Lana's staying power

[BabyTonight 77]

While I feel like she has staying power I think it's good for business she's reverting back to Born To Die + Paradise sounds. I feel like that's what people want. I know it's what a majority of this fan base wants and we know the general fans love that Born To Die sound, I hope she does promo and sells well again this era. And more than three singles + music videos please. 

[graham4anything 2,859]

Lana has done something I can't recall any female singer has ever done, and I have been listening to music since the early 1960s.

What female artist in history has written so much and sung so much?

Aretha has songs written for her.

Petula Clark sang other peoples songs.

Mama Cass-sang others

Janis Joplin- sang others (Me and Bobby McGee was written by Kris Kristofferson).

others have burnt out or died or have one or two albums, but then go years of nothing.

 

 

Anyone who knew of her older songs then and now, it is clear they are her words, her ideas, her thoughts and while others may change a word, tidy up a lyric, I would say 90% is hers.

Much like Leonard Cohen, Lana is a poet first, a writer, a visual artist.

Much like Brian Wilson, the recording studio is more important than putting on a show. Old school. Singing direct to audience. One doesn't need bells and whistles.

The legendary artists of all time didn't do anything but stand at the microphone and sing.

Edith Piaf, Sinatra, Orbison, the Beatles(who also didn't do very many shows), Brian Wilson, Elton basically at the piano.

 

Speaking of Elton, Elton only does the music, Bernie the words. Lana does words and music.

 

I think like Elton, like Brian Wilson, if Lana wants to, she can be around for 60 years and her music will live on.

I don't think it is an exaggeration to think that when the time comes, Lana will be in the Hall of Fame.

(If only she could get to induct Lou Reed).

 

And Lana is doing it her own way. She is not playing the normal game.  What are there about 300 different songs already, most unreleased, something a Bruce Springsteen or the Grateful Dead did,

all these rarieties. (We are lucky to have them on youtube). And not a bad one in the bunch.

 

She already has 3 Top 10 albums. (check the chart records, one can count the relatively few female singers on the US album charts that have had 3 Top 10 albums, and Honeymoon will be the 4th.

And without  a real hit single either nor looking for any radio airplay (and not needing it)..

 

I am looking forward to Honeymoon, and anything else released. Do wish the Brian Wilson duet had happened, that would have been a good grammy entry next year, but others will come.

 

If this was 1967-8-9, Lana would have had 10 number one songs on stations like WABC, New York and KHJ California.

 

As said above, the Hall of Fame in a couple of decades, the Songwriting Hall of fame, etc.

And it wouldn't surprise me if there will be an Oscar for producing a short film. (An Oscar is an Oscar, no matter what category).

[Honeymooner 336]

Like others here have said, no one can predict the future. But I sure hope she will stay in the business and keep making music for a long time to come. She has talent! Gaga has talent, too (her Julie Andrews tribute during the Oscars recently is proof enough of that)... Lorde has talent, lots of people have talent. I suspect Gaga will be remembered more than Lana due to her flamboyancy. But Lana has a unique style, and it's something I'll listen to for a long, long time.

[iwasborntodie 306]

I feel like people would be more into her if they heard her unreleased stuff. That was what took me from "oh she's nice" to "yaaaaaas" level. She's more versatile than BTD, P, and UV show, but most people will never see that. Their loss.

Well look at how Gaga has shocked a lot of people of late with her jazz and Broadway-esque singing and it's really working for her. I believe a more jazzy sound was what Lady Gaga was doing around the bars of New York before fame. There's so much unreleased Lana stuff which could be collated into studio albums but alas, I can't see this happening.

[BettyBalloon 7]

OK, so I think Lana is a bit of a slut though. Only one? Like, she dates about 50 men a month and it's kinda gross.

[HEARTCORE 18,833]

OK, so I think Lana is a bit of a slut though. Only one? Like, she dates about 50 men a month and it's kinda gross.

ok go away

[letsescapelizzy 672]

dates 50 men a month? LOL.. honey where are you getting your 'facts' from LOL.. this couldn't be farther from the truth..lol..

also remember - many artists have 'personas' that are completely separate from reality..

[letsescapelizzy 672]

Yes, Gaga sounded amazing on the Oscars.. I didn't even know she could sing that beautiful.. great performance.

[Macintosh Manhattan 6,505]

OK, so I think Lana is a bit of a slut though. Only one? Like, she dates about 50 men a month and it's kinda gross.

Seriously why are you on here....

[iwasborntodie 306]

Let's just not take the 'balloon' bait. Such outlandish statements don't even deserve a response.

[slang 1,509]

Lana has done something I can't recall any female singer has ever done, and I have been listening to music since the early 1960s.

What female artist in history has written so much and sung so much?

 

 

Well, Joni Mitchell would be the example I would most consider a comparison benchmark to LDR's potential. JM migrated in style quite a bit, especially during the first half of her career going from folk singer (clouds, blue) to pop (court and spark), eperimental (hissing of summer lawns), mellow but thoroughly modern jazz (hegira), classic jazz (Mingus, a collabo with Charles Mingus, his last project, in fact), progressive/neo-romantic (don juan's reckless daughter), and socially informed/pissed off (dog eat dog). 

 

Obviously, Joni has superior guitar chops and arguably a more literary and socially-responsible sense of lyrics. She also painted and often composed her own awesome album cover art.

 

IMO, what LDR has going for her is a better and more diverse sense of melody. This is combined with  more powerful computer-aided composing tools than were available to Joni. I'll assume their vocal talents are (were) equal but for different reasons (i.e., they have different strengths). LDR is perhaps also a better meta-composer in the sense of bringing out the best in her producers, which is why I think her producers uniformly love her. As you point out, it's both the prolificness and diversity that really sets LDR apart, so she does herself a disservice by not having Sirens and the AKA album in print (released) so that people can better appreciate this. At least if these were out there, the discontinuity between BTD and UV would have seemed more expected. Then there's all the unreleased work (5+ or so hours, that I know of) that is different from both the two aborted albums and her released work. The mind boggles.

[FROGGO 2,803]

Let's just not take the 'balloon' bait. Such outlandish statements don't even deserve a response.

If only the people of LanaBoards adopted this mentality about your posts...       

 

 

[iwasborntodie 306]

Yes, Gaga sounded amazing on the Oscars.. I didn't even know she could sing that beautiful.. great performance.

Ahh where have you been? I think a lot of people have been bluffed by Gaga's, ahem, fashion choices, into thinking this hid the fact she had no talent/couldnt sing but the truth is she an amazing vocalist.

[slang 1,509]

OK, so I think Lana is a bit of a slut though. Only one? Like, she dates about 50 men a month and it's kinda gross.

"I would argue that the uncomfortable feelings she elicits are simply the by-product of watching a woman wanting and taking like a man."  -- Liz Phair

 

http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2012/02/04/liz-phair-on-why-lana-del-rey-scares-rocks-boys-club/

 

I might be taking Liz's comment a bit out of context, but I still think it could apply here. If LDR engages in "free love" or "open relationships" to some extent (which maybe she does), so what? Who are you to judge?

[graham4anything 2,859]

I think some day the older works will be in normal lp format, there probably is some rights issue and maybe Interscope don't want it out now.

 

But I don't find Ultraviolence to be a major difference than Born to die and Paradise.

 

I think Ultraviolence more plays up 1969 (and yet the Nino Rota reference in Old Money, from 1969's theme from Romeo and Juliet) was done many years ago in the demo Lana long ago recorded.

 

Joni Mitchell is a good example, hadn't thought of her in writing the other posts.

Also, Harry Chapin, whom I was a major fan and saw dozens of times. Harry just sat and sang, and critics also roasted Harry, yet Harry was also for the underdog, the person down on their luck,

the oddballs. Harry was unique.

 

It might be interesting if Lana were to champion Harry Chapin and possibly use her influence to get him in the Hall of Fame.

Also, at some point, Lana finding a cause/charity like Harry did (and Harry was the next in line after the 1950s/1960s folk singers, which in a sense, Lana is a folk singer, in that like

Harry, like Pete Seeger, it was always a sing-along concert. One listen to any concert tape, and the entire audience is singing with her. Communal style. Like the fests in the old days.

Harry never got the credit, but he got people like Bruce Springsteen and other newer artists at that time into doing charity work, and they have passed it down to more recent artists.

 

Lana could do the same. Though she doesn't want to be a role model, she could with a good cause, harness it (without selling out, without changing one bit that makes her what she is.)

 

But great point on Joni Mitchell. Imagine if somehow the two could do something together. Though Joni is basically retired from music now. Interesting to think about.

 

edit to add 2/26- I looked up Joni's American chart stats-

though it really is kind of silly to compare chart stats, but why not-

Lana has a #1 and #2 and #8

Joni has a #2 lp

 

singles- Joni reached #7 Lana #6

but again it's silly. Joni is a legend both singing and songwriting, and Joni is like Lana unique.

Which is a compliment to compare Lana too Joni.

 

I do think as the years go on, more people will cover Lana's songs.

 

(note- this was edited)

Edited February 26, 2015 by graham4anything

[BabyTonight 77]

OK, so I think Lana is a bit of a slut though. Only one? Like, she dates about 50 men a month and it's kinda gross.

Delete it fat.

[smoledman 199]

Lana has done something I can't recall any female singer has ever done, and I have been listening to music since the early 1960s.

What female artist in history has written so much and sung so much?

 

 

Kate Bush and Tori Amos say hello.

[graham4anything 2,859]

No, and I was about to post something like this on a different thread, the Honeymoon thread-(and I was a really big Kate fan when she first arrived, was in the audience at SNL but never got a chance to see her in concert here in USA, and considered going to UK recently, but not after I read what songs she would be singing. When the reviews of the first performance came in, I was no longer really interested in the time

and expense to pick up a ticket(which I could have gotten just to hear those songs as she eliminated most of her early work). (It would be like Lana not doing BTD/Paradise or Ultraviolence).

anyhow-

 Kate Bush was taken by David Gilmour and basically he tutored her and spent years on her concept prior to her releases. Kate already had the Pink Floyd lineage and fan base prior to her release.

More important, Kate had the press on her side, due to that connection.

 

Plus she almost never toured and released very few records before disappearing for years on end. And Kate had zero success in America besides cult star. Her biggest US charter only reached #30,

and her biggest lp  in the US "Red Shoes" did not make the top 25. (Her last album didn't even chart in the US top 200).

 

I personally believe Kate came back now because of among others, Lana, to reclaim her space. Though Kate in concert was a production, not a singer singing their songs. Personally I go to Broadway to see a production, and concerts to hear a singer sing their songs. I find the production parts to be a distraction. (Same with costume changes and long band solos while the singer leaves the stage).

 

 

 

 

 

If one is talking quantiy/and quality, Elton John and Dylan are the more apt comparisons, though to be compared to Kate Bush ain't bad itself.