A thousand crystal towers, a hundred emerald cities
Continuing my trip up #album-of-the-day...
20.09.03 : Two Suns - Bat For Lashes (2009)
I know and like both her and this album - I had the pleasure of seeing her at Glastonbury around this time and she has the perfect music to have on whilst lying back on the grass on a lovely sunny day. So obviously, I was stood in my wellies in a swamp whilst it pissed it down - still enjoyable, but maybe not the ideal listening environment. I'd not listened to the album in ages though, so was pleased to revisit it. And yeah, I still like it - a real Kate Bush/Florence vibe to it. "Daniel" is my favourite track but they're all pretty good
The channel gave it two thumbs up, one heart and a couple of positive comments. Wikipedia tells me that the album reflects "the philosophy of the self and duality, examining the need for both chaos and balance, for both love and pain, in addition to touching on metaphysical ideas concerning the connections between all existence" - although, if I'm being honest, I didn't really need telling because it was obvious from first listen. The album was well received both critically (although one critic did describe the musical experimentation as being "unworthy of your brainlength" which is an amusing comment, especially when you realise it makes absolutely no sense) and commercially - #5 in the UK.
"Customers also listened to" Warpaint, Wild Beasts and Sharon Van Etten - none of whom really bring Bat For Lashes to mind for me, but hey ho. I liked this album back in the day and was pleased to discover I still like it - it was a very pleasant reintroduction.
20.09.04 : Lucifer Soundtrack - Mia Mäkelä (??)
I've watched all of Lucifer - it's surprisingly enjoyable nonsense. However, I couldn't even begin to tell you what kind of music is on the soundtrack - I know he plays the piano as part of his role, so part of my mind is heading in that direction, whilst another part is saying "stop - it's a trap!". So I was intrigued if not overly expecting much, if I'm being honest...
...and, guess what? It's a trap! There's no way I'm listening to 320 random tracks - some of which are admittedly very good, but I'm sure some of them are also very bad. Whatever, it's definitely not an album so I hereby declare this entry null and void. End of.
20.09.07 : I Speak Because I Can - Laura Marling (2010)
Ah - the second of Laura Marling's 7 syllabled album titles and possibly her best known. I quite like Laura Marling (not as much as Narj obviously!) but I find her albums to be curious affairs - interesting in parts but the sum of all parts not quite going where I want them to (although I quite liked her last album). I seem to recall I listened to this one once and then never revisited it, so was interested to come back to it. And yeah, it was an interesting one - I'm not entirely sure what I ever had against it. It's a good collection of songs - "Devil's Spoke" was my favourite, but they all rattle along nicely.
I think part of the reason for me liking it more than I remembered is my exposure in the intervening period to a load of "classic" Joni Mitchell albums, all of which didn't really click with me whereas this is very much in a similar vein but just feels like it hangs together better. I also got a Leonard Cohen vibe off it - particularly "What He Wrote" which I can quite imagine him singing (but using his annoying voice and his annoying way of randomly splitting the words into odd groups, so it wouldn't be nearly so enjoyable).
The channel gave this TEN thumbs up, which I'm pretty certain is a record and included a link to her and Jeffrey Lewis' cover of Eminem's Brain Damage which I'd never heard before and it certainly puts a different spin on the song! Wikipedia tells me the album was well received both critically and commercially - reaching #4 in UK. It also tells me it features someone who's been in the news a lot recently - Winston Marshall, ex of Mumford and Sons (along with Marcus himself, who was Laura's worse half at the time).
"Customers also listened to" Martha Wainwright, Emmy The Great (and yes, I think she is great!) and Lisa Hannigan - all women with fine voices. And whilst I liked Laura's voice, I wasn't under the impression her songs were quite up to the mark, but I'd have to say I enjoyed this album more than I was expecting.
Two fine albums by women - what is the world coming to? Won't anyone give the poor men a chance - they can make music too, you know? But, in my opinion, not generally as well as either of these ladies have - I'm giving the round to Bat For Lashes just because I'm more familiar with it, but Laura acquitted herself well and I will be making an effort to revisit it more often to remind myself I like it.
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