i agree, you've laid your case out quite well. there is a distinct possiblity that liam really does have the tenacity to reunite oasis in spite of his brother.
there is also a distinct possiblity he was completely wasted on twitter yesterday.
i can get behind this list. it strikes a decent balance with the first 3 records, although "all in the mind" and "she's a superstar" are pretty obvious omissions, as is "the rolling people" and "sonnet."
to me, this is music 92-98 compilation was already pretty close to the 12 best verve songs - i can't think of many other absolutely immaculate compilations doubling as catering to the diehard fans (remastered versions of the earlier singles and storm in heaven songs) and providing the perfect gateway to a band. even the two bonus songs are great.
that was probably it, 2008. although the setlist doesn't exactly scream "greatest hits" as much as peter buck claims:
1. Living Well Is the Best Revenge
2. These Days
3. What's the Frequency, Kenneth?
4. Begin the Begin
5. Man-Sized Wreath
6. Drive
7. Ignoreland
8. Hollow Man
9. Imitation of Life
10. Electrolite
11. The One I Love
12. Losing My Religion
13. Fall on Me
14. Let Me In
15. Bad Day
16. Horse to Water
17. Orange Crush
18. I'm Gonna DJ
Encore:
19. Supernatural Superserious
20. It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
21. Man on the Moon
the verve, to me, was the greatest thing to come out of britpop among so many other great acts. i was completely thrilled about the reunion in 2007 - even if forth is undoubtedly their worst album, they still sounded amazing during that string of reunion shows.
i still can't help but feel sad about richard ashcroft's solo career. his contribution to "the test" by the chemical brothers should fit somewhere in the best things he's ever done. his first album was a total classic, to me anyway. but that's about it. i still love listening to urban hyms and cranking "the rolling people" - that song alone cements the verve's status in the history of britpop.
oh whoops, let me rephrase that just for you. in the context of exemplifying/excoriating "sax rock" with a photograph of clarence, i don't find that any more offensive than tossing jake onto the tour mere days after clarence's death for the sake of filling a hole in "jungleland."
sorry dude
i don't find the clarence clemons reference offensive or even in bad taste. he died three years ago, and yeah it was sad, but still, three years. even the e street band got over that relatively quickly by hiring jake clemons almost immediately afterwards.
i just find the whole idea that saxophones don't deserve to be in rock music pretty ignorant, and especially writing off the entire springsteen catalogue which doesn't even include clarence's contributions even half the time. and for the other half, clarence is pretty much responsible for popularizing its inclusion to rock music and taking it to entirely other levels of musicanship. she can't simply sit there and pretend like she's a guitar-punk purist and hasn't added string arrangements and other accents to her own work.
the video clearly isn't racist, but instead of taking a more subjective point of view on the whole thing, it's really disheartening to see her take the whole "i'm not racist, you're racist for calling me racist, and i have multiple examples of why i'm not racist" defense. that could be chalked up to the fact she's young and has a history of bad judgement, but she comes off as really ineloquent in what she's written.
as for the controversy over how african americans are depicted in her video, i can't help but think everyone is making a big deal over nothing. not to mention the double standard over not including enough diversity (hbo's girls) and including too much diversity (this).
i really don't want it to affect how much i love the song, though. i fucking love the song.
it's no masterpiece, and it wasn't starting a revolution with me as a teenager, but what does make it special for me was that it was mostly an entry into metal rather than punk. i still have my copy from 1995. some will undoubtedly say i should have gotten rid of it long ago, but there's a certain sentimental value that prevents me from trading this record in. over the years, i still find myself going back to it every so often to feel that endorphin rush that i got when i was 15 years old, listening to genocide on my discman, volume at 11.
i'm getting really tired of people putting up their anti-obamacare argument by discreetly leaving out that 1.) those policies people were forced out of were garbage plans anyway and provided a bare minimum of coverage that health care providers passed off as "health care policies" and 2.) government subsidies were made available from the very beginning for low and some middle income families to offset the higher cost of those new plans
"It’s there in the vigorous, instinctive dance moves that sent Future Islands’ Letterman performance viral."
the sam herring mancrush is becoming a meme of its own
even if the execution of this wasn't exactly perfect, it's kind of a creative idea for a commercial.
and i really wonder how tasteless or "bad" this commercial really is. people began fucking with the elvis legacy almost immediately after his death. how much longer are we supposed to wait for kurt/tupac?
i suppose i'm kind of in the minority here. when i saw eminem, i figured that was a pretty big get since he's not touring for the forseeable future.
the other three, yeah, i see what you're saying.
i don't give a shit about the lyrics on this one, i can dig the new direction on this record and the song FUCKING ROCKS
not to mention damian is looking a lot better these days weight-wise
i feel bad about criticizing one song from an album that was never meant as a return to form, and i've also reconciled with the fact that even if they hadn't made a decent album since stay positive, all would be forgiven since those first four albums are wonderful. i haven't heard the whole album, but i was able to listen to the first three or four songs a couple days ago before i was torn away from it. i finally heard spinners, and i can't wait to rush hope and finish listening after work today.
it was also eye-opening since only now i'm slowly starting to realize what they're trying to do with this record. it's lusher, craig's sing-speak is diminishing, and the choruses aren't intially as infectious as the old favorites. but i'm okay with the fans now being forced to dig a little deeper on the lyrics, and this album sounds really GOOD, even at the 128kbps i was forced to listen to. and that makes me happy, since i hope this whole thing didn't frighten you gave me the feeling this band's direction was in a spiral. it's not.
thank you, because i am kind of annoyed at everyone's fondness for southtown girls. it's a decent song, a nice entry point to their catalog, and an okay closer for the album, but i never really accepted its chorus among any of the truly great hold steady choruses, wordless or with words. i actually think it holds the album back from being an insane classic party record. "southtown girls won't blow you away/but you know that they'll stay" is a little forced and always struck me as a little cringe-y.
10. both crosses
9. banging camp
8. the swish
7. girls like status
6. lord i'm discouraged
5. chillout tent
4. first night
3. killer parties
2. same kooks
1. ask her for adderall
we really have to include the new single? we could probably cycle through two-thirds of their catalog before we decide to rank that one. and it's such a huge waste of space to include atlantic city (oh i thought these 10 best songs lists didn't include covers, weird).
the rest of this ranges from essential to debatable. i do like the inclusion of killer parties, which i was afraid you'd leave out, but you could've thrown in another song from almost killed me.
"He was writing Modern Guilt around that time, and the title track is actually comparable to “A Beautiful Mine” in terms of mood and texture, so… maybe that?"
this is a bit of a stretch to connect two points.
this was a pretty awesome article. david comes to life was definitely my favorite album of 2011, but this made me realize how little i know i about fucked up.
also got me pretty psyched for the new record.
hey guys: it's a little unfair to turn a review of an album whose obvious relative is sea change into a referendum on whether guero or modern guilt are any good.
that being said, anyone who thinks midnite vultures is superior to odelay is a fucking idiot.
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