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Posts: 123
Apr 12 09 6:34 AM
Glow Worm
Apr 12 09 6:54 AM
Sunken Sun
Loss is the hardest thing to bear. Obviously when you lose someone, or even something, you're never the same again. You're not necessarily less or more, just different. In the here and now most people cope somehow. And as often as I've heard people say that if a great enough loss blackens their lives they'll fail to cope with it, when the time comes, their ability to cope surprises them. Truly, most people find ways to handle these changes without losing what's left of and in their lives. Some find comfort in recounting their losses; counting up the ways things could and should have been. Others replace a loss with something or someone else. A tiny few fail at all attempts to continue. They don't necessarily take their own lives, but they live them as if they're already dead. And then there are those special few who are able to write about it in ways that comfort, offering hope to those who can not imagine anything good resulting from their losses. Finding even one reason to go on is enough. That reason could be the one that Steve sings about in this song: - Find comfort in the knowledge that you will be given another chance, in another place and time, to love whoever and whatever you love or loved in your present life. Remembering your former lives is proof of that.
I:
This is hopeful sadness. Looking at the sunny side, sunken as it may be, is better than the alternative.
Steve's singing & more
Clearly you can hear how hard he tries to 'sing' on this one. He thinks about the process and about his breathing. He is deliberate in his attempts at undulant intonation. He strives to place his voice in just the right spot as he so very much wants to create the perfect conditions for seizing - ever so subtly - a smidgeon of vibrato. Every word is gauged by a 'bell' - sounded or muted. Its knelling measures each word's stride. A sad little guitar chimes alongside as the story is told. And a mellotron further shapes the sound by adding a still darker dimension via the lamenting opera singer. At around four minutes into the song a wailful guitar grieves some more before laying the song to rest.
This song will break your heart with some of the tenderest singing ever recorded. The melodies and instrumentation - with the exception of the counterfeit opera singer who shams the job (They should have used a real singer.) - will break it some more. It's really quite extraordinary. That said, what I'm about to say will be regarded as otiose and pedantic, but I'll say it anyway. A minor imperfection resides in the delivery of "anymore-or-or-or-or" and "for". Listen for yourself and see what I mean.
Dijanaxxxo
Posts: 151
Apr 12 09 6:05 PM
Posts: 94
Apr 12 09 7:47 PM
Maven
Apr 15 09 12:57 PM
Cobalt Blue
Cobalt Blue - in 4/4 time - is a dark and menacing Space Rock song.
Structure
Analysis of Music & Instrumentation
The song fades in with the drums establishing the tempo. Soon after, beats 1 and 3 are accented by a strumming pattern on guitar. The chord progression is based off a tri-tone movement from B minor to F major (flat 5). This is a somewhat jazzy concept as tri-tones are frequently used in jazz music. There's plenty of modulation occurring with a shift in key centre, starting in one key (centre) and then changing to a new one. That is, starting in B minor and shifting to D flat, and so on. The bridge section [2:17] is composed of a chromatic melody - descending in semitones - which creates tension in the music, intensifying the existing darkness (to pitch-black). The guitar solo starts off unaccompanied closely following the chromatic keyboard melody from earlier on; therefore, still following the chromatic movement. A key centre is established again around F, going through a 1, 7, 6 style progression. With regard to scales, the dark sound is created by the use of the Aeolian/natural minor scale and diminished scale with some chromatic movement also present. There are three different progressions all up: verse, bridge and after bridge (solo) progressions. The drum beat is repetitive, mostly well measured but occasionally lags. Overall, the vocals are powerful and on key with some flatness at 2:00. Some interesting sounds throughout the (chromatic) bridge section are made by strumming the strings behind the nut of the guitar (which is the area on the headstock where the strings are going towards the tuning pegs, off the neck), creating a high harmonic sound similar to violin strings being plucked/picked. The bicycle bell is effective too! The guitar solo starts off using a monophonic texture, i.e. a single melody with no melodic accompaniment - just drums. The whammy bar is also used. The guitar solo is mostly pentatonic with some Aeolian at 2:57.
Interpretation of Lyrics
At face level this song is about the isolation and depression felt - whilst on tour - when travelling through, or stopping at, some of the unremarkable, blue and dreary, arid ghost towns in (California) America. Even if your "fortune's up" these places will rob you of your fortune's high (luck) and "lead it down". They're so depressing with their perpetual watchers waiting for the chance to mingle with you at, for instance, a motel bar. Up or down, right through, you want absolutely nothing…nothing…nothing to do with them. You just want to be left alone with your thoughts about your fortune and what not. You turn your head up (at them) and "let it all cocoon".
I can imagine these places would give you a co-bolt of the blues. How depressing. Small and claustrophobic like a telephone box. They're invasive, even incursive, picking you apart and trying to break into the chambers of the outside world that you have the keys to. They are persistent, though. They try to pick your locks, but they should "let it go" as there's nothing there that they could know.
At a deeper level, you say? Bluemin' hell, I don't know!
Posts: 5915
Apr 16 09 12:48 AM
Faith Healer
Apr 16 09 1:51 AM
Right you are, Mr. Finicky. I stand corrected - ta!
And thank you for the praise, Stefan.
Apr 16 09 3:40 AM
Posts: 1006
Apr 16 09 12:55 PM
Posts: 2076
Apr 18 09 10:12 AM
Apr 19 09 5:38 AM
JEAN ZAMMIT wrote: Hi Stefan I really agree with you about Deadman's Hands...there is a lot of Dulli in that riff and what makes it great is that there is a Church riff shadowing it. ULTC...their pop album ?...its not exactly twee is it? Honestly in all my years on this planet it is the only Church album I never go back to. Then again I've got a mate here who thinks it was the dogs bollocks. He was a lot into AENT which makes me think really Church fans can be divided into 2 cateogories. the ones that are more into the pompous floyd grandiose sound...ie aent/ultc and the ones that like the more direct and experimental approach...ie fy/u23
I don't think it's that simple. While you could possibly put the church songs into two groups - the 'poppier' stuff versus the progressive stuff - it's next to impossible to come to any real consensus as to where the former stops and latter begins. I personally don't care if the song is more structured or more spontaneous as long as it does not sound forced and I think either method is capable of that problem from time to time. My preferred type of music must at least have a hint of a melody and not outstay its welcome (seven and a half mins is okay but eleven to eighteen may be stretching it). If you have a melody or a theme (lyrics preferred) then you can embellish and stretch it to its logical conclusion but it must not be about the mood alone. I think The Church gradually got into that kind of routine post Starfish despite some intermittent brilliance. By HOB I think they were rediscovering the fact that music is best when it is pleasing first then you can layer on as much atmosphere as you like as long as the point of the music does not get lost in the murk, a point which by this stage could still do with a bit more work. AENT was better still despite being a bit too 'pregnant'. FY was its equal but the production was a bit suspect on a few key tracks and it could have been shed of a couple and it would have had just as much impact. ULTC was in trouble from the beginning with a name like that and I think the band were trying a bit too hard and that is where the 'forced' thing comes in. Perhaps it is ironic that the more 'Floydish' songs are the ones that work better on repeated listens as opposed to the ones where they sound so desperately like they are trying to outdo themselves. The album closer is an exception to this and listening to Unified Field as streamed on Myspace gives me the sneaking suspicion that they have gone and made a superior remix in secret as the chorus seems to jumps out at the listener better.
It's too early to no just exactly where the new album will fit into the scheme of things. For now it is right up there because it flows so magnificently there is only one track that bothers me a little but that is more on principle than through any overt negative effect on the ears.
Apr 20 09 10:48 AM
The Cycle of Untitled #23
"Ring a-ring o' roses A pocketful of posies A-tissue! A-tissue! We all fall down."
or
"Ring around the rosy A pocket full of posies Ashes, ashes we all fall down!"
How many rounds can you go?
Untitled #23 is a (keen) chronicle of the life of Life. A 'Life is Sacred', sacred to life album with its songs in 'cycle of life' sequence. Both (life and the album) are structured kinds of pilgrimages, passing chronologically from point to point; however, one is partly shaped by randomness, whereas the other is not. This is a highly contrived album - full stop
Apr 20 09 1:08 PM
Apr 22 09 3:11 AM
Thank you, Stefan. You're pretty crush-worthy as well. You compose and play your own music; and you can eloquently express your predilection for (other people's) great music. Plus your name's Steve. Actually you have quite a lot in common with you know who. You don't have a crush on him, too, do you?
Apr 26 09 3:26 AM
Deadman's Hand
The song is in 4/4 standard time in the key of B minor.
The main riff is based off the minor Aeolian scale with a descending pattern going from:
1 ([tonic note] B) - 5 (F#) - flat 7 (A) - 4 (E) - flat 6 (G) - flat 3 (D) - 5 again (F#) - 2 (C#) - 4 (E) - root (B).
Then it reverses and ascends through the same pattern.
Straight after the intro the counterpoint melody occurs between two guitars: one playing a scalic style motif with slides while the other one plays an arpeggiated style motif. This concept continues throughout the verse and drops out to just the bass and arpeggio lines during the chorus. The main ostinato - played by the guitar and bass - almost swings with a triplet feel.
During the chorus section the bass switches to a straight 8 (semiquavers) feel to create more of a pulsing effect. The chorus, which is polyphonic in texture, particularly the third time it appears (2:31 - 2:51), is very dense (texturally) due to the superimposed instruments - namely, keyboards (with reverb); natural feedback harmonics from the guitar (heard in the distance); the thumping bass; driving drums, and the whispery style vocals with reverb - playing multiple melodies, therefore, creating a very full, ambient sound.
After that, all but the drums and guitar are silenced whilst the main ostinato is played again. This highly effective technique of easing the intensity in the music prepares the listener for the peak section of the track: the guitar solo section. Furthermore, it is in contrast to the texturally rich chorus beforehand, so it creates a feeling of suspense - the calm before the storm, leading into the climatic point, i.e., the GSS.
Pangaea
On Angel Street
The song begins with a peaceful pulse on the organ, followed by a looming, scratchy guitar, playing lines in the background. Vocals enter soon after, progressing slowly and building texturally. A keyboard slowly fades in followed by chords being strummed on a very bright and ambient sounding acoustic guitar, intensifying the atmosphere. Volume swells on the guitar deliver a haunting cry similar somewhat to a violin weeping. The music is shaded further by the low growl of the bass, consoling - with its smooth and soft melody lines - the crying guitar. Finally the song almost becomes tribal with the sounds of a bongo playing distantly in the background with the swirling swish of the cymbals in the foreground, and a glassy sounding guitar delivering waves of sound (4:41) accompanied by a murmuring, dancing bass line.
Lunar
An abstract on abstract music
Apr 28 09 7:21 PM
The phrase was coined in Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra in 1606. In the speech at the end of Act One in which Cleopatra is regretting her youthful dalliances with Julius Caesar she says:
The term 'Salad days' is also used in Spandau Ballet's hit record 'Gold'.
Posts: 2242
May 2 09 5:20 AM
Posts: 1651
May 3 09 3:28 AM
Spirit March wrote: Can i just say how honoured I was to see my name in the thank yous. The little child in me was jumping up and down with excitement because Im still in awe of this band and the big child in me was blown away that it was on, what I consider to be, one of their best pieces of work ever AND it is also in the company of wonderful people, some of whom I've gotten to know through this wonderful band, this fab forum and the Seance mailing list.
May 3 09 5:37 AM
Posts: 923
May 4 09 10:12 AM
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