Lana Del Rey - Blue Banisters

Other tidbits from the live:
- teases cover album still for later this year, but later says it may actually just be a "country and cali" inspired album

Isn't that all her albums? :D
 
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I feel very cheated that she hasn't actually announced her next album yet.

or given us those Nikki Lane duets. :eyes:
 
I feel very cheated that she hasn't actually announced her next album yet.

or given us those Nikki Lane duets. :eyes:
I was hoping she forgot about the NL collab album. I think it might be a situation like the aborted Last Shadow Puppets collab album, where she includes a couple tracks on subsequent albums.
 
what's the story with her parents? ugly divorce? she does say she's "not friends" with her mum on the record but I really don't know anything more than that
Divorce and I think her mother was the disciplinarian when Lana was a bit of a baddie in high school and sent to boarding school. "My father never stepped in when his wife would rage at me" indeed
 
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It's a headscratcher, on first listen. Text Book is a wilfully obtuse choice of opener with its tempo changes, distant drone guitar and signs of sloppiness. I wouldn't go as far as abstract but it's quite odd and sets a tone. This is her late '60s album - it's too long, it's all over the place and several songs have quite clearly been recorded very quickly. Of all things, this and Chemtrails remind me of the start of Julian Cope's solo career - one album with the supposedly more commercial material and then a quick follow-up in which a backlog of songs are thrown out at speed, just to shake the damn things out, get them out of her hair. The results could prove among her most enduring.
 
This TRIUMPH of COLOURED HAND RAILS got me listening to Chemtrails again to see where I just didn't CONNECT with it like I have to much of her other work.

White Dress, Tulsa Jesus Freak (the White Hot Forever song) and particularly Yosemite are all FANTASTIC, and Chemtrails (the song) is probably her most melodically pop moment since High By The Beach - but whilst hardly BAD, a lot of the rest seems to cover already well-worn Lana paths. Wild At Heart for example could have been an album track on BORN TO DIE, and Dance Till We Die sounds like a Lust For Life album era CAST OFF!

I've found BLUE BANISTERS a lot easier to connect with from the off. The songs seem more complex tonally, and the subject matter - whilst familiar - at least broaches new ground. It really does remind me of Boys For Pele era Tori, if at the same time not particularly sounding like that album :D

'White Hot Forever' and 'Rock Candy Sweet' would have been two incredible album titles too. WHY did she go with 'Chemtrails Over The Country Club' and 'BLUE BANISTERS' instead? :D
 
LANA LOON TOP 10 shall we? :disco:

At this particular moment in time, and probably forgetting about 10,000 of her songs:
01 Black Beauty
02 Get Free
03 Yosemite
04 Venice BITCH
05 The Next Best American Record
06 Gods And Monsters
07 West Coast
08 13 Beaches
09 Lust For Life
10 The Blackest Day

I wish she'd properly reissue the Lizzie Grant album too from pre-Born To Die. I used to have it on ILLEGAL DOWNLOAD it was fantastically murky.
 
This TRIUMPH of COLOURED HAND RAILS got me listening to Chemtrails again to see where I just didn't CONNECT with it like I have to much of her other work.

White Dress, Tulsa Jesus Freak (the White Hot Forever song) and particularly Yosemite are all FANTASTIC, and Chemtrails (the song) is probably her most melodically pop moment since High By The Beach - but whilst hardly BAD, a lot of the rest seems to cover already well-worn Lana paths. Wild At Heart for example could have been an album track on BORN TO DIE, and Dance Till We Die sounds like a Lust For Life album era CAST OFF!

I've found BLUE BANISTERS a lot easier to connect with from the off. The songs seem more complex tonally, and the subject matter - whilst familiar - at least broaches new ground. It really does remind me of Boys For Pele era Tori, if at the same time not particularly sounding like that album :D

'White Hot Forever' and 'Rock Candy Sweet' would have been two incredible album titles too. WHY did she go with 'Chemtrails Over The Country Club' and 'BLUE BANISTERS' instead? :D
I agree with all of this (though the Boys for Pele semi-comparison may require a little further exploration!). Spot on about the disconnect re: Chemtrails - it just felt worn and going through the motions in a way I don't feel at all with BB.

I think White Hot Forever wouldn't have sat very well as a title after her mini-cancellation for questionable comments about race. But I prefer the title Rock Candy Sweet to Blue Banisters (though the latter is growing on me as a title because I like the song) but she took the track off the album so I guess the title went with it.
 
I agree with all of this (though the Boys for Pele semi-comparison may require a little further exploration!). Spot on about the disconnect re: Chemtrails - it just felt worn and going through the motions in a way I don't feel at all with BB.

I think White Hot Forever wouldn't have sat very well as a title after her mini-cancellation for questionable comments about race. But I prefer the title Rock Candy Sweet to Blue Banisters (though the latter is growing on me as a title because I like the song) but she took the track off the album so I guess the title went with it.

I think I'm getting a bit Boys For Pele vibes in regards to the instrumentation used - the piano, slight choral moments, similar sounding percussion etc. As albums however they are clearly VERY DIFFERENT, and I'm not comparing them in terms of melody at all. More in regards to the MOOD they conjure up.

and good point re. White Hot Forever :D
 
I guess Blue Banisters is the title track because it's really the emotional centrepiece of the record. it seems like more personal/confessional songwriting is the direction she's headed in now, and it doesn't get much more personal than

I met a man who said he'd come back every May
Just to help me if I'd paint my banisters blue
Said he'd fix my weathervane
Give me children, take away my pain
And paint my banisters blue
I said "the power of us three
can bring absolutely anything,
except that one thing..."
But that's okay 'cause
Now when weather turns to May
All my sisters come to paint my banisters green
My blue banisters grey

I feel like with this song she uses the imagery of something as mundane as banisters being painted to talk about the transition in her inner life from a reliance on men to an acknowledgement and celebration of the beauty of sisterhood, while also acknowledging that while women can do "absolutely anything", they can't give her the child she craves.

to me it seems like the album's most personal lyric anyway, and very emblematic of her general shift as both songwriter and human being. so why not make it the title track?
 
I guess Blue Banisters is the title track because it's really the emotional centrepiece of the record. it seems like more personal/confessional songwriting is the direction she's headed in now, and it doesn't get much more personal than

I met a man who said he'd come back every May
Just to help me if I'd paint my banisters blue
Said he'd fix my weathervane
Give me children, take away my pain
And paint my banisters blue
I said "the power of us three
can bring absolutely anything,
except that one thing..."
But that's okay 'cause
Now when weather turns to May
All my sisters come to paint my banisters green
My blue banisters grey

I feel like with this song she uses the imagery of something as mundane as banisters being painted to talk about the transition in her inner life from a reliance on men to an acknowledgement and celebration of the beauty of sisterhood, while also acknowledging that while women can do "absolutely anything", they can't give her the child she craves.

to me it seems like the album's most personal lyric anyway, and very emblematic of her general shift as both songwriter and human being. so why not make it the title track?

Beautiful. I hadn't even started to DISSECT LYRICS as yet as I'm still very much letting the album sink in. Thanks for the interpretation.
 
I also wonder if Rock Candy Sweet is perhaps another song entirely that didn't make this tracklist. some "insider" says she took several songs off it to save for the next project :D :eyes:

the next project after the country/Cali/covers album, obv.
 
Someone could say this better, but the chorus of Black Bathing Suit is melodically interesting(?)
 
Projected to do 24-27k with sales plus streaming its first week in the US. Which may be enough for a top ten debut, maybe. :eyes:

It should improve in week 2 with the vinyls and preorders. Longevity is key.
 
After the first listen: Its all very solid, definitely better than COCC but not as good as NFR for me. It could grow up course. My faves are Text Book, Black Bathing Suit, If You Lie Down With Me, and Thunder
 
Projected to do 24-27k with sales plus streaming its first week in the US. Which may be enough for a top ten debut, maybe. :eyes:

It should improve in week 2 with the vinyls and preorders. Longevity is key.
no projections yet, the top 6 are all new entries of which she's one. that's all we know. no vinyl shipping this week so it'll be a pretty low figure, maybe 5-7k region.
 
On second listen I really like this album but I do wish she’d edited it. At 10-12 tracks it’d be KILLER.
 
On second listen I really like this album but I do wish she’d edited it. At 10-12 tracks it’d be KILLER.

Glad VoR is on board, I was just thinking “Violets for Roses” is very Carly Simon esque :o
 
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should we do the sync listen TOMORROW night?

my top 5 at present

01 Blue Banisters
02 Sweet Carolina
03 Dealer
04 Violets for Roses
05 Thunder
 
The vibe of Interlude had me worrying that she was about to launch into a QUESTION FOR THE CULTURE inspired rap.
 
streaming update for you @POP!

Dealer got 655k first day streams and 665k second day - the only song to increase in day two. it's #175 on Spotify UK today, her only song in the top 200. apparently it's having some kind of minor moment on TikTok.

of the rest, If You Lie Down had a decent 2nd day of 650k ish and Black Bathing Suit did 415k. streams overall are OK so far, about on par with how COCC started, but that fell off really quickly.
 
Glad VoR is on board, I was just thinking “Violets for Roses” is very Carly Simon esque :o

I’ve always enjoyed Lana, she’s a day one artist for me and has been since Born To Die.

I just stay quiet because I find her fanbase (including on Moopy tbh) to be among the most genuinely insane people on the internet :D
 
It’s like you’re all in some bizarre toxic relationship with her!

She’s gifted you with TWO ALBUMS this year and by the tenor of most of the posts about her you’d think she had the work ethic of KATE BUSH.

I guarantee 3 months from now you’ll all be at it again about her LIES and BROKEN PROMISES :D
 
It’s like you’re all in some bizarre toxic relationship with her!

She’s gifted you with TWO ALBUMS this year and by the tenor of most of the posts about her you’d think she had the work ethic of KATE BUSH.

I guarantee 3 months from now you’ll all be at it again about her LIES and BROKEN PROMISES :D

I personally like her but also love to hate her. She’s just very talented but also makes such weird decisions
 

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