Yes, Candy Claws. What a dense, expertly constructed and well-paced album.
I mean, I get why it was overlooked, it does take some patience, and you can't really listen to it on speakers, but I think it deserved a ton more recognition.
Mans, that exact same thing happened to me this summer. Only the three girls I lived with were high out of their minds watching "Forrest Gump" in the other room, dissecting every moment that was "soooo true" and "sooo sweet". I sat, endlessly knocking, listening to the girls' stoned philosophy on film. Torturous.
I should also mention that this happened the morning after one of their friends stole my laptop (and years of work with it) during a party they threw when I wasn't home. INSULT TO INJURY.
@ Mans: Wholeheartedly agreed. The idea that art doesn't change anything is one of the very reasons why it doesn't. But there also cannot be the grandiose idea that it changes everything, or even, in this day and age, can directly influence the macrocosm of society.
I think new ways of experiencing art (the gargantuan NEW MEDIA) have influenced that perception of a lessened societal impact--there will never be another Elvis or The Beatles again. There are simply too many channels and too many ways for people to live out their personas and craft their own life narratives that a single song, film, novel, art piece, whatever, cannot have the massive impact on a macro scale anymore. Cool is dead. Good riddance.
Since there isn't as closely a defined "popular culture", but rather, many fragmented constructions of one, differing from person to person, how can you expect art, or anything, to somehow resonate through all of them?
Now, Gabe and the many others who understandably share his opinion, may see this as people being self-serving, consuming mindlessly and not caring anymore, or at the very least, not caring as much as they once did. But I have seen mobilization towards social change, not through big, often ham-fisted protests of yesteryear, but in the choices people make in their ordinary lives--riding one's bike to work, urban farming in backyards, choosing to oppose bad practices in politics and business with your wallet or lifestyle, and yes, making bedroom pop and building DIY art communities, and sharing those creations to the world via the Internet.
The change that can result from art in this digital age (THE FUUUUTURE!) can appear marginal, but I would offer that it is more influential than art that is made for mass consumption and designed to Be About The Issues. Because you can develop an even greater connection to it. You can interact with it, you can call bullshit on bullshit projects, and talented content-creators pay attention to that--it's not just a conversation you're having with your buddies, but it feels like one. They shift their focus when we do.
The power is placed in our own hands, and yes, I know we haven't made the best use of it (trampoline videos of YouTube, et al), but it's there. It exists, and many people are making the kind of art that intertwines with activism, to affect change on a micro scale. And if enough people are living their lives responsibly on that micro scale, it will accumulate to a quiet storm.
At least I hope so.
Also, I still sleep with my Morrissey posters at night. I won't tell anyone if you don't tell anyone.
I would say the first disc of "Have One on Me" can be rightfully considered her most accessible (and some of her best work)--the other two, for me, fall extremely flat and feel pretty impenetrable.
Maybe I just love grandiose statements on record, but I think "Ys" is one of the best things I've ever heard. There, at least there was an anchor to the sprawl, always a lilting melody to come back to, always some story to become enraptured in. It takes patience, sure, but there are dynamics to it that are sadly missing on the bulk of "Have One on Me". It's a very hard album to listen to, as a whole. I absolutely love the first disc--maybe the rest will unfold and "bloom" for me as well. I really hope it does. But almost seven months in, no such luck...
Possibly the first and last time I can look at Videogum at work and have it directly pertain to my job! Thanks Gabe!
"I am going to film school, and get people coffee at a film company."
--disgruntled hipster no. 416
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