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Rating:
Warning: lagna-rock.
Something has changed. Do not believe those who will tell you that this album is the twin of "Yankee...". The voice is different...
It comes out on June 22 because Jeff Tweedy was in a clinic to detox from psychiatric drugs (the "handshake drugs," as he calls them), after unsuccessfully trying to do it on his own with unpleasant mishaps.
And do not think it is a depressing record; thank you, drugs! Listening to him sing, he seems more detached than suffering, a ghost in a limbo, opening his dreamy eye, his nostalgic and pure gaze on the world. Candor and detachment.
I will never be able to properly describe the first track... a soft voice and a piano, then a break and the start of a long, beautiful distorted guitar phrase (sounds by O'Rourke), piercing like the best Neil Young, and a piano that cries; it seems like a "Stairway To Heaven" of weak rock, "introverted." I say it quietly: immortal.
Here and there you will hear, besides Young, Lennon, a bit of glam and much more, but above all you will sense Tweedy's delicate feeling, songs that seem to emerge from a white mist and barely maintain their balance.
This is how it is for "Hell Is Chrome," which talks about the descent into a different hell from any hypothesis, a place where they care for you, and you feel quite good; then "Spiders," "Muzzle of Bees," "Wishful Thinking," and "Less Than You Think," all almost on the verge of fading and only occasionally grounding themselves well.
Most of the time, it floats in the air. Only in a few instances does Tweedy seem to descend among us mortals again (e.g., the semi-punk "I'm a Wheel" and "Theologians" - watch out, it's beautiful).
But, excuse me, I also wrote this review mainly to vent... Sometimes, I cannot stand it! I "learned" to smoke listening to his songs. I look at a photo of him with a cigarette in his mouth and it seems like I'm seeing myself... Then I think: but no... he's an idiot! What the hell are you trying to get out of it on your own! Who knows what dose they gave him... And then, those songs where he tried to be cheerful, but instead was depressed and depressed me...
Now I like him more! If he has to be badass ("I'm a Wheel"), he does it without sugar; and I like his detachment! But sometimes, I really cannot stand his lyrics! Too real (it's like the last Drake in "Pink Moon," less clear but more evocative and touching images). And so I try to ignore them and focus on the music and the sound of the voice, on its soul, luminous...
You have a beautiful soul, Jeff! And perhaps it is this beauty that gives meaning to everything, this beauty that someone, maybe, believes is the good and paternal god... I do not know if it is good, nor do I have the strength to believe, but I pray that this beauty saves you, whatever that means.
Beauty at our side, and may our hearts not be afraid of it.
"Alright Tweedy, we understand that he is good, now go back to your place, because you're a pain..."
Tracklist Lyrics and Samples
01 At Least That's What You Said (05:36)
When I sat down on the bed next to you
You started to cry
I said, maybe if I leave, you'll want me
To come back home
Or maybe all you mean, is leave me alone
At least that's what you said
You're irresistible when you get mad
Isn't it sad, I'm immune
I thought it was cute
For you to kiss
My purple black eye
Even though I caught it from you
I still think we're serious
At least that's what you said
02 Hell Is Chrome (04:42)
When the devil came
He was not red
He was chrome, and he said
Come with me
You must go
So I went
Where everything was clean
So precise and towering
I was welcomed
With open arms
I received so much help in every way
I felt no fear
I felt no fear
The air was crisp
Like sunny late winter days
A springtime yawning high in the haze
And I felt like I belonged
Come with me
Come with me
Come with me
Come with me
Come with me
Come with me
Come with me
Come with me
03 Spiders (Kidsmoke) (10:50)
Spiders are singing in the salty breeze
Spiders are filling out tax returns
Spinning out webs of deductions and melodies
On a private beach in Michigan
Why can't they wish their kisses good
Why do they miss when their kisses should
Fly like winging birds fighting for the keys
On a private beach in Michigan
This recent rash of kidsmoke
All these telescopic poems
It's good to be alone
Why can't they say what they want
Why can't they just say what they mean
Come clean, listen and talk
Hello private callers, IDs blocked
The sun will rise, we'll climb into cars
The future has a valley and a shortcut around
Who will wear the crown of drowning award
Hold a private light on a Michigan shore
You fool me with a kiss of kidsmoke
From a microscopic home
It's good to be alone
I'll be in my bed
You can be the stone
That raises from the dead
And carries us all home
There's no blood on my hands
I just do as I am told
04 Muzzle of Bees (05:00)
There's a random painted highway
And a muzzle of bees
My sleeves have come unstitched
From climbing your tree
And dogs laugh, some say they're barking
I don't think they're mean
Some people get so frightened
Of the fences in between
And the sun gets passed from tree to tree
Silently, and back to me
With the breeze blown through
Pushed up against the sea
Finally back to me
I'm assuming you got my message
On your machine
I'm assuming you love me
And you know what that means
Sun gets passed, sea to sea
Silently, and back to me
With the breeze blown through
Pushed up above the leaves
With the breeze blown through
My head upon your knee
Half of it's you, half is me
Half of it's you, half is me
05 Hummingbird (03:15)
His goal in life was to be an echo
Riding alone, town after town, toll after toll
A fixed bayonet through the great southwest to forget her
She appears in his dreams
But in his car and in his arms
A dream can mean anything
A cheap sunset on a television set can upset her
But he never could
Remember to remember me
Standing still in your past
Floating fast like a hummingbird
His goal in life was to be an echo
The type of sound that floats around and then back down
Like a feather
But in the deep chrome canyons of the loudest Manhattans
No one could hear him
Or anything
So he slept on a mountain
In a sleeping bag underneath the stars
He would lie awake and count them
And the gray fountain spray of the great Milky Way
Would never let him
Die alone
Remember to remember me
Standing still in your past
Floating fast like a hummingbird
Remember to remember me
Standing still in your past
Floating fast like a hummingbird
A hummingbird
A hummingbird
06 Handshake Drugs (06:11)
I was chewin' gum for something to do
The blinds were being pulled down on the dew
Inside, out of love, what a laugh
I was looking for you
Saxophones started blowing me down
I was buried in sound
Taxicabs were driving me around
To the handshake drugs I bought downtown
To the handshake drugs I bought downtown
They were translated poorly, I felt like a clown
I looked like someone I used to know
I felt alright
And if I ever was myself
I wasn't that night
Oh it's okay for you to say
What you want from me
I believe that's the only
Way for me to be, exactly
What you want me to be
Oh it's okay for you to say
What you want from me
I believe that's the only
Way for me to be
Exactly what you want me to be
Oh I was chewin' gum for something to do
The blinds were being pulled down on the dew
Inside, out of love, what a laugh
I was looking for you
Saxophones started blowin' me down
I was buried in sound
The taxicabs were driving me around
To the handshake drugs I bought downtown
To the handshake drugs I bought downtown
Oh it's okay for you to say
What you want from me
I believe that's the only
Way for me to be
Exactly what do you want me to be?
Exactly what do you want me to be?
Felt like a clown
They were translating poorly
I looked like someone
I used to know
And if I ever was myself,
I wasn't that night
Exactly what do you want me to be?
Exactly what do you want me to be?
07 Wishful Thinking (04:45)
Fill up your mind with all it can know
Don't forget that your body will let it all go
Fill up your mind with all it can know
What would we be without wishful thinking
Chambers of chains
With red plastic mouths
The inside of outside
No one has found
How to unring the bell
It's just as well
The turntable sizzles
Casting the spells
The pressure devices
Hell in a nutshell
Is any song worth singing
If it doesn't help
Fill up your mind with all it can know
Don't forget that your body will let it all go
Fill up your mind with all it can know
'Cause what would love be without wishful thinking
Open your arms as far as they will go
We take off your dress
An embarrassing poem
Was written when I was alone
In love with you
I shook down those lines
To shine up the streets
I got up off my hands and knees
To thank my lucky stars that you're not me
What would we be without wishful thinking
What would we be without wishful thinking
What would we be without wishful thinking
08 Company in My Back (03:50)
I attack with love, pure bug beauty
I curl my lips and crawl up to you
I attack with love, pure bug beauty
I curl my lips and crawl up to you
And your afternoon
And I've been puking
I move so slow, a steady crushing hand
Holy shit there's a company in my back
I move so slow, a steady crushing hand
Holy shit there's a company in my back
Hide your soft skin, your sorrow is sunshine
Listen to my eyes
Hide your soft skin, your sorrow is sunshine
Listen to my eyes
They are hissing radiator tunes
I move so slow, a steady crushing hand
Holy shit there's a company in my back
I move so slow, a steady crushing hand
Holy shit there's a company in my back
You learn so slow, old radiant beauty
I'll curve my flight
You learn so slow, old radiant beauty
I'll curve my flight
Under your bended knee
And I will always die
I will always die
I will always die
So you can remember me
I move so slow, a steady crushing hand
Holy shit there's a company in my back
I move so slow, a steady crushing hand
Holy shit, there's a company in my back
There's a company in my back
09 I'm a Wheel (02:41)
Oh, hold on
You risk exciting me
Once in Germany someone said nein
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9
Oh, hold back
Oh, don't invite me
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9
Once in Germany someone said nein
I'm a wheel
I will
Turn on you
Oh, I invented a sister
Populated with knives
Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh
Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh
I'm a wheel
I will
Turn on you
Um...
I'm a wheel
I will
I'm a wheel
I will
I'm a wheel
I will
Turn on you
I'm gonna turn on you, turn on you
Turn on you, turn on you, turn on you
I'm gonna turn on you, turn on you
Turn on you, turn on you, turn on you
I'm gonna turn on you, turn on you, turn on you
10 Theologians (03:40)
Theologians
They don't know nothing
About my soul
About my soul
I'm an ocean
An abyss in motion
Slow motion
Slow motion
Inlitterati lumen fidei
God is with us everyday
That illiterate light
Is with us every night
Theologians
That don't know nothing
About my soul
Oh they don't know
They thin my heart with little things
And my life with change
Oh in so many ways
I find more missing every day
Theologians
I'm going away
Where you will look for me
Where I'm going you cannot come
No one's ever gonna take my life from me
I lay it down
A ghost is born
A ghost is born
A ghost is born
I'm an ocean
I'm all emotion
I'm a cherry ghost
Cherry ghost
Hey I'm a cherry ghost
A cherry ghost
12 The Late Greats (02:30)
The greatest lost track of all time:
The Late Greats' "Turpentine"
You can't hear it on the radio
You can't hear it anywhere you go
The best band will never get signed
K-Settes starring Butcher's Blind
Are so good, you won't ever know
They never even played a show
You can't hear 'em on the radio
The greatest singer in rock and roll
Would have to be Romeo
His vocal chords are made of gold
He just looks a little too old
The greatest lost track of all time:
The Late Greats' "Turpentine"
I can't hear it on the radio
I don't hear it anywhere I go
The best song will never get sung
The best life never leaves your lungs
So good, you won't ever know
I never hear it on the radio
Can't hear it on the radio
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