Albums for 2007

This is a year of downloading albums, instead of buying them. This is a year of soundtracks, lots and lots of them. This is a year of instrumentalism, not much of lyricism. This year I bring you album artworks too, and much much more to say for the help I have gotten musically to recuperate from the year before.

The Loves
Fires by Nerina Pallot
Damien Rice had just released 9 Crimes and it was only available for listening at 14th Floor Records. I found her folded neatly next to his new album, and one can never go wrong with a new musician when she shares the same home as Damien Rice. There is a stillness in her voice that is quite unlike Lisa Hannigan's, at a league of her own. I have always liked a singer with a beautiful and distinguishable voice. It is hard not to like her, when she is singing about things that are relative to me. You could say this is the album for me that year. Something about the frustration in life, about the realisation of loss innocence, about the ambition of running away, about the imagination of coming home.
- Idaho.m4a

 

Welcome to Reality by Ross Copperman
When there is a girl, there is a boy.
I first heard Ross Copperman on One Tree Hill and he just hit all the right notes for me. Granted, he is not the most thoughtful artiste out there. He is pretty much along the lines of James Morrison and The Fray. But he came to me on a night of the greatest despair and that is how he came to earn a spot in my heart. He is one of those male singers with a lovable voice that makes me want to listen to him a little longer and sing along with him. There is a tint of pain in his voice, which he used to his advantage, singing about hope and faith. He just makes my world alright again. And that is what I like about him. Maybe he is just a ghost of a good thing, and I am drawn to him in false pretenses. But he knows what the world will never know. He leaves me dreaming for another day and to wish it all away on January, March, December and May. He reignited my hope for a getaway. He gave me faith for a lucky day. He is not just supernaturalistic, artificial's cup of tea, but he believes in me.
- Believe.mp3

 

The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place by Explosions in the Sky
I was going through Shaun Tan's graphic novel The Arrival when I was listening to their 13-minute long It is Natural to be Afraid, and I am surprised myself to see how the change of tone in the song coincided with every page I turn and every mood portrayed in the pages. It is quite creepy, to say the least. If they did not get my attention back when I heard them on Friday Night Lights, they certainly got my attention then. Their music is something I have never encountered before in my entire music loving life. They are a breath of fresh air. Instrumental, ambient and technological. all mashed into one. With their haunting guitar and piano, with their catchy bass and percussions, they created a whole new world of emotions you cannot string words together to say. Try staying up late in the night without the lights on and listen to them with your headphones/earphones to get the full closure. You might actually see salvation.
- The Only Moment We Were Alone.mp3

 

Stay soundtrack by Asche and Spencer
If Explosions in the Sky were the immaculate moon, Asche and Spencer is the dark side of the moon. Taking my recent favoritism of ambient instrumental music to the next level, I decided to track down the soundtrack to the most peculiar movie I have seen. Unlike the former band, the tracks barely made it to the 5-minute length. Short and bittersweet, they delved deep into the most painful memory you hide at the back of your mind, stole them out into broad daylight and made you face all the fear you have been trying to hide from. The songs played their part in the music, making the movie, like so many movie soundtracks out there, complete. They took random noises of wails and squeaks, mixed them with the conventional pianos and strings and guitars and cymbals, and made them into the most aching music one would find to suit one's nightmares. Creepy, yet comforting, at the same time. Comforting sounds.
- I'm Never Gonna Sleep Tonight.mp3

 

Christmas Eve and Other Stories by Trans-Siberian Orchestra
A different kind of Christmas. The 3306 unit is stifling hot that day and we were playing another round of Mahjong. Shawn had his laptop out in the living room, going through Christmas songs by this particular orchestral band. I have always liked it when two different genres of music get together and create the most mind-blowing hybrid. There are the classical violins that raise goosebumps on your arms with that seasonal serenade. There is the heavy-metallic guitar that makes your toes curl with that soaring whine of a solo. When there are vocals, they remind me strangely of Meat Loaf, the same kind of majesty in the music and the voice. So what they are songs about Christmas. They are worth checking out any day of the year, and don't tell me you have never sneaked into the attic and thrash out your Christmas records to listen in the middle of July.
- Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24.mp3

 

Becoming Jane soundtrack by Adrian Johnston
I end my year with a blast back to the past. To the very beginning of my musical days when I had loved - and still do - the orchestra. Back to the basics. The bellowing oboe in A Game of Cricket reminds me of the evening before a performance, when a tutor paced around the backstage playing the Swan Lake Suite to calm his nerves. The fumbling flute in To The Ball reminds me of the days when I was still a skilled flutist, and how it aches my heart - like in the song - that I could never have those days back. The quiet pianos in Rose Garden reminds me of the days when I still aspired to be a musician. My fingers itch to touch the yellowing ivory keys at home. Sometimes, they just make it so simple to rekindle a fondness that had grown stale in you, make it seem like anything is possible again.
- To The Ball.mp3

 

The Likes

 

The Honorable Mentions

 

The Et Ceteras

Credits: Amazon.com, YouSendIt.com.

A birthday mix : 22 songs

1. Mr King : Nerina Pallot
2. Lullaby (Rock-a-bye) : Shawn Mullins
3. Black Tangerine : David Tao
4. A Bad Dream : Keane
5. Bad Day : Daniel Powter
6. Find Your Way Back Home : Dishwalla
7. Let Me Fall : Bethany Joy Lenz
8. Dusk and Summer : Dashboard Confessional
9. She Came Home for Christmas : Mew
10. I'll See Your Heart and I'll Raise You Mine : Bell X1
11. Heaven Forbid : The Fray
12. Rain on the Pretty Ones : Ed Harcourt
13. Bruises : Sandrine
14. Brighter Discontent : The Submarines
15. The Blues : Switchfoot
16. 22 : David Tao
17. Stop This Train : John Mayer
18. Bad Day : Fuel
19. Yesterday Went Too Soon : Feeder
20. Giving it All Away : Ashlee Simpson
21. EZ : Pete Yorn
22. Forever Young : The Youth Group

Music for a roadtrip

"When you scan the radio, I hope this song will guide you home." - The Postal Service

 

For the people driving down the Great Ocean Road in the name of freedom. For the people emerging from the exam halls in the name of contentment. For the people retreating to their solitary hole in the name of clarity. For the people crying under the sky in the name of despair. For the people looking under rocks in the name of hope. This one is for you. May you find what you are looking for.

Mix #1:
1. Don't Wait : Dashboard Confessional
2. Holiday from Real : Jack's Mannequin
3. Evangeline : Satellite City
4. Fly Away from Here : Aerosmith
5. Boston : Augustana
6. Winding Road : Bonnie Somerville
7. Hotel California : The Eagles
8. Holiday : Green Day
9. Runaway : Mae
10. Freetime : Kenna
11. Idaho : Nerina Pallot
12. 3x5 : John Mayer
13. Sunny Afternoon : The Kinks
14. Takeoffs and Landings : The Ataris
15. Chasing Cars : Snow Patrol
16. El Salvador : Athlete
17. Where Happiness Lives : Magnet
18. Flowers in the Window : Travis

Mix #2:
1. Leaving Town : Dexter Freebish
2. Such Great Heights : The Postal Service
3. Pain Killer : Turin Brakes
4. All I Wanna Do : Sheryl Crow
5. Night Drive : The All-American Rejects
6. Lifetime : Better Than Ezra
7. Cruz : Christina Aguilera
8. Paradise by the Dashboard Lights : Meat Loaf
9. The Great Escape : We Are Scientists
10. The Boys of Summer : The Ataris
11. Sunny Road : Emiliana Torrini
12. Getaway : Train
13. Where the Street Has No Name : U2
14. California : Phantom Planet
15. Semi-Charmed Life : Third Eye Blind
16. The Importance of Being Idle : Oasis
17. Let's Take a Ride : Justin Timberlake
18. The World at Large : Modest Mouse

Mix #3:
1. Chicago : Sufjan Stevens
2. Not Quite Paradise : Bliss
3. Son's Gonna Rise : Citizen Cope
4. Somewhere Out There : Our Lady Peace
5. Hard to Find : American Analog Set
6. Work : Jimmy Eat World
7. Holiday : The Get Up Kids
8. Breakaway : Kelly Clarkson
9. When It Comes : Tyler Hilton
10. Headlights : Dispatch
11. Be My Escape : Relient K
12. Empty Apartment : Yellowcard
13. Soak Up the Sun : Sheryl Crow
14. Along for the Ride : Mates of State
15. One Big Holiday : My Morning Jacket
16. Mexico : Leona Naess
17. Long Way Round : Stereophonics
18. Sidewalks : Story of the Year

Albums for 2006

I bring you a list of the albums I bought in the year 2006. All 27 of them in total. (Mind you, some of them were downloaded). Of course, there are those I cannot get enough of, those I listen to to get by my days, those that totally ripped me off and those that is just there. Accompanied are some album arts and links to Amazon, as well as some sample tracks. ('Tis the season of giving, I guess). Although, some tracks are in m4a format and the links are only valid for seven days.

The loves
O by Damien Rice
I listen to this album when I could not sleep at night. I listen to this album when I needed a good cry in the middle of the day. I listen to this album when I wanted company out in the chilly spring night. This album is orchestrated perfectly as a whole as one tune connects to the next with slender threads of angelic vocals, heartbreaking strings and crying pianos. Although each with a different story to tell, the chapters managed to bind together into a book. It is the story of O. A newfound love. A star-crossed love. A blower’s daughter. No one’s daughter. An Eskimo friend. A darlin’. A storyteller. Read me your favourite line. A flying cannonball. I remember December. All dressed up for Prague.
- The Blower’s Daughter.mp3

9 by Damien Rice
I woke up earlier than usual the day this album was released in Australia. I had a quick shower – because I would do anything for love, but I won’t leave the house without showering first – and before having my breakfast, I hopped on a bus to the city to get myself a copy. It was not as if the album was going to sell out within seconds. It was the wait that made me do it. It rained almost the instant I returned home. I spent the rest of the day drawn into a world unlike O. A long time ago, my Eskimo friend sat me in his car and played me his favourite tracks on O and called Damien Rice a fucking genius in such an enthusiastic tone I would rarely see coming from him. He sent me a B-side, The Professor, and complimented Damien was versatile. I did not know how that word worked with Damien. Until 9.
- The Animals Were Gone.m4a

Declare A New State! by The Submarines
My anthem of the year. The tracks are arranged in the album – consciously or unconsciously – with vocals sang alternatively by the female and male lead. The songs are written at the saddest peak of their lives apart from each other, filled with so much misunderstanding, regret, depression and hopelessness only a long distance relationship would know how. Yet nonetheless, it does not hurt to be optimistic and faithful at the end of the day. Blake and John have voices that blend well together. Perhaps a match made in Heaven. Pronounced husband and wife. You may kiss the bride. The musical arrangements, both lyrical and technical, are simple and sincere. Just the way I like it.
- This Conversation.m4a

Move Along by The All-American Rejects
It was the first and only concert I went to in Australia this year. I was probably the only person who attended the concert by herself. I was too old for the pushing and shoving up front at the stage. I ordered vodka and lime upstairs and stood behind Australians one foot taller than me, peeking at Tyler in between bopping heads and jumping shoulders. But at least I got to stand still with nobody sticking his or her sweaty body up against me. It was a good concert. It would probably have been better if they played Straitjacket Feeling, or if I were a foot taller.
- Dance Inside.mp3

Plans by Death Cab For Cutie
I have never understood what my friends mean when they say, “Stop playing this album, it’s so fucking depressing.” Or when people on the Internet associates Death Cab For Cutie with being emo. “One guitar and a hell lot of complaining”, Summer Roberts said. All I hear is good music – the simplest piano repetitions and guitar riffs. All I hear is the most original words – Ben Gibbard is too fucking wonderful with his pen. Until. One bad day, I listened to What Sarah Said again and I was surprised I did not feel so sad when I first heard it. Maybe it was only lately I figured out what the song was about. What Sarah was really saying. The truth is, I never listen. Well, I do listen. But the problem is, all I hear are babbles and notes. Until it is too late.
- What Sarah Said.mp3

The likes
Trouble is Real by Johnathan Rice
The Last Kiss soundtrack
Eyes Open by Snow Patrol
Trigger by Sandrine

The honourable mentions
We Don’t Need to Whisper by Angels and Airwaves
Dusk and Summer by Dashboard Confessional
Parachutes by Coldplay

The dislikes
Good News for People Who Love Bad News by Modest Mouse
From Underneath the Cork Tree by The Fall Out Boy

The et ceteras
Grace by Jeff Buckley
More Than You Think You Are by Matchbox Twenty
Blink 182 by Blink 182
I Am Me by Ashlee Simpson
Sketches for My Sweetheart The Drunk by Jeff Buckley
Give Up by The Postal Service
Everything in Transit by Jack’s Mannequin
North by Something Corporate
Continuum by John Mayer
Warnings/Promises by Idlewild
Final Straw by Snow Patrol
In Between Dreams by Jack Johnson
X & Y by Coldplay

* Album arts credit: CDNow.com

A review: 9 by Damien Rice

"Yesterday you asked me to write you a pleasant song." - Damien Rice

Buy / Official site

One would expect Damien to release the second album with songs quite similar to his first album, O. However, he managed to pull through with his versatility and came up with a whole different world, yet never lacking of his signature sorrow in between the lines.

Most of the songs on the album are already heard of by fans, who frequent his live gigs. They are like floating bubbles in the air without a home until Damien decided to gather them all delicately in his arms and build them each a room. Some songs are renamed: Elephant, which used to be The Blower’s Daughter Pt. 2; Dogs, formerly known as The Girl That Does Yoga; and Rootless Tree, which was vaguely entitled Fuck You.

Although I am happy that there is more to Damien Rice than just what he has offered in O, I must say I am a tad bit disappointed with probably most of the tracks on 9. The songs are more upbeat, some even got me into a chirpy tap of the feet, which I never knew was possible in Damien’s books. The guitar rifts are fuller as so the chords, and in exchange, a few of these songs are robbed of intimacy. One can argue that even though there are happy elements laced with sad contexts, I am sorry, but it is very rare for this new collection.

In 9, we see less of Lisa Hannigan. She was all over O and so good at it one would wish to hear more of her. But Damien kept it purely him in this album. Lisa merely had a share of vocals in 9 Crimes while she occasionally shows up for backing vocals in other tracks. With that, the first track was rightfully blessed and they opened into 9 perfectly.

The Animals Were Gone became a quick favourite for me with its lovely, lovely lyrics. “Yesterday you’ve asked me to write you a pleasant song / I’ll try my best now but you’ve been gone for so long” – it totally grabbed your heart. The chorus just literally blossomed with backing violins that took you by the hand and brought you back to the older years of romantic black-and-white movies. Or ones alike Sound of Music and Julie Andrews would break into a spontaneous dance in the middle of the dewy garden with her love interest while singing a love song. This was a sad love song. “’Cause waking up without you, is like drinking from an empty cup”. Damien had, indeed, written a pleasant song.

Songs that surprisingly contained elements of glee include Dogs and Coconut Skins. Dogs was about a girl that does yoga under an orange tree: “Oh and she’s always dressed in white / She’s like an angel and she burns my eyes”. Cliché, but Damien held the words right with his soaring voice. It was a feel good song. Nothing sad about that. A song one learns to adore. Coconut Skins was just downright giddy. I could see a picture of a cowboy dancing around the barnyard tipping his hat and checking his boots. It was a bad picture. One you should not collaborate with Damien’s works. Granted the lyrics were not as bright as Dogs (“You can hold her hand and show her how you cry / Explain to her your weakness so she understands / And then roll over and die”), but it was the fast rhythm and bloated guitar chords that paid the happy price.

There were also angry songs in 9. Rootless Tree and Me, My Yoke and I. Rootless Tree was a good song title. The song possessed a larger than life orchestra of strings, percussion and frustration. So Damien did not really sound piss off when he go “Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you”. But it was somewhat there in the end as he kept on singing, “Let me out, let me out, let me out” as he climbed up the octaves. The cello, the drums and the keys thrown at the wall so simply it worked and stuck anyway. Me, My Yoke and I finished the anger in Damien. The lyrics did not really hold any meaning of a full photograph. It did, however, possessed the ability to lash out a frustrated being. The song stepped in with the most original electronic guitar rift and slowly built up with Damien’s microphone voice (Something from Prague). Then, right in the middle of the air, the entire band fell down like a heavy storm. The suspense building for the end was strong. Very, very strong. Rock folk at its best. It was said to be a favourite in concerts. I could see why.

I am at first disappointed with Accidental Babies. Mainly because I have heard of the live version before the album version, and the former had done all that it could to steal my heart away. Damien performed well that day and despite the person recording the song breathing and sniffing in the background, it was enough to make me cry in the middle of the day like a child without a soul. “And I know I’ve made you cry / And I know sometimes you wanna die / But do you really feel alive without me”; this was my breaking point. Damien changed the lyrics for the verses in the album version. And it felt weird for me because I was so used to the live version. And I do love the lyrics in the live version better too. I was waiting for Damien to somehow break in some strings to strengthen up the song but alas, the repeating piano chords, it went on and on and on. However. It slowly grew on me. And I found myself sitting outside the house in cold nights and quiet streets and just listening carefully to what he has to offer. Damien did indeed offer. I just failed to receive it sooner.

I did not expect Elephant to live up to the status The Blower’s Daughter did, even though it was a part two. It was a whole different story and The Blower’s Daughter had done it all. Even Damien could not outdo this one. I was bored throughout the entire song until he hit the final bridge with the rest of the band: “What's the point of this song? Or even singing? / You've already gone, why am I clinging? / Well I could throw it out, and I could live without / And I could do it all for you / I could be strong / Tell me if you want me to lie / ‘Cause this has got to die”

O was a wonderful masterpiece so maybe it was not such a bad idea to have a couple of songs built on its solid ground. Grey Room and Sleep Don’t Weep were ones with the most familiar rift patterns. Sleep Don’t Weep was built with the skeletons of Cold Water; you could blend those two songs together anytime of the day. Lisa’s broken voice came back to haunt us as she did in Cold Water. Not really there, but altogether essential with that tiny and pitiful croak as the song slowly lay down on the floor, a heap of broken shards and splinters. “Do what you must do to fill that hole”. Hidden almost invisibly behind the last track was a good sixteen minutes for such self-recovery.

There were comforting sounds from a Tibetan singing bowl, which allegedly possessed healing powers for wounded souls. The mysterious instrument sang alike to light wind chimes hanging by the window bathed in breeze, and the tip of wine glasses crooning as a finger performs magic around the mouth. It was a good idea, to have something like that to end all things sad. However, in my opinion, the singing bowl was needed much urgently in O than 9. It fit alongside Sleep Don’t Weep, or perhaps Accidental Babies. But 9 Crimes was too far away in the journey to hear it.

9 lacked of something O had. The first album managed to go places the second failed to pursue. There was a sincere pain written in blood with every single word Damien penned down for O. Every single track was so beautiful it hurts. For 9, it had its moments. But if one were to search for a familiar sadness, for me, it lied only in 9 Crimes and The Animals Were Gone. And Accidental Babies. Rootless Tree and Me, My Yoke and I held a different type of bitterness altogether, walking the line of Woman Like a Man.

I am not saying that it is a bad album, because honestly, it is not. Maybe it is because 9 does not have the flow O does; one that seems to tie one from a song to another without feeling like one has been thrown around the room. O had something 9 did not have. But still, I am glad because 9 ventured into a whole new world that was nothing like O. And it seemed like a small crime itself to compare these two albums. I do not think I will be half as satisfied if 9 were to sound exactly like O. Damien’s confidence in versatility is enough of an excuse to check out the second album.

Top CDs off the rack (Part 3)

"I want your symphony, singing in all that I am" - Switchfoot

Back from the living dead.

Language. Sex. Violence. Others?
Stereophonics
2005

1. Superman
2. Doorman
3. Brother
4. Devil
5. Dakota
6. Rewind
7. Pedalpusher
8. Girl
9. Lolita
10. Deadhead
11. Feel

I remember them vaguely back when I was still young and I was more interested in good looking boy band members rather than some alternative rock band members I will never remember their names. I would buy expensive foreign magazines for just a poster of said handsome celebrity with no good singing talent but a hell lot of artificial charm to boot. I remember penkniving the posters out from the magazines when I was about to throw them away. Always planning to maybe someday earn money from memories that have come to past, preying on clueless innocent victims to such prettiness just like I once was, but had never gotten to it and ended up throwing them all away instead. I remember seeing Streophonics popping in and out of these lyrics cards. I would remember their name but never give them a listen.

Dakota caught my attention from the very beginning with her dreamy keyboards, yawning guitars and disregarded drums. Kelly Jones has a raspy voice that I will always fall sucker for. Back in the earlier days he had a hairstyle I would not approve of even now. He turns out to be quite a good looking chap nowadays. But it does not matter anymore. Some things have come to past.

Dakota is a love let go. Have to maybe because the time is up. Or have to maybe because each other’s meant to be is not anymore. “Wake up call, coffee and juice / Remembering you / What happened to you / I wonder if we’ll meet again / Talk about life since then / Talk about why did it end” and “You make me feel like the one”. Who has not felt that way from the significant other? Makes you feel like the luckiest person in the world, does it not? Makes you feel like the worthless being lower than dust when it ends, does it not?

What caught my attention next was their album cover. Yes, I am of such peculiarly shallow being. I have a thing for simplicity and stripes just like that. And maybe one-worded song and album titles. You will notice that all the song titles are one words and the album title is a combination of one words. I find this interesting. Flip open the sleeve and you are attacked with feverish kisses of the most amazing illustrations out there. Everything the album title is made of: language, sex, violence and maybe others. The brilliance is Graham Rounthwaite. Meet him. He is please to meet you.

What I love most about UK rock bands are their original and unique riffs. Ash, Oasis, Snow Patrol, The Verve, Muse, Radiohead. To name a few. The re-occurring melody is always unheard of. Never ever familiar at the back of your head, like a skeleton in your closet you almost forget but will never. Stereophonics have the talent like these other bands. I enjoy listening to their album on my way to college. Their album is one of the few I would crank up a little louder because it is more fun that way. Hitting forcefully on the steering wheel. Tapping my feet on the accelerator. (Somehow, I manage to do that). Singing on the top of the world in my mom’s banged up car.

The album sounds high to me. Every word penned down when not sober. Wasted from too much cheap alcohol. Stoned from messy rolled up joints. Who would write Doorman when they are sane? “You look like a monkey scowling at me / Well suck my banana suck it with cream”. The song makes you want to drive three times over the speed limit and going round and round in the empty parking lot with the windows rolled down screaming your head off.

Devil sounds drunk. A series of slurs of an unconscious mind too intelligent. “Stop the car now baby / You can’t handle the truth / So what’s the point now lady / If you can’t stand to play and lose”. You can picture the chorus repeating with their eyelids half-closed. Javier at the jazz set his head lolling drunkenly on his head with his eyes never watching the crowd. Kelly’s whining solos pulling the song through with lazy repetitions. “So be my Devil, Angel / Be my shooting star” and “Bye bye Angel / Bye bye Angel / Be my Devil”. Such juxtaposition in itself.

Feel sounds ultimately stoned. Everything you see is in actual fact an illusion. But our minds will never believe things that will not make us happy. We would rather believe in lies when we know better. “It makes you a cheat / It makes you a liar / Step out of the fire / It gives you a spring in the step / Smile on the face / Sing like a bird / You’re running the race again / What makes you bad / Makes you feel much better / Than you ever can” and “It makes the world go round / It makes you homeward bound / It makes you want it more / You look around every corner / To see if there’s even more”. Like drugs. Sometimes, our significant other is our drug, our addiction. He leaves you coming back for more, even though you know he is not one you will bring home to your parents. Spouses commit adultery for a reason. Lovers opt for infidelity for a reason. Lonely girls choose drug addicts for a reason.

Other magnificent lyrics: “Superman on an aeroplane / Sitting next to Lois Lane / You got the woman but you want her gone / So you can fuck a teenage blonde” in Superman. “We used to meet at the waterfall / Pink heather on the falling wall / Nothing to prove / Drink beer from a stolen can / Smoke cigarettes when we can / Because we like to” and “I left you at the gold motel / Selling junk at the carousel / That bound you down / Can’t find you now” in Lolita. “Inside, outside, upside, downside / See my face wanna take me home / I miss ya sister, shake your pistol / Hear my voice on the telephone” and “Cigarette burning, got an opal ring / Dirty magazine turning, you’re a bird who sings / Sleeping on a shag pile, sleeping on me / Sleeping like an angel watching over me” in Deadhead.

Especially Rewind: “If Jesus rode on a camel today / With your cross on his shoulder time to take you away / Have you done all you wanted / Are you happy and warm / Do you miss someone special you don’t see anymore / Have you blood on your hands / Do you dream of white sands / Can you sleep well at night / Have you done all you can / The place I was born in stays crooked and straight / I see innocent blue eyes go blind everyday”. A checklist before you move on with life.

Long Way Round is a darling. The theme song for Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman’s travel series with the same title. Some source said Ewan asked Kelly to write a song about it. Other source told me Ewan was the one who wrote it for his wife Eva and Kelly arranged the music for it. Either way, it was a sweet attempt. “Remember me my love / I’m the one you’re dreaming of / Got sun in my face / Sleeping rough up the road / I’ll tell you all about it when I get home / Gonna roll up the sidewalk / I’m gonna tear up the ground / I’m coming round to meet you the long way round”.

Maybe Tomorrow is a popular one. It was the opening for Wicker Park and the closing for Crash. Everyone loves that song and I am everyone. It is the usual optimistic kind of song. It brings a little more sunshine to the dim cruel world.

 

(What's the Story) Morning Glory?
Oasis
1995

1. Hello
2. Roll With it
3. Wonderwall
4. Don't Look Back in Anger
5. Hey Now!
6. (Untitled)
7. Some Might Say
8. Cast No Shadow
9. She's Electric
10. Morning Glory
11. (Untitled)
12. Champagne Supernova

Oasis is once upon a time when music is life. They are doing simple Mathematics homework known back then as the hardest arithmetic. They are a broken down stereo listening to the World Chart Show with sandy receptions. They are sitting at the back of my head as I went around the world ignoring them and remembering them.

The cool kids. They are the world in the English Isles. They are the alternatives with easygoing yet catchy tunes and words that will keep you singing when there are no more words to sing. They have the undeniable brotherly rivalry but it does matter anymore when Liam puts on shades and preaches with his hands on his back to a microphone stand set in an inappropriate height that hurts his posture. Noel pays more attention to his guitar rather than his brother; it is his world coming out to sing.

It is a shame I went away from them. Boybands were the best to me during my pubescent years. They were moving on making more albums as they have the most dramatic lifts and falls, leaving me far behind and hard to catch up. When I finally came to my senses, they were nothing but a memory I wish to resuscitate. Lyla became their new flame.

Wonderwall is one of my favourite 90s rock songs. It was an easy song flowing alongside my easy life. I was a kid who sang along songs I do not really know the meaning to. It felt good at the tip of my tongue. The words orchestrated well on the rhythm. I grew up adoring this song and someday, maybe, someone will sing this wholeheartedly to me just like the darling that I am. One can only wish so hard till the stars fall from the sky. “I don’t believe that anybody feels the way I do about you now”. “There are many things that I would like to say to you but I don’t know how”. “Because maybe / You’re gonna be the one that saves me / And after all / You’re my wonderwall”. The cello bellowed against the heartstrings. The nonchalant tambourine. The acoustic guitar. The simplest drums holding it all together. It will be my romanticised doom.

I never bothered to learn the title of Don’t Look Back in Anger. I always thought it to be the Sally song. “And so Sally can wait / She knows it’s too late as we’re walking on by / Her soul slides away / But don’t look back in anger / I heard you say”. But I guess it is about a song about moving on without holding grudges on the past. Because honestly, when all has come to past, it all does not matter anymore. They are merely stepping stones towards the future. Whoever holds the past conquers the future. Once you are in the future, the past is as good as throwing away. The music seems to happen all at once, fighting for the limelight yet steady enough not to push one another off the platform. Noel took over for this song. There is something sincere about his vocal chords as he sings my favourite line: “Please don’t put your life in the hands / Of a rock and roll band / Who’ll throw it all away”.

I may have came upon Champagne Supernova often enough to have it stick to my mind and recognise it when it walks by again. I did not bother to learn its title as well. This is probably about life in general. How everything just takes shape by itself when mysterious hands guide the steering wheel. We, the handicapped driver, can only sit on our empty hands and watch as people come and go. They change till comforting faces become nothing but strangers’. “How many special people change / How many lives are lived in strange / Where were you while we were getting high / Slowly walking down the hall / Faster than a cannonball / Where were you while we were getting high”. Have you ever feel so helpless and worthless in your entire life? “But you and I / We live and die / The world’s still spinning around / We don’t know why”. The riff stays on the loudest pitch. Everything comes in full force. It is their finale; they want to end it with a bang. Keep your mind safe away from things that have to be done. Keep your eyes dry from things that cannot be stopped. “Wake up the dawn and ask her why / A dreamer dreams she never dies / Wipe that tear away now from your eye”. Yet. On the rarest occasions, however, people still meet at the same destination. Going around the world, walking down the straightest line, fighting through the most ferocious jungle. “Someday you will find me / Caught beneath the landslide / In a champagne supernova in the sky”. All road leads to Rome. Do not worry.

They are friends of Richard Ashcroft. The heroic musician from this band The Verve. Bittersweet Symphony would be the bell ringing in your head now. Cast No Shadow is for him. About him. The best explanation has been done so I will not even try:

“The song was dedicated to then-Verve singer, and close friend of the band, Richard Ashcroft. The opening lines of the song - "Here's a thought for every man, who tries to understand what is in his hands" - are similar to those in the refrain of The Verve's song History ("In every man, in every hand, in every kiss, you understand that living is for other men, I hope you do understand"), of which Gallagher is a huge admirer (he also provided handclaps on History during recording). The song's chorus ("As he faced the sun, he cast no shadow") has been interpreted as some as a lament for those whose lives are lived so thinly that they leave no lasting impression or legacy upon their demise. When questioned about this line in a September 2005 interview with San Diego radio station FM94/9, Gallagher replied, "The reason why one would not cast no shadow is because one would be invisible."
- Wikipedia.org

This is why I love this band. “Bound with all the weight of all the words he tried to say / Chained to all the places that he never wished to stay” and “As they took his soul they stole his pride”. This is a rerun.

There are good songs scattered all over the albums they have produced. From the album Be Here Now, All Around the World: “Where you gonna swim with the riches that you found / You’re lost at sea well I hope that your drown”. Stand By Me: “Times are hard when things have got no meaning” and “There is one thing I could never give you / My heart will never be your home”. From Definitely Maybe, Supersonic: “I know a girl call Elsa / She’s into Alka Seltzer / She sniffs it through a cane in a supersonic train”. Nothing thought provoking for this one but just plain drugged. From Heathen Chemistry, Stop Crying Your Heart Out: “May your smile shine on / Don’t be scared / Your destiny may keep you warm” and “Cause all of the stars / Are fading away / Just try not to worry / You’ll see us someday / Take what you need / And be on your way / And stop crying your heart out”. And many more.

Oasis may be the best band to go for if you want to start a CD collection. I have faith that their albums, although some are said to be not as good as the previous or the next, they are all part and parcel of a growing life. Full of ups and downs, bads and goods. The ugly side of the world. The fading sunlight to the dark side of the moon. The pretentious happiness, at least just for the littlest while. It is what is real.

 

Gravity
Our Lady Peace
2002

1. All For You
2. Do You Like It
3. Somewhere Out There
4. Innocent
5. Made of Steel
6. Not Enough
7. Sell My Soul
8. Sorry
9. Bring Back the Sun
10. A Story About a Girl

They were nothing but a peculiar band name. Our Lady Peace. It sounds near celestial. I never knew what they were about until Somewhere Out There. No song could be as beautifully portrayed. Of a lover dying to take flight and leaving him forever looking up at the skies, finding her amongst radio airwaves and scattered God’s salt. He misses her. He would love her to fall back to humanity. Yet he understands. She has to go. Nothing but this mere Heavenly glow. “Down here in the atmosphere / Garbage and city lights / You’ve gone to save your tired soul / You’ve gone to save our lives / I turned on the radio / To find you on satellite / I’m waiting for the sky to fall / I’m waiting for a sign”. “Hope you remember me / When you’re homesick and need a change / I miss your purple hair / I miss the way you taste”. Quoting only a few lines will never be enough. I might as well just serve the entire song up the plate. The myriad introduction easing you into a soft tempo of guitars and light drums. Things pick up a little for the chorus and strengthens with the all powerful strings. It is always the bow and string collision that gets the best. It grows. Level by level. It pulls you up towards the cliff and just hurls you over the edge, making you fly like the lover would. “You’re falling out of reach / Defying gravity”. Fly.

It is because of this song I purchased Gravity. I have this decision I keep to myself. I will not purchase new albums of bands I am not familiar with unless I have heard two or more songs from said album and like them. Rarely I would just go ahead and get an album based on the affection towards a single track. Somewhere Out There was this powerful. I visited the CD store with my dad that day and I picked the album off the shelf. I remember my dad’s uneasy facial expression. There were so many tamer genres to dwell on, oh why did my daughter have to go for this. I remember wincing at the unfamiliar explosion of All For You. Nothing I owned before this was so complex. I bought it anyway. I have the rest of my life to make use of this whole new world.

I love the lead’s name. Raine Maida. Something Microsoft Word will never approve of. When I wrote the stories, I referred to him a lot and used his name when it was appropriate. I had to ignore again and again the times to fix a mistake that was never wrong to begin with. Raine Maida. Lead singer of Our Lady Peace.

Innocent. “I remember feeling low / I remember losing hope / I remember all the feelings and the day they stopped”. The pubescent years were never the easiest days. The first phase of life’s hardship. You wanted to be ever more successful before you decided to lose yourself. You wanted to be perfect before you decided to be forever flawed. You wanted to be everything before you decided to be nothing. You remember the consecutive days you see your innocence being robbed off your skin on bones before you got numb. Welcome to maturity.

There is sadness in Not Enough. It is enough to move me on the wrong days. Our Lady Peace finds it a habit to slide into a song with mellow tunes. Something easy. Something everyone can accept before the harshness thrown at you. Raine was near death in his voice as he complements the simple introduction. Everything builds up. Level by level. There is a formation. You can see. The chorus holds a halfway climb with sincerity in every word, every note. “When they say you’re not that strong / You’re not that weak / It’s not your fault / When you climb up to your hill / Up to your place / I hope you’re well”. By the second round, it is strong enough for the strongest refrain. Your heart should be breaking by now. The fragile cover vibrating against the heavy bass. Raine achieving momentum. “If it’s not enough / It’s not enough / It’s not enough I’m sorry / It’s not enough / It’s not enough / It’s not enough”. Perfectionism is of such. There will always be a finish line we can never run home to. There will always be a hilltop we can never climb up to. There will always be a something we can never make nothingness out of. We will forever starve for a mirage feast.

Most of the album is made up of songs about a lover he is willing to give up everything for and do anything for. Have you not felt that way when you love someone whom you know deserve every second of your body, mind and soul? Gaining insanity is never wrong to him as long as it provides sanity to her. Losing himself is never a matter as long as it completes her. Self-sacrifice is nothing but a delightful offering as long as it conceives the better good for her.

All For You. With a past of consciousness and normalcy. He will forsake it. All for her. “He wants the best for me / An old school philosophy / So I can’t turn my back on him / He’s apart of me / He’d buy me anything / But I just need a friend”. Do You Like It. Even if she is treating him like the lowest scumbag he will never forgive himself for ever. He will endanger his pride and dignity. All for her. “I know why you’re playing these dirty games / They’re killing me and / I know how you love to watch me beg / Well here I am” and “I hate myself for begging / I hate myself for staying / I hate myself for listening to you”. She will turn a man into a slave. Sell My Soul. Make a trade with the devil and bleed for an eternity to win her heart. She will never know the turmoil he is going through. It does not matter. All for her. “I’m losing my heart / I’m losing my pride / I’d burn our initials in the sun if it would shine”.

Yet he will be her hero even though he has not armour to shield her from the dragon. All for her. Made of Steel: “I can be anything / That you want me to be / A punching bag / A piece of string / That reminds you not to think” and “They knock you down / I’ll pick you up / They laugh at you / I’ll shut them up” and “You want a hero tonight / Well I’m not made of steel / But your secret’s safe with me”. A Story About A Girl: “This world it tears you limb from limb / In your world you’re nothing but the best” and “Are you looking for something / I promise you one thing / I promise I’ll always always be there”. And marry her. He will be a wife’s ideal husband. Saying sorry to a fault that is not his and building her a white house surrounded with white picket fences. Bring Back the Sun: “We shouldn’t have to fight / Or worry about the bills tonight” and “Bury this hate / And build it with love” and “I know I know I failed you / I hope I hope we get through / Sunny days again”.

I will admit that I have not explored Our Lady Peace’s musical growth since day one. But from what I have heard so far, I am loving their gist. Something old. Are You Sad. “Your life has been so hard / It’s dried up angels that can’t keep guard”. Something new. Angels Losing Sleep. “Looks like the Holy Ghost is gone / Now you’re afraid of yourself / Over your shoulder you have to watch / Heaven fall into Hell / Even the angels are losing sleep / And the sidewalks are bare” and “And I’ll wait I’ll wait till you fall from grace / It’s the calm before the storm / It’s there then it’s gone”. There is a consistency. They are celestial.

 

The Beautiful Letdown
Switchfoot
2003

1. Meant to Live
2. This is Your Life
3. More Than Fine
4. Ammunition
5. Dare You to Move
6. Redemption
7. The Beautiful Letdown
8. Gone
9. On Fire
10. Adding to the Noise
11. Twenty-Four

I knew Switchfoot from my favourite movie A Walk to Remember. Jonathan Foreman did a duet with Mandy Moore (of all people) in Someday We’ll Know. But seriously, the song was much better in the movie when Jonathan sang the entire piece. Same goes for Only Hope. Mandy Moore did alright; this is already a milestone coming from someone like me. There is just something about her that I do not like and it irks me ever more knowing she has secured roles that I approve of. Jonathan closed the soundtrack well with his rendition of Only Hope. It is just something to fall in love with.

Switchfoot is what I am left with my Christianity. I would love to brag about how I found out about them before the country did. I saw Meant to Live on the Billboards and loved the song. I did not know when the album is going to drop bomb in my country, thus I went ahead and did my first ever online purchase in Tower.com for the album. I had to pay probably RM30 more but I would like to believe it is worth it. Maybe six months later, the album came. It was sort of a bummer for me because now everyone has a chance to be nuts over Switchfoot. But at least I have a different album cover.

Switchfoot’s music is contagious. Just when I thought I have had enough of them, the CD will still be spinning in the car stereo. It was in the stereo for a very, very long time. Probably longer than any albums I have. I would switch CDs, scared that I have grown bored of it but whenever I have it back in the player, it just plays like another new song. I believe the CD is scratched a little. The rhythms are familiarly catchy and the lyrics are learned eventually with a tone that is easy to sing along to. This CD got me through half of January 2005. It was an evil month.

Switchfoot questions conscience and conscious a lot. On the surface, they deal with the obstacles with life constantly. But if you are willing to delve a little deeper, they function like every Christian band out there – the journey towards building a relationship with God. Some songs can be easily mistaken to be a love song. But every song to God is already a love song. It is like an underlying subtext, a message in between the lines. It is amazing how it can appeal to anyone in general yet not coming out strong and creepy like some staunch born-agains.

I loved The Beautiful Letdown first not because of its intimacy with God. I loved it because of its disastrous beauty. The title itself says it all. This ruin. This fallout. Probably why I connected well with this song because I am a fallout myself heading towards a beautiful letdown. Or maybe just a letdown. Period. Because there will come a time in your life when you feel like the soil you are standing upon does not feel appropriate. Everything is foreign and you suspect a better world – your world – waiting for you just around the corner. The song speaks of the Kingdom. I perceive it solely in the embodiment of a girl. Her mystery. Her silence. One where when someone comes in contact with her will be blown away it springs tears in his eyes. Because it is this powerful. Her kingdom. He will not want to go home ever again. “In a world full of bitter pain and bitter doubts / I was trying so hard to fit in / Until I found out / I don’t belong here”.

On Fire. “Everything inside you know there’s more than what you’ve heard / So much more than empty conversations filled with empty words” and “You are the hope I have for change / You are the only chance I’ll take” and “I’m on fire when You’re near me / I’m on fire when You speak / I’m on fire burning up these mysteries”. The song can be easily made for a mortal loved one. Sometimes, the significant other is of such godly personification. She can mean the world to him.

Twenty-Four. “I am the second man” and “I wanna see miracles / See the world change / Wrestled the angel / For more than a name”. These words were the only inspiration I used loosely once upon a time. It is weird that what I wrote has nothing relevant to the song. In fact, it may even contradict. But the words shine through. I will tell you this is a very beautiful song. There are no misunderstandings. It is straightforward. It is about a man’s conversation with the Higher superiors. “Still I’m singing / ‘Spirit take me up in arms with you’”.

The rest of the time, it is about motivating life. Or maybe singing about what a fucked up life we are living in. In a polite way. Because Christian bands do not just use the F-word sloppily. The word is overrated anyway. Meant to Live: “Maybe we’ve been living with our eyes half open / Maybe we’re bent and broken” and “We want more than this world’s got to offer / We want more than the wars of our fathers”. This is Your Life: “This is your life / Is it everything you’ve dreamed it would be / When the world was younger / And you had everything to lose”. Dare You to Move: “Maybe redemption has stories to tell / Maybe forgiveness is right where you fell / Where can you run to escape from yourself / Where you gonna go / Salvation is here”. And my favourite with a catchy tune and cute lyrics, Gone: “Where’s your treasure / Where’s your hope / If you get the world and lose your soul / She pretends like she’s immortal” and “We are not infinite / We are not permanent / Nothing is immediate / We are so confident / In our accomplishments / Look at our decadence”.

 

Nothing is Sound
Switchfoot
2005

1. Lonely Nation
2. Stars
3. Happy is a Yuppie Word
4. The Shadow Proves the Sunshine
5. Easier Than Love
6. The Blues
7. The Setting Sun
8. Politicians
9. Golden
10. The Fatal Wound
11. We Are One Tonight
12. Daisy

A suitor got me this album for all the wrong reasons. I found myself to love it more and more but I can never like the guy one bit.

There is a difference. Switchfoot has improved a notch with this album. The bass are more angtsy. The lyrics are more powerful. The sadness is sadder. The motivation is stronger. As they grow closer to God, their animosity towards humanity thickens. Everything is more personal. Everything means business.

As I go through the album once again, I can see my route to and back from Dell. This album accompanied me a lot during those days. Mainly because it was new in the rack and all new CDs are to be played a lot of times in the car stereo no matter where I am heading to. Back then, I was heading to work everyday. The loose traffic around the corner and the ridiculous queue flowing into the only entrance and exit at the area. The empty parking lots. I saw a rainbow a couple of times. I would catch a quick shuteye if I accidentally arrived earlier. The Shadow Proves The Sunshine reminds me of the rainy days. Half of the time I could not be fucked to bring an umbrella into the office. It was a long walk to my car after work. Sometimes I was drenched. Once I was definitely wet. It was the hugest rainstorm ever. I had to tread through the lot to get home in time because my mom needed the car. I might as well just jump into the ditch.

Of course Stars has everything to do with this album’s popularity. The world fucking loves it. The radio stations were playing the song like a cheap whore. Selling it short. Keep the change. However, I will not deny I like it. The percussion riffs are contagious – there is a sense of militarism – as is the guitar’s. A song about the realisation of companionship living under the same sky. Fairly optimistic. This is what the band is built upon. Favourite line: “Stars looking at a planet, watching entropy and pain / And maybe start to wonder how the chaos in our lives could pass as sane”.

My favourite song is definitely The Blues. Whenever I listen to this song, I will always be reminded of Cedric Diggory. (Don't laugh). The movie Cedric Diggory because I do not read the Harry Potter books and Goblet of Fire was the only Harry Potter movie I watched. Twice. (Don't laugh). I can just see his dead stunned eyes haunting my head right after Lord Voldermort Avada Kedavra-ed his ass. Do not ask my why. It just happens. “Discontented fame” portrays the character, in my opinion. Besides that, it is quite a sad song weave with confusion. “Is this the New Year or just another night / Is this the new fear or just another fright / Is this the new tear or just another desperation / Is this the finger or just another fist / Is this the kingdom or just a hit-and-miss / A misdirection, most in all this desperation”. How we can be blinded so badly with desperation anything can seem right just because we wanted that one ray of sunlight so terribly? Desperate times come desperate measures. Yet. These desperate decisions, most of the time, are not the right decisions.

The backing cameo of strings comes in during all the appropriate times. The clapping is a big dodgy but well, Jonathan’s heartfelt lyrics can divert you from that. What is captivating is the unique choice of words. Simple words gathering together for a more special phrase. I might as well quote the entire lyrics here. I shall catch a few fireflies and shine them in your darkness. Basically, there are two and a half riffs available for this song and they take turns to hold hands with these special phrases. Or stanzas. If you want to be poetic. My favourite one is Riff #2. The one before Riff #and-a-half (a.k.a the chorus) breaks in. “Is this what you call freedom / Is this what they call pain / Is this what they call discontended fame” and “You push until you’re shoving / You bend until you break / Do you stand on the broken fields where your fathers lay” and “It’ll be a day like this one / When the sky falls down / And the hungry and poor and deserted are found”. Also from Riff #1: “I’m singing this one like a broken piece of glass / From broken arms and broken noses in the back”.

Daisy. This is their most personal song I have ever stumbled upon. The acoustic guitar brings us into the song. It is not the most perfect pitch a guitar can come up with but that is the beauty of it. And when Jonathan sings, his voice comes straight from his heart. He knows her. He is her. She is every single one of us. If you want to view this in a spiritual light, it will make the most sense. Submission to a better life. The Christian life. The new life. And letting go of the life you once knew and are familiar with. When it comes to familiarity, no matter how awful it has been, there will always be a sense of reluctance in letting go. Like leaving a craphole island and sailing off into the vast ocean. The island would seem like a resort compared to the seas of nothingness. “Let it go / Daisy, let it go / Open up your fist / This fallen world / It doesn’t hold your interest / It doesn’t hold your soul / Daisy, let it go”. It is not as easy as it seems. It takes more than a confession to cross over. Do not blame the backsliders. Or curse. This gnawing fear is enough to send us crashing.

Let us scheme through the rest. Lonely Nation: “We are the target market / We set the corporate target / We are slaves of what we want” and “Singing without tongues / Screaming without lungs”. I think Happy is A Yuppie Word is a peculiar song title. The Shadow Proves The Sunshine: “We are crooked souls trying to stay up straight / Dry eyes in the pouring rain”. Easier Than Love: “Everyone’s a lost romantic / Since when love became a kissing show / Everyone’s a cassanova / Come and pass me the mistletoe” and “Everyone’s been scared to death of dying here alone”. Politicians: “I pledge allegiance to a country without borders, without politicians / Watching for my sky get torn apart / We are broken, we are bitter / We’re the problem, we’re the politicians / Watching for our sky get torn apart”. The Fatal Wound: “Son of sorrow / Staring down forever / With an aching view / Disenchanted / Let’s go down together / With the fatal wound”.

Switchfoot may have probably gone full blown Christianity on us. As I go through the album along with the lyrics, there are a lot of elements on the religion when it is broken down to pieces. They see the living world as a temporary life and life itself is not worth living for anymore. Cure stands in succumbing to God. For a better life. For a better person. I would not put forth my stance here but I am sure you may have gotten my opinion on this. Or not. But. Switchfoot has good musical talents as well as lyrical talents. And they have succeeded in breaking into the commercial scene and everyone is listening to their songs. We might as well be fooled.

 

Photo credit: Amazon.com