I Know It's Only Rock n' Roll, But...
Dave Matthews and Peter Frampton got in – but not Sinéad: that's it, burn it all tf down now. Start all over. Whatever it is they're doing, they're doing it wrong if this dopey MOR dogshit gets in ahead of this.
This is the most heartening US political news in many moons: someone (and – holy shit! – a Republican not named Mitt Romney) had a conscience and backbone at the same time, and actually followed through in doing the right thing, for the future of democracy generally and imperilled democratic allies specifically.
'You. Look. Like. Taylor Swift': 16 31 Early Thoughts
01. Are the statuary vibes and composition of the alternate cover for the Anthology edition an allusion to the above?
02. From the album and track titles I was expecting something like a return to the folk-adjacent aesthetic of the pair preceding Midnights, yet, at least for 'side one' of the album-proper (the first 6 tracks here are all top-shelf TS), this is a superb New Wave mood record, more Movement than Closer, though had their lives matched up she would've 100% dated Ian Curtis.
03. The Anthology bonus material comes somewhat closer to Folklore/Evermore territory. It could've on its own been LP #12. She is exceedingly generous, and not only to hard-working truck drivers.
04. "Fortnight" reminds me distinctly of FYC; something like "I'm Not the Man I Used to Be," not "Good Thing" or "She Drives Me Crazy," obviously.
05. "Down Bad" sounds like a Cyndi Lauper deep cut, its sparkly dreaminess belying its bitterness. She sure says "fuck" a lot. If she adds that one to future setlists, there will be some tender ears being covered by some parent chaperones.
06. It is ironic that she is ostensibly/superficially so au courant, because from "Tim McGraw" to "loml" (='Loss of My Life,' evidently: did she coin this acronym?) one constant, near-signature aspect of her songwriting is that the here-and-now present is such a fleeting abstraction, existing only insofar as it generates soon-to-be wistful memories, doors closed too soon, sadly contracted horizons.
07. "So Long, London" is one such closed door, and it's quietly wrenching. Track five, naturally.
08. "I Hate It Here," a national anthem for Cottagecore fantasists and (in truth) many professional historians, sounds like her most personal song in a while that fully passes the Bechdel Test, but really that's anyone's guess; to each their own preferred Taylor.
09. Parataxically: she should really read Helen Waddell's The Wandering Scholars. I strongly suspect she'd enjoy it. Might even inspire a nice song cycle about the clerici vagantes.
10. Who else was surprised she went with the 1830s (so charmingly particular!) rather than the 1920s? Does this subtly mark the end of her F. Scott Fitzgerald Era?
11. Historically inquiring minds want to know: Where does she imagine living in the 1830s? Ante-bellum America? Ugh. But why assume that if she had a time machine she'd stay fixed in the same spot geographically? England, with an extended, leisurely Grand Tour of the Continent, seems like the preferable way to go. Would early Victorian TS have been a Chartist? Or married one?
12. Give or take "Down Bad," "Clara Bow" might be, as of now, my favourite from the album-proper (insofar as that distinction matters?): "It's hell on earth / to be heavenly. / Them's the breaks. / They don't come gently."
13. "It's fun putting your name in songs."
14. (I would be curious to see how many more hits than usual the Clara Bow Wikipedia page has received since TS announced the tracklisting and then since Thursday night.)
15. "But Daddy I Love Him" is her "Papa Don't Preach," right? In effect, though, it's a double fake-out: she's not actually 'in a family way' ("but you should see your faces") and hasn't made a song that has anything to say about procreative rights post-Dobbs v. Jackson.
16. Cowboy Carter is an Election-Year Album. TTPD is not, or only incidentally so. The closest she comes to politics is opting out of the present in favour of the 1830's "but without all the racists and getting married off for the highest bid." Potentially also "the family / the pure greed / the Christian chorus line / They all said nothing / Blood's thick / but nothing like a payroll / Bet they never spared a prayer for my soul" –– until you realize, or read somewhere, that it's just about the Kardashians, not the Trumps and the 'God Bless the USA' Bible.
17. Where we stand now: Beyoncé made a front-to-back country album that celebrates whilst critiquing/re-thinking said genre. Taylor Swift: 0 country songs out of 31.
18. A few of the Dessner tracks and the Antonoff "Fresh out the Slammer" have a faint twang, but just barely and vaguely. Give Bey all the CMAs, except the male-specific ones that Chris Stapleton should get.
19. But TTPD is the better album, genre aside, esp. factoring in the Anthology additions. This kind of apples-to-oranges comparison matters only because, in a time when bands-proper no longer make hit records that (say) 3 different, otherwise unconnected people on a given subway car have all heard and care about (look around in vain for our 2020s The Clash or Nirvana or turn-of-the-millennium Radiohead), TS and BK-C are the only entirely bona fide contenders for Only Band That Matters status. Olivia R. and/or Billie E. could realistically challenge soon enough, at the point when Gen-Z art decisively eclipses Millennial art for primacy in what vestigially remains of our mass-cultural Olympus.
20. And speaking of the Greek, "Cassandra" is a highly fetching bit of personal mythopoesis, notwithstanding the above-noted Kardashians dig because it's polysemous enough to overlook or ignore if one so prefers. To be sure, the ancients also wrote diss verses about such people; it's just that we remember, and still read, the most brilliant among the poets and have mostly forgotten the contemporary objects of their ire. Who, e.g., are the Aurelius and Furius to whom Catullus wanted to do such...graphic things?
21. "Peter" is sadder and lovelier and is the track that (so far) I've been most apt to re-play as soon as it ends. Even if literally no one in 2024 thought they needed another song, or creative work in any medium, using Peter Pan as its point of reference/departure, the way she sings "You said you were gonna grow up / and then you were gonna come find me" leaves me all verklempt.
22. "So High School" is a really sweet song. It's about dating the big goofy/hunky football star, presumably – right? Travis Kelce is the first TS boyfriend I've remotely cared about –– independently, that is, of his utility as muse or anti-muse –– since (I guess?) Jake Gyllenhaal, and mostly just because I like football. He seems like a genuinely good dude, is certainly an elite, possibly HOF-worthy tight end, and I wish them all the best (although if they manage something like sustained domestic bliss I hope she still writes the sad songs sometimes too). Those who know enough Joe Alwyn (I had to Google the spelling of his surname and would've otherwise gone with two 'l's) biographical factoids to recognize those subtexts are a decidedly different sub-species of Swiftie than I am.
23. Travis Kelce may have dreamed about winning three Super Bowls...but did he ever anticipate that someone would someday write a song about him called "The Alchemy"? Let's hope love will keep them together, not tear them apart. :)
24. "How Did It End?" is beautiful and so alluringly cryptic and I am half-terrified to Google it because I really don't wanna know all the reasons that it's about the guy from The 1975. Because fuck that guy.
25. "Imgonnagetyouback" sounds terrific in headphones. Another great New Wave ballad.
26. "I Look in People's Windows" reminds me of my favourite Canadian (and specifically Vancouver-set) short story: "The Window" by Ethel Wilson.
27. "Florida" is the only song here that I dislike...
28. ...which means it'll almost definitely be selected as a single.
29. Solidly generalizable rule, it seems: no TS song has actually substantially benefitted from a featured credit. She's just not that kind of artist-as-artist, despite her social-networking instincts and philanthropic good will. The one with LDR on Midnights was ok-but-just-ok. The Evermore bonus track "Nothing New" is the nearest exception, yet –– while I really, really like Phoebe Bridgers –- it would be approximately as good with Swift singing all of it. Post Malone brings nothing ameliorating to the table on "Fortnight," and Florence Welch is a net-negative (fortunately, in a sense) on the album's worst track.
30. After a dozen or so full listens, plus many more for certain songs, over less than 48 hours, it's readily apparent that TTPD is a masterpiece. Not a perfect record but there are at most maybe a few dozen of those in existence. Where it places in her discography necessitates much more time and careful consideration (at least for habitual list-makers, comme moi).
31. Bottom line, though: No one this big has been this ambitious and this prolific since Prince ca. Sign o' the Times. That was 1987, so that is, indeed, a Big Fucking Deal. That the same can arguably be said of Beyoncé might be the only distinctively interesting-in-a-good-way thing about the world in 2024. Otherwise "I Hate It Here" is a fair take.
A Mood
01. Go-Gos, "Girl of 100 Lists"
02. ABBA, "Lay All Your Love on Me"
03. Whitney Houston, "Saving All My Love for You"
02. ABBA, "Lay All Your Love on Me"
03. Whitney Houston, "Saving All My Love for You"
04. Paul Simon, "I Know What I Know"
05. Simon & Garfunkel, "Hazy Shade of Winter"
06. Bangles, "Hazy Shade of Winter"
07. Pat Benatar, "We Belong"
08. Stevie Nicks, "Edge of Seventeen"
09. Belinda Carlisle, "I Get Weak"
10. Fine Young Cannibals, "I'm Not the Man I Used to Be"
11. Smiths, "You Just Haven't It Earned It Yet, Baby"
12. Kinks, "We Are the Village Green Preservation Society"
13. Spandau Ballet, "True"
14. David Bowie, "Young Americans"
15. Paul McCartney, "Uncle Albert / Admiral Halsey"
16. Romantics, "What I Like About You"
17. Modern Lovers, "I'm Straight"
18. Runaways, "Cherry Bomb"
19. Heart, "All I Wanna Do Is Make Love to You"
20. Rolling Stones, "Miss You"
21. Siouxsie and the Banshees, "Arabian Nights"
22. Jackson Browne, "Somebody's Baby"
23. CCR, "Someday Never Comes"
05. Simon & Garfunkel, "Hazy Shade of Winter"
06. Bangles, "Hazy Shade of Winter"
07. Pat Benatar, "We Belong"
08. Stevie Nicks, "Edge of Seventeen"
09. Belinda Carlisle, "I Get Weak"
10. Fine Young Cannibals, "I'm Not the Man I Used to Be"
11. Smiths, "You Just Haven't It Earned It Yet, Baby"
12. Kinks, "We Are the Village Green Preservation Society"
13. Spandau Ballet, "True"
14. David Bowie, "Young Americans"
15. Paul McCartney, "Uncle Albert / Admiral Halsey"
16. Romantics, "What I Like About You"
17. Modern Lovers, "I'm Straight"
18. Runaways, "Cherry Bomb"
19. Heart, "All I Wanna Do Is Make Love to You"
20. Rolling Stones, "Miss You"
21. Siouxsie and the Banshees, "Arabian Nights"
22. Jackson Browne, "Somebody's Baby"
23. CCR, "Someday Never Comes"
Got This Feeling /
When I Heard Your Name the Other Day
Of my three favourite bands of all time, one called it quits just after I'd turned 2 and another abruptly terminated due to a tragic death five years before I was born. Sleater-Kinney has been the most important (to me) band active during my post-toddler lifetime, and after the years of on/off hiatuses, line-up changes, and unexpected celebrity turns, it's pretty damn wonderful that in 2024 I can still go see Corin Tucker (whom I briefly met after the show!) and Carrie Brownstein shred and riff, twist and shout, shoot the lights out and shake a tail for peace and love (and, as an awesome bonus, with the utterly terrific Black Belt Eagle Scout opening!).
It is in some sense...comforting (?), reassuring (?) that, e.g., The Simpsons is still on (even if I almost never watch new episodes), that LeBron is still playing at a high level (even if he's never been one of my favourite players and I've mainly rooted against the teams he's played on), and that Sleater-Kinney is still exploring new vistas of rock n' roll fun and romantic/sexual/personal/existential frustration (even if their latest album, though quite excellent and their best since The Woods, is haunted by the sonic absence of the most dynamic drummer of her generation).
In other words, last night at the Vogue Theatre was some kinda bliss –– if slightly complicated bliss, because, well, that's the bliss we get 30 years on, take it or leave it, not any which way but loose anymore but any which way you can, "loose" notwithstanding. The Little Rope stuff sounded fantastic (esp. the volcanic "Untidy Creature"; see above), as did the (pre-Janet) Call the Doctor classics gifted to us in the encore, plus "One More Hour," a love/heartbreak forever song that predates Dig Me Out topically if not compositionally, with Corin and Carrie still singing the darkest-eyes blues as if they'd just broken up yesterday. But, alas, "Get Up!," "Oh!," "Jumpers," "The Fox," "All Hands...," and "Dig Me Out" –– though still (to be sure) fucking rocking and competently performed by C & C's tour-band backers –– were poignant and probably inevitable reminders that, well, some things you lose, some things you give away; i.e., replacing Janet Weiss is a fool's errand.
In any case, in honour of the three decades since S-K first formed, here is an updated accounting of their 60 best songs (=30 x 2, because, tellingly, I couldn't satisfactorily stop at just 40 or 50):
01. “Good Things”
02. “Turn It On”
03. “One More Hour”
04. “The End of You”
05. “I’m Not Waiting”
06. “Call the Doctor”
07. “Not What You Want”
08. “Dig Me Out”
09. “Sympathy”
10. “Untidy Creature”
11.“I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone”
12. “Youth Decay”
13. “Start Together”
14. “Get Up!”
15. “Oh!”
16. “Stay Where You Are”
17. “#1 Must-Have”
18. “Jumpers”
19. “The Day I Went Away”
20. “It’s Enough”
21. “The Remainder”
22. “Far Away”
23. “Words and Guitar”
24. “Modern Girl”
25. “Night Light”
26. “The Last Song”
27. “Write Me Back, Fucker”
28. “The Drama You’ve Been Craving”
29. “One Beat”
30. “My Stuff”
31. “Taste Test”
32. “Entertain”
33. “Step Aside”
34. “A Real Man”
35. “You’re No Rock n’ Roll Fun”
36. “No Cities to Love”
37. “Little Mouth”
38. “Little Babies”
39. “Crusader”
40. “Hell”
41. “The Fox”
42. “Burn, Don’t Freeze!”
43. “Things You Say”
44. “Say It Like You Mean It”
45. “You Ain’t It”
46. “Anonymous”
47. “The Size of Our Love”
48. “Buy Her Candy”
49. “What’s Mine Is Yours”
50. “All Hands on the Bad One”
51. “Ironclad”
52. “Don’t Think You Wanna”
53. “How to Play Dead”
54. “Combat Rock”
55. “Ballad of a Ladyman”
56. “A Quarter to Three”
57. “Six Mistakes”
58. “Price Tag”
59. “White Rabbit”
60. “More Than a Feeling”
Ten Things
01. Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran
02. Girls5Eva
03. Under African Skies
03. Under African Skies
06. The Beaches, "Blame Brett"
07. Red Velvet
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