I haven’t heard it yet, since I’m typing this very post from work and the tyrants have firewalled all streaming content, but you probably can (and should) go on and czech the new Brian Wilson jam That Old Lucky Sun from now until Sept. 1 (the day before its release). And, for whatever reason, it’s USA Today that has the jump on this. So go here and let me know how it is. I’ll be right here.
While you’re groovin’ high, I suppose you can also peruse all the hawtttt celebrity gossip USA Today is wont to publish. The article has a nice little timeline available to read so you can get to know B Dubs a little better, though it curiously omits the most fun part of his life - flipping out and building a sandbox around his piano. I hope that That Old Lucky Sun is awesome, but being released to USA Today first doesn’t bode well for its potential awesomeness.
I actually had the pleasure of hearing Brian Wilson speak at a panel during the CMJ Music Marathon 2004 in New York City, right before the Smile sessions were released. He seemed like a nice man. Though he was the keynote speaker that day, he didn’t say much. At all. Whatsoever. Van Dyke Parks did most of the talking, and he would occasionally lean over to Brian and say “isn’t that right, Brian.” “Yes, yes, I remember that. Very fun. Making music. Fun.” It was weird. But it was awesome, too.
Pics or it didn’t happen:
And you also can hear new Verve album Forth (which is not “Fourth” as I reported a couple of weeks ago… clever) on their OMG MYSPACE LOL streaming in its entirety. I assume they did this since the album leaked on torrent last week (and I was able to snag it).
I can’t decide whether the new Verve record sucks or not. Forth comes out on Tuesday (the 25th). I probably will not be spending my milk money on it. Be it as it may.
First, I should say that I feel the Verve deserves every bit of press and success they receive by reuniting and releasing Forth. I feel this way for two reasons. Numero uno, it’s good to have the Verve back and in the public conscience, even if they’re a shadow of what they were in the early ’90s. Things are worse than ever in music Thunderdome, even worse than when the Verve called it quits in the late ’90s during the advent of rap metal and Third Eye Blind’s reign of supremacy. At least at that time, the indie and college radio world didn’t embrace utter horseshit like they do today. In 1997, when Urban Hymns was released, the en masse dumbing down of music came from the mainstream. Now, it’s coming from the “underground” (strong emphasis on the quotations). And that is worse. Vampire Weekend and the Ting Tings are basically this decade’s Third Eye Blind and Smash Mouth. Jesus fuck. In the more visible echelon of music, we need a formidable presence like the Verve now more than ever.
Secondly, it’s about time that the Verve cashed in their dues. They released two mammoth, majestic albums (A Storm in Heaven and A Northern Soul) as well as a definitive shoegazing five-song EP, all of which, tragically, barely made a splash. Then, when the Verve finally got a taste of success with “Bittersweet Symphony,” motherfuckin’ Rolling Stones lawyers took, like, all their goddamn money… and technically, their Grammy too. The suit itself was brought on by Alan Klein, a music industry hack who owns the copyrights to Jagger/Richards pre-’70s catalog. The reason - they sampled too much of the string arrangement from “The Last Time,” despite a licensing agreement that allowed the Verve to sample it. The band argued that the cretins who represented the Stones got greedy when they saw how well the single was doing. The Verve received no loyalties from the track’s success.
Considering all this, the Verve has earned the right to do whatever they want. Including the right to suck, if they so choose.
So anyway, yeah, Forth is a confusing record for me. It’s not an intrinsically lousy album. The vast majority of it is catchy, melodic, and beautiful. But here’s how l look at it (as I continue my mantra of “tangential associations are as vital as the music itself in a listening experience”) - if this album was released by, say, Manic Street Preachers or Doves, I would’ve probably liked it. But this is the Verve. The Verve are hard-ass shoegazers. So when Coldplay releases a more daring album than a group of hard-ass shoegazers, there’s a serious problem here.
The track’s single, “Love is Noise,” found here, is pretty representative of most of the record. Lots of cool sound effects, dense layers of sound, impeccable percussion… completely corny radio-ready pop song. “Love is Noise” could’ve fit perfectly on Achtung, Baby, since cool sound effects plus cheesy pop was its vibe as well. Once again, there’s nothing wrong with slick pop, but the Verve has the talent to go beyond those parameters. The next track, “Judas,” doesn’t get much better, mixing thick, brooding, bombastic Brit-rock guitar standards with Ashcroft vocal-hooks almost coming off as a moody Starland Vocal Band. “Noise Epic” is neither noise or epic - lots of reverb on the rhythm and melody, but when Richard pops in to recite an, ehhh, spoken word piece, dumbassery is laid on thicker than the ProTools layers on each guitar track. I really hate spoken word tracks in rock - that’s the Lizard King’s self-indulgent territory, not the Verve’s. Vanity Fair recently described this record as (a phrase I often use) “brain melting psychedelia.” If that’s the case, Vanity Fair’s brain probably melts right out of its skull like butter when The Joshua Tree thumps from the speaker. I really wonder who these people are that magazines hire.
The album collects more focus as it progresses. “Appalachian Skies” marches toward Anton Newcombe style electric folk. “Valium Skies” and “I See Houses” both take a cue from Spiritualized - you can mature without growing old, creating two fairly fresh, exciting, thick dream pop gems. Unfortunately, these are the only three moments of clarity in a rather meandering album striving to oust Britain’s most popular right now (that’s a 70% failure rate for those of you at home playing along). Really, the Verve, considering the legend that cultivated around their demise, could’ve released a spectacular, sonically richer, and more challenging record to about the same level of success. It’s too bad they didn’t seize that opportunity.
So I dunno about this whole Forth business. Forth, at its best, is incandescent and ethereal, bloated and insubstantial at its worst. Forth is almost cosmic refuse. It’s the sound of a group trying to recreate its former drugged-out sound. But between balancing families, finances, and responsibilities with kickin’ out the jams, NPR-accessible hooks are, perhaps begrudgingly, thrown in the mix. It’s a compromise between reaching for psychedelic bliss and paying the bills. It just sounds peculiar and odd. I know it’s pretty lame when a music review always resorts to the “waaah, the early stuff was better, waaah” argument, but in this case, it’s true. When such a group of artists leaves a legendary mark postmortem, then reunites with less than half the flair, it’s truly unavoidable to wish for something on the level of A Storm in Heaven or the 1992 eponymous EP.
Here… lemme show you… much more so than Forth, both of these tracks WILL CLAIM OWNERSHIP OF YOUR TEMPORAL LOBE. ON THA REAL.
MP3 :::
The Verve - She’s a Superstar
The Verve - Blue
