails? That's all I wanna know.

I think so. CoCC already started out with a very bleak soundscape which adding up with it fizzling out halfway through kinda ruined it for me. BB is much "fuller" considering sound, lyricism and atmosphere. There is more to explore and come back to