I was excited to find this 7" record at Graywhale last week - it was in the new release section along with a few other Arctic Monkey's 7" singles. I've wanted this one for a long time, because the a-side, Leave Before The Lights Come On, isn't on any of their albums and I like it. But I also really really love the b-side, which is a cover of Baby I'm Yours, originally recorded by Barbara Lewis. I first heard their version over the credits of their live dvd At The Apollo, and have really liked it ever since, so I was very excited to get this record.
I do like the new Weezer self-titled album (Black). I could see how some people might feel this is not the album they want from Weezer, perhaps because it continues to stray far from the sound that first made them popular. However, I think the songwriting on this one is pretty good. My favorite track so far is High As A Kite, and I really like the video for that sound as well. But I also like all the other tracks. I streamed it twice yesterday before deciding to buy the cd, which I'm playing now.
I'll admit that this surprise release yesterday kind of upstaged the new Weezer album, which I had been looking forward to for a while but only played twice, while I played the new Solange album, When I Get Home, four times. I really like the sparse synth and electronic drum sounds. I'm planning to buy this on cd or vinyl as soon as its available (that's one downside of surprise album releases in my opinion - no physical product on release date.) I've liked Solange ever since I heard her True ep, which I mainly got into because it was a songwriting and production collaboration with Dev Hynes of Blood Orange. Dev's name is in the credits for the new album, but his input was much smaller (I think just appearing on a track or so - I haven't seen the actual credits yet.) He seems to be friends with a lot of othe artists - I was recently surprised when I saw him suddenly show up in Vampire Weekend's recent video for Harmony Hall.
I was sad to hear of the death this week of Mark Hollis, lead singer of 80's band Talk Talk. He was only 64, so it came as a surprise. It seems fashionable to like Talk Talk for their last 2 albums, Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock, which took a more experimental direction. However, I really love their first album, The Party's Over, which was more straight forward 80s' pop with lot's of synthesizers. Mark had a very interesting voice, and I enjoy listening to him sing. Probably my favorite track from Talk Talk is It's A Shame from their second album It's My Life.
I don’t care for the Black Album, but do like the cover.
ReplyDeleteI haven't listened to the whole album, but I haven't liked the first three songs I heard off it.
ReplyDeleteI also like the cover.
My favorite tracks on Weezer Black are High As A Kite, Piece of Cake, and Too Many Thoughts In My Head. I can respect the Neil Young put down at the start ob Byzantine, though it shows that Rivers is on the wrong side of audio quality - in my opinion Neil Young is completely correct about his audio fidelity "preaching" and no good song should ever be listened to on phone speakers. But then, perhaps if Rivers had more respect for audio quality, the Black album wouldn't have such poor dynamic range. But, I can still enjoy it anyway.
ReplyDeleteI've also been streaming the Teal album, trying to decide if I should buy it on cd now that it is out today. I do like the Weezer versions, but I'm not convinced I would actually choose to listen to it very often. I'm just glad that they haven't made a lame decision like the Simpsons people that they need to remove Billie Jean from the album! That is a subject I am feeling really upset about today - to me it seems like the height of arrogance to feel that we need to censor art because the person who created it has done something evil in their life. To me, it doesn't matter how horrible of a person Michael Jackson was or was not, we should not feel the least bit guilty about continuing to enjoy his music and we definitely should not be removing the Stark Raving Dad Simpsons' episode from circulation. If Michael Jackson is guilty of molesting children, that is horrible. Anyone who does that should be convicted and punished by the law. (Of course he is dead so, it's too late for that.) But it certainly doesn't mean that we need to punish ourselves by feeling guilty about enjoying his work or watching movies and tv shows where he appears.
I disagree.
DeleteFavorite albums of 2019 so far:
ReplyDelete1. White Lies -Five
2. Priests - The Seduction Of Kansas
3. Twilight Sad - It Won't Be Like This All The Time
4. Sleeper - The Modern Age
5. Drenge - Strange Creatures