This is not the music post I mentioned, it's something else

[petronia]

I upped all this stuff for subdee a few days back so figured I should link them on LJ or something.

Babyshambles:
Down in Albion
The Blinding EP
Shotter's Nation

Dirty Pretty Things:
Waterloo to Anywhere

Down in Albion is kind of an oddball album. Reviewers mostly hated it; hardcore Babyshambles fans (they skew young) love it with surpassing fiery passion and don't like anything the band's done since. I've come to like it a lot. My sister thinks I'm nuts. It's like a Syd Barrett record made at a Dark Side of the Moon temperature of fame, only nobody gets it when I say that. XD; Basically the thing should come with a sticker that says "Contents sound nothing like the Libertines (contains reggae / ska / shouty punk bits / alt-country / weird meandering jazzy stuff, NO ACTUAL INDIE ROCK, also vocalist is deranged)", then expectations could have been better managed. Maybe. Then again it's also pretty obvious to me that the thing doesn't "sound like demos", it is "carefully crafted to convey a lo-fi aesthetic". Carefully crafted by whom is a different question (Mick Jones?). ...This is oddly reminiscent of the discussion re: Britney Spears' Blackout.

Patrick Walden = the Keith Levene in this equation, totally.

There is this dull stretch in the middle but I can listen to the first eight songs straight through. Then I skip to "Albion" and play it through to the end. There's a sleeper every week and this time it's "Merry-Go-Round" (though I end up putting on the 2003 sessions version instead because it's one of those from which Carl's part was uprooted by brute force, like a particularly tenacious strawberry plant. Only, uh, made out of close harmonies).

In comparison the DPT album is a lot more conventional in format and less with the unhingedness, albeit PLAYED REALLY FAST AND ANGRILY WITH SPIKY GUITARS. Of the various projects I find native rock fans like Tania respond first and immediately (and without fail) to WtA, so it depends on where one falls on the spectrum. And it would just be artistically appropriate for the review lengths to mirror the album lengths, wouldn't it. XD

It's an exorcism of sorts. The run of DPT songs I really like starts basically the moment the record ends ("B.U.R.M.A." -> "One to my Left" -> "Nine Lives" -> "Come Closer" -> "Tired of England" -> "Faultlines"... come to think there are a whole bunch of them, it'll all gel on the second album then).

What else... uh, I've talked about Shotter's Nation (though not about "French Dog Blues" which is the prettiest song on it). The EP is an EP. XD; I could actually go on a fair bit about the video (it's by Julien Temple, the dude who did that "Blue Jean" short for David Bowie) but it's getting kind of obscenely late. My sister thinks the best song is "I Wish", I think the best one is "Sedative". Which sounds like the 90's**, but I'll live, honest. Maybe I'll just think of it as "True Faith" on downers.



** It's got the same drum pattern as "High and Dry". That has got to be Adam's own initiative though, I kind of don't see Peter Doherty ripping off Radiohead's snares. XD;

Comments

[one-if-by-land.livejournal.com]

sabina, your music reviews are always the best. *_*

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Hah, you're welcome - I'm amazed anyone reads them considering I post at 3AM. XD;