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Post by thrasher9294 on Nov 15, 2021 20:16:28 GMT -5
#11: ROCK FOR LITE BRITELifter Puller have a way to make single guitar riffs or parts so stacked with - in the lack of a better word - meaning, in a way that very few bands do. They seem to fill these short musical themes with ambivalence, emotion and almost abstract narratives. And Rock For Lite Brite is one of the finest examples of that.
What a great way to put it, for sure. Like you say here, there was always something about that damn intro that drew me in everytime, despite the facade of simplicity. A fantastic song, with little moments throughout that really elevate it from being "just" the parts alone. The rhyme of "...Makin' love to your stereo equipment," the repetitions afterwards. It's more of the Lifter Puller qualities that I love: off-putting, but catchy as hell once it finally grabs you.
Great to see this thread still going. I've been wanting to make a post on it for the past month and it's been in the back of my mind every time I open my browser, but I never know just what to say really with how hectic everything has been. Will still be checking it out for sure
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Post by muzzleofbees on Nov 18, 2021 5:38:01 GMT -5
#10: THE FLEX AND THE BUFF RESULT
From one closer to another. Where Rock For Lite Brite rest upon nuance, subtlety and a kind of stripped down soundscape, The Flex And The Buff Result is Lifter Puller closing the curtains while all guns are blazing. From the abrasive riff that starts off everything, to the locked groove (on the LP version, at least) with the sound of Nice Nice turning into ash, it’s a hard, gritty and extremely tight rock’n’roll show.
It’s not a lovable song as such, it’s more of an assault, an exhibition of rawness and rock’n’roll. It’s not trying to be nice, it’s the sound of the angry faces with bad intentions that occupy the fringes of the world these characters live in. And it’s done in a really powerful and convincing way.
They way they break it up with these little start/stop moments halfway through, and the way they introduce the saxophone (who doesn’t sound sleazy, but more intimidating), is nice little moves. And Craig really is on the top of his game here. Lyrically, it’s not as tounge-twisting or heavily alluding as some other tracks, but the confidence and the presence is close to unparalleled. Even the way he goes into character, also sound-wise, when he’s taking the role as The Eyepatch Guy, is so damn good.
So, yeah, all in all I think this is close to Lifter Puller at its best. It’s not the one song I would recommend to people getting into the band, but it’s a song who displays a certain quality of the band in a really magnificent way.
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Post by skepticatfirst on Nov 20, 2021 12:19:57 GMT -5
Nice to have this going again, all powered up for the final countdown! #12: THE LANGELOSThere’s something like a purpose or a strong will at the core of the song, a feeling of both the band and the characters inhabiting the world Craig’s creating, facing the world head-on. I think it’s encapsulated in the very opening riff of the song, both stern and urgent, very forward-moving. And it’s picked up now and then during the slightly more meandering verses, in a subtle start/stop motion that slowly builds momentum. This is such a great description of the feel of the song ... that resolution, an attempt at holding steady, almost. It really is both expert and subtle. I'll say more about The Langelos in response to your comment about RfLB below, but as for the ranking: it's an excellent song, pushed down the ranks by the even more excellent songs above it; with all the usual apologies I have it at #33.
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Post by skepticatfirst on Nov 20, 2021 12:26:19 GMT -5
#11: ROCK FOR LITE BRITEBut listening back to Rock For Lite Brite, I think I can say this with some certainty: Lifter Puller have a way to make single guitar riffs or parts so stacked with - in the lack of a better word - meaning, in a way that very few bands do. They seem to fill these short musical themes with ambivalence, emotion and almost abstract narratives. And Rock For Lite Brite is one of the finest examples of that. That little descending guitar part that opens the entire song, is to me the sound of something light-hearted who’s bound to end up in something bad. Like someone tipping on their toes in the sunshine, but both the character and we as a listening audience, intuitively know it’s bound to morph into something way heavier and darker. We still go there, though. Cause that’s what you do in this universe. The soft/hard, light/dark, light/heavy stuff is a theme both well established in tons of works of art, and also in subsequent Hold Steady tunes. And to express one part of the metaphor in words, and another in something more abstract (colours, scenery, music) isn’t all that unique either. When Lifter Puller do it, though, I get the feeling they take us with them on a journey down a timeline. In Rock For Lite Brite we enter the scene on the lighter side of things, and while the riff give us a hint of what’s around the next corner, that’s still some time away. Then they gradually turn things tighter, both lyrically and musically, till we - a little out of the blue - suddenly are situated in a hectic place where we can’t really get out. And they do it in this really subtle and elegant way. I’m not sure if this makes any sense t0 any of you guys, but this is a big part of the reason why Rock For Lite Brite is a favourite of mine. Besides it being a really, really good poprock song, of course, with the band slowing down one gear and taking their time to really craft the song. The lyrical span throughout is also pretty damn perfect, from the very specific lines about the bong and the job cleaning pools, but in the mouth of detectives in an interrogation scene, to the paranoid blitz of the ending. Such a good closer to a very good album. I've written upthread about LP and THS songs (LDoL, etc.) that start bad but then rise above the bad to "something bigger"; a lot of my favorites seem to fit that pattern. You're right of course that Rock For Lite Brite goes in the opposite direction. But for me, very much due to the way that opening guitar part works, it still has some of the same effect. By the time we get to the end of the HDaD album, we've been wrecked --- beaten down, betrayed, addicted, worse --- by everything that's gone before, a roller coaster and litany of all badness. And it's then, in the middle of that wreckage, that RfLB's jaunty little guitar riff hits; in context, that light-heartedness isn't just doomed to collapse back into chaos, it's also comically funny in a really dark way. (I was going to say something similar about The Langelos; even though it isn't formally situated in an album playlist, I still hear it very much in medias res.) I love it, just a burst of cynical, last-ditch joy every time it comes up. This had to happen at some point, but I'm pleased to say that I too have RfLB at #11. Fantastic song.
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Post by skepticatfirst on Nov 20, 2021 12:28:51 GMT -5
#10: THE FLEX AND THE BUFF RESULTFrom one closer to another. Where Rock For Lite Brite rest upon nuance, subtlety and a kind of stripped down soundscape, The Flex And The Buff Result is Lifter Puller closing the curtains while all guns are blazing. From the abrasive riff that starts off everything, to the locked groove (on the LP version, at least) with the sound of Nice Nice turning into ash, it’s a hard, gritty and extremely tight rock’n’roll show. It’s not a lovable song as such, it’s more of an assault, an exhibition of rawness and rock’n’roll. It’s not trying to be nice, it’s the sound of the angry faces with bad intentions that occupy the fringes of the world these characters live in. And it’s done in a really powerful and convincing way. They way they break it up with these little start/stop moments halfway through, and the way they introduce the saxophone (who doesn’t sound sleazy, but more intimidating), is nice little moves. And Craig really is on the top of his game here. Lyrically, it’s not as tounge-twisting or heavily alluding as some other tracks, but the confidence and the presence is close to unparalleled. Even the way he goes into character, also sound-wise, when he’s taking the role as The Eyepatch Guy, is so damn good. So, yeah, all in all I think this is close to Lifter Puller at its best. It’s not the one song I would recommend to people getting into the band, but it’s a song who displays a certain quality of the band in a really magnificent way. Yes, emphatically, to everything you say here, except that I'm brought up short by "it’s not the one song I would recommend to people getting into the band"; because if you were to ask me what one song I *would* recommend for that, I don't know for sure, but The Flex And The Buff Result is definitely the first thing that pops into my head. This, it seems to me, is the one song that's not going to let you miss that something very special is going on with Lifter Puller. You may not like what you hear, but you're not going to be able to look away. And if you do like it, I can pretty much guarantee that you're going to like the rest of what LP has on offer. I think it's the combination of pure narrative force --- rising to the height of actual theater with the voicing of the Eyepatch Guy, and the broken-fourth-wall-burning-groove ending --- on top of (as you say) the overall power and conviction of the song, that makes it unique, even in a great catalog like this one. But whatever it is, it's awesome. #5 for me.
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Post by thrasher9294 on Dec 10, 2021 18:43:13 GMT -5
Figured I'd just drop by and show the new shirt I was finally able to get made recently
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Post by skepticatfirst on Dec 10, 2021 20:21:25 GMT -5
Figured I'd just drop by and show the new shirt I was finally able to get made recently That is sooo good.
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Post by thrasher9294 on Dec 31, 2021 0:32:20 GMT -5
Here's another one I made with my guy, a hoodie closer to one of the original sweaters I made when I went to the Brooklyn Bowl shows back in '19.
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Post by muzzleofbees on Jan 10, 2022 14:03:45 GMT -5
Nice work, thrasher9294! That BB19 sweater might be the sole reason that I now know you. I doubt I would have approached you if it wasn't for the sweater, who was the perfect way to start a coversation. I think that was the very first I went to all by myself, and I'm happy that I walked out of there knowing you. And of course: Sorry about the loooong delay. I have no good excuses, besides things being a bit crazy at work, and that my son caught covid in December, sending the entire family into isolation and quarantine. Suddenly it was christmas. But I intend to finish this thread in the upcoming week, so stay tuned!
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Post by muzzleofbees on Jan 10, 2022 14:04:47 GMT -5
#9: CANDY'S ROOM
In many ways, this is (one of) the pinnacle(s) of Lifter Puller. It starts off as a continuation of the pun in the title, with the hihats taken from the Springsteen song with the same name, but it soon erupts into one of the poppiest and catchiest parts of the entire Lifter Puller catalog. It’s most certainly rock, but it’s played so happy and loose and free-flowing. That said, this is pretty much Craig Finn’s gig. I think those first cross-rhyming, phonetically pleasing, rythmic and absolutely joyous first lines of Candy’s Room might be his absolute peak. There’s just so many things to unpack there, yet I keep coming back to the sheer emotional thrill of hearing these words woven together.
The only thing that keeps this song off top 3 is how short it is. The total playing time isn’t that sparse, but after the explosion of the first verse, the song pretty quickly descends into darker territory. I really like that part too, it’s just not as damn perfect as the opening. And I would very much like to hear a full 3.30 version of that start.
Then again, the song fits perfectly into Fiestas & Fiascos as a whole. It’s hard for me to really break that album apart, cause I’ve listened to it as a unity so many times. Bu I think a huge part of the appeal of the album is how short songs are broken down into even shorter segments, seamlessly flowing together to create a strong sense of what the album really is. I’m not gonna exaggerate here, but there’s a punky prog-ness to the entire sequencing of the album. A huge rock opera style work, crammed into 30 minutes of music. And you just have to respect that, I guess.
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Post by muzzleofbees on Jan 11, 2022 5:45:19 GMT -5
#8: NASSAU COLISEUM
You’re probably pretty tired of this by now, but once again: Tough song to rate. It’s an obvious song to put close to the top of a list like this, cause it has all the right elements: The epic and narratively sharp slow burner who sweeps across time, space and the american culture and geography at the same time. It’s certainly a big precursor to what Hold Steady was about to do some years down the road. And it’s a classic Craig Finn tale - at least in one way - about love and loss, drugs, violence and America as a concept.
I dig all that stuff. But it doesn’t excite me in the same way songs way further down this list do. It’s almost too perfect, a song begging to be loved as a Big Song.
So why is it still #8 on this list? I guess I just think it deserves it. For one, it’s really, really good. And I also think it’s a song who - like some others - display a version of Lifter Puller worth praising. There’s an elegance here, and a way to combine softness and sharpness in a way who sounds so easy when you talk about it, but which few bands manages to do. And that ambivalence, that constant negotiation between these contraries, is so embedded in Lifter Puller’s and Craig Finn’s appeal. To be able to achieve it in what at first glance sounds like an otherwise ordinary ballad, is impressive.
It doesn’t thrill me in the way it used to do. But if I ever was to see Lifter Puller live, I would absolutely love to hear it. And if they ever should release a classic best of album, like bands used to do back in the day, it would be a shame not to include it. It’s a song at the core of the Lifter Puller mythology, and I think it deserves a #8 ranking too.
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Post by muzzleofbees on Jan 12, 2022 6:36:11 GMT -5
#7: SHERMAN CITY
I think Sherman City was the very first song where I really grasped the full scope of Lifter Puller. I enjoyed them a lot up to this point too, but this was the song who took it one step further. It must have been in 2011 or 2012, and it just struck me how they were able to infuse songs pretty straight-forward taken at face value, with this subtle intensity who later have coloured so much of their catalog for me.
The specific part I’m talking about is everything who goes down after “”She’s proud of her sound proof bedroom….” where the songs changes gear in an actually pretty unremarkable way. At first it sounds almost playful, but every single move after that break turns the song darker, more paranoid and claustrophobic, without ever pushing any buttons too hard. It’s among these really sweet musical moments I really can’t describe, something emotional and gutural, and I love it.
The song is pretty much perfect up to that point too. A kinda shaky and staccato tale of people in love, always separated by circumstances and external factors, and the narrator trying to play it cool, while he’s obviously ridden by an internal drama. I really like how they open the song up at the end of each verse, again in a playful sense, before they quickly return to the rhythm.
The perfection of Sherman City is hidden in the subtle and quirky details, and also in sum of the not-really-perfect parts. It’s a technically really sweet song, with a strange vibe, both hard to grasp, but also very intuitive. It’s just a very good, very complex song who opened up my eyes to a lot of what Lifter Puller really is about.
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Post by thrasher9294 on Jan 12, 2022 21:16:50 GMT -5
Still love reading these man. Totally agree about Sherman City—was one of their first ones that really started that connection for me when I was first listening to Soft Rock back in the day. I still hear all of these little sounds in the guitar part that make me wonder what the fuck chords they're playing. I'd love to share some of my more in-depth opinions next time I have a chance to do a write-up for sure
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Post by muzzleofbees on Jan 13, 2022 8:49:11 GMT -5
I'd love to share some of my more in-depth opinions next time I have a chance to do a write-up for sure Please do!
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Post by muzzleofbees on Jan 13, 2022 8:50:19 GMT -5
#6: TO LIVE AND DIE IN LBI
To me, the very opening seconds of To Live And Die In LBI is the finest example of the evolution from the debut album to Half Dead And Dynamite. The snap of the snare drum, immediately followed by a stone cold and dead confident riff, is the sound of a band who know who they are, free from shyness and doubt. It remind me a lot of the vibe Hold Steady would bring to stage ten years later, but also make me think of way more cocky and self assured bands from the 70s or 80s. And, yeah, that whistle after the bridge, and before the very last part, have to be a nod to Paradise City, right?
Speaking of GnR, there’s very much a Welcome To The Jungle vibe here. I know they reference the song lyrically later on the album, but the entire sound of LBI carries that same presentation of a scene, a milieu and an attitude. It starts off in medias res, with the girl stumbling out the club, throwing up a beer to the sound of cheering. And it continues as a character portrait of the same girl, burning her light at both ends, wiping the blood from her mouth and deciding to do it all once more. There’s more than a few narrative echoes here, but I think a lot about Our Whole Lives when I hear the song. And, sure, that song also reference another Half Dead And Dynamite track. But if I were to go down the road of picking up every cross-reference here, I would go on till tomorrow, so....
This isn’t a very complex song, but it’s the kind of song who keeps the faith in the main theme, and doubling down on it, to a great effect. From a band with a bigger budget, in a more expensive studio with an even more expensive producer, the riff would have sounded massive. But even if the sonics isn’t quite there, you can easily tell what kind of riff this is, and get the sense of what it means. Craig sounds menacing on top of it, and I think the combination of the riff and Craig, is what makes this song so huge to me. The fact that it opens the album who takes Lifter Puller into harder and rawer territory, while still evolving technically and dynamically, just makes everything even better.
I talked about a best of collection in the piece about Nassau Coliseum, and I wouldn’t really hesitate to put this as the opening song of that collection either. It’s that good.
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Post by muzzleofbees on Jan 16, 2022 1:51:03 GMT -5
#5: VICEBURGH
The first time I really sat down and listened through Heaven Is Whenever, my jaw almost dropped. By that time, I was pretty familiar with Lifter Puller’s catalog, but not to the extent or depth I was to be later. But what I hadn’t really heard listening to bootleg recordings of the song, suddenly sounded so obvious: Craig was referencing Viceburgh! The townie jackets, the “right” corner”, the sugar packets - this couldn’t be a coincidence. And if there was one thing I’d like to ask Craig, it’s what it really means, and why he suddenly - thirteen years later - decided to pick up that imagery again.
Viceburgh is just an amazing song, beautiful and emotional, huge but yet so near and warm, and - of course - with some sort of descent towards darkness and destruction, once again draped in some sort of starry eyed romanticism. There’s obviously some really dark transactions going down here, and anyone who still have the slightest doubt that the sex-for-drugs thing is a prominent theme in the Lifter Puller universe, should do a close reading of these lyrics. But there’s, as in so many other songs, mixed messages here. Yes, these kids are turning themselves into slaves, but they don’t seem all too bummed out about it. At the very least, there’s a weird sentimentality to it. As in the previous song on this list states: There’s a community thing here, something worth living for.
The music underlines this ambivalence in a perfect way. Both the guitar sound and the chords who starts everything off also carry this sentimental, romantic but also very nervy vibe. When the entire band joins in, and especially during the “These hesher guys they try to give me high fives…” part, it sound jangly and shaky, both determined, and under immediate risk of falling apart any moment. There’s a fragility here, a delicate balance, just as the fine line between euphoria and total destruction these kids try to balance. As Craig sings in another outtake from the Heaven Is Whenever sessions: It’s a wonderful struggle.
And I guess that’s what makes this a top 5 song for me. They way it exemplifies this eternal battle these characters fight, and fills it with so much doubt, ambivalence and mixed emotions.
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Post by muzzleofbees on Jan 16, 2022 5:01:52 GMT -5
I've also got around to compile this list in a Spotify Playlist. It will be complete by the time the list is complete.
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Post by muzzleofbees on Jan 17, 2022 3:32:48 GMT -5
#4: TOUCH MY STUFF
I’ve written so much in this thread about the hectic, intense and dizzying drive that runs through Fiestas And Fiascos, and I just might think Touch My Stuff is the purest manifestation of it. I can’t quite explain what separates it from the rest of the hasty rush, but I think it’s a combination of intensity and elegance. There’s that rousing, swooshing sound that anchors the song (a synth, I guess?), the super tight rhythm section, and the way the song descends into dangerous territories. But there’s also a playfulness on top of everything, like Craig is surfing on a wave of madness with tons of confidence and determination, but also a smile on his face.
The start/stop part in the middle of the song sounds so damn heavy, so loaded with meaning and consequences, and it’s the perfect bridge to the rhythm change, and the hypnotizing and descending pause of the “We are the troubadours…” part.
But after all, it’s the final part of the song that seals the deal for me. The gnarl in Craig’s voice, and the thumping sound of the band, when they blast through black and tans paired up with two or three Rolling Stones albums, expressing fearful glee for the “crazy drinks you made”, and just give themselves over to the madness. Then into the weird part where the band takes a break, and Craig deliver all those lines about this crazy adventure being about more than money and drugs - “it’s a question of community” - before everything erupts in an ending who can’t be described as anything other than celebratory, although we know the darkness lurks in each and every corner of the room.
It’s a mess of a song, but it’s a mess tied so well together, perfectly balanced and tempered all the way through, to a devastating effect. It took me years to appreciate it the way I do today, but some days I think it’s the best song they ever put to tape.
(Also: This is, as far as I know, the only Lifter Puller song Craig 100% explicitly have name dropped in a THS/solo song - in Roman Guitars from Faith In The Future. I don’t know what it means, apart from the obvious connection to the wider Lifter Puller story, but I feel it carries some weight).
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Post by thrasher9294 on Jan 17, 2022 16:46:35 GMT -5
Definitely wouldn't be far from the top of my list either. One of my first choices to show off F+F when I'm given the chance. Fantastic track
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Post by skepticatfirst on Jan 17, 2022 23:19:34 GMT -5
Sorry to be late catching up with you here ... rough couple of weeks at work. #9: CANDY'S ROOMIn many ways, this is (one of) the pinnacle(s) of Lifter Puller. It starts off as a continuation of the pun in the title, with the hihats taken from the Springsteen song with the same name, but it soon erupts into one of the poppiest and catchiest parts of the entire Lifter Puller catalog. It’s most certainly rock, but it’s played so happy and loose and free-flowing. That said, this is pretty much Craig Finn’s gig. I think those first cross-rhyming, phonetically pleasing, rythmic and absolutely joyous first lines of Candy’s Room might be his absolute peak. There’s just so many things to unpack there, yet I keep coming back to the sheer emotional thrill of hearing these words woven together. Yes to this. Not only was this the first thing I latched on to listening to F&F for the first time, it's the first Lifter Puller lyric I was ever introduced to (when you yelled it at me over beers at the Brooklyn Bowl a few years back). If it's not Craig's peak, singular, it's tied with whatever else is up there. The only thing that keeps this song off top 3 is how short it is. The total playing time isn’t that sparse, but after the explosion of the first verse, the song pretty quickly descends into darker territory. I really like that part too, it’s just not as damn perfect as the opening. And I would very much like to hear a full 3.30 version of that start. This is exactly where I'm at, although I ended up with it at #15 rather than #9; it's just too short to be one of the songs at the very top. A vignette or a flash, rather than a complete track. And I say that while actually liking the final verse a lot, too. Then again, the song fits perfectly into Fiestas & Fiascos as a whole. It’s hard for me to really break that album apart, cause I’ve listened to it as a unity so many times. Bu I think a huge part of the appeal of the album is how short songs are broken down into even shorter segments, seamlessly flowing together to create a strong sense of what the album really is. I’m not gonna exaggerate here, but there’s a punky prog-ness to the entire sequencing of the album. A huge rock opera style work, crammed into 30 minutes of music. And you just have to respect that, I guess. Coming after the overture of LiaL, Candy's Room is something like the opening scene that throws open the door to the drama of the album as a whole; that it lacks something in its own right is due in good part to the way it hurries us forward to peer, wondering, through the door of the bathroom stall. Wonderful stuff.
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Post by skepticatfirst on Jan 17, 2022 23:45:40 GMT -5
#8: NASSAU COLISEUMYou’re probably pretty tired of this by now, but once again: Tough song to rate. It’s an obvious song to put close to the top of a list like this, cause it has all the right elements: The epic and narratively sharp slow burner who sweeps across time, space and the american culture and geography at the same time. It’s certainly a big precursor to what Hold Steady was about to do some years down the road. And it’s a classic Craig Finn tale - at least in one way - about love and loss, drugs, violence and America as a concept. I dig all that stuff. But it doesn’t excite me in the same way songs way further down this list do. It’s almost too perfect, a song begging to be loved as a Big Song. Whatever exactly the Big Song power of Nassau Coliseum is, it's totally got me. This is my #2. The fact that he made something so powerful so early, on top of such primitive music, kind of blows my mind. The slow pan from sophomore in a sportcoat, to the anxious guy getting shot at in traffic, to the shitshow of guilty/unrepentant frustration as vast as America ... he almost makes it look easy. But the "i got some kicks in" that holds it all together isn't something that could just be tossed off; that's a world-class moment of truth, there. Still makes my spine do that thing when I hear it.
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Post by skepticatfirst on Jan 18, 2022 0:14:23 GMT -5
#7: SHERMAN CITY... The perfection of Sherman City is hidden in the subtle and quirky details, and also in sum of the not-really-perfect parts. It’s a technically really sweet song, with a strange vibe, both hard to grasp, but also very intuitive. It’s just a very good, very complex song who opened up my eyes to a lot of what Lifter Puller really is about. To me, Sherman City is a labyrinth; it's like meeting a creature with the head and claws and wings of animals on the body of a man. Weird music, weird lyrics, none of it any clearer in direct sunlight (a lot of which is explained by the fact that it was rewritten by Craig to rhyme phonetically with a lost set of original lyrics, but still). The weirdness is compelling; beyond liking it at face value, I associate that labyrinth feel directly with what is, for me, an essential part of the Lifter Puller experience --- namely, trying to understand What The Fuck Happened. #16 for me.
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Post by skepticatfirst on Jan 18, 2022 7:26:33 GMT -5
#6: TO LIVE AND DIE IN LBITo me, the very opening seconds of To Live And Die In LBI is the finest example of the evolution from the debut album to Half Dead And Dynamite. The snap of the snare drum, immediately followed by a stone cold and dead confident riff, is the sound of a band who know who they are, free from shyness and doubt. It remind me a lot of the vibe Hold Steady would bring to stage ten years later, but also make me think of way more cocky and self assured bands from the 70s or 80s. And, yeah, that whistle after the bridge, and before the very last part, have to be a nod to Paradise City, right? Awesome catch about Paradise City --- now that you point it out that's clearly right. I'm pretty sure I remember Craig somewhere saying that the whistle (as worn by him in concert, and used in this song) was a nod to rave culture; but like so much other Finn interview material that must be a concealing half-truth. This isn’t a very complex song, but it’s the kind of song who keeps the faith in the main theme, and doubling down on it, to a great effect. From a band with a bigger budget, in a more expensive studio with an even more expensive producer, the riff would have sounded massive. But even if the sonics isn’t quite there, you can easily tell what kind of riff this is, and get the sense of what it means. Craig sounds menacing on top of it, and I think the combination of the riff and Craig, is what makes this song so huge to me. The fact that it opens the album who takes Lifter Puller into harder and rawer territory, while still evolving technically and dynamically, just makes everything even better. Agreed --- I love the riff, love the song, and the "steady type/ Eyepatch Guy" line is immortal. But for the complexity to balance that riff we kind of have to wait for the rest of the album. If you'd asked me early on, I would figured TLaDiLBI for my top 10, but with the actual list in hand I have it at #14.
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Post by skepticatfirst on Jan 18, 2022 7:43:23 GMT -5
#5: VICEBURGH... Viceburgh is just an amazing song, beautiful and emotional, huge but yet so near and warm, and - of course - with some sort of descent towards darkness and destruction, once again draped in some sort of starry eyed romanticism. There’s obviously some really dark transactions going down here, and anyone who still have the slightest doubt that the sex-for-drugs thing is a prominent theme in the Lifter Puller universe, should do a close reading of these lyrics. But there’s, as in so many other songs, mixed messages here. Yes, these kids are turning themselves into slaves, but they don’t seem all too bummed out about it. At the very least, there’s a weird sentimentality to it. As in the previous song on this list states: There’s a community thing here, something worth living for. The music underlines this ambivalence in a perfect way. Both the guitar sound and the chords who starts everything off also carry this sentimental, romantic but also very nervy vibe. When the entire band joins in, and especially during the “These hesher guys they try to give me high fives…” part, it sound jangly and shaky, both determined, and under immediate risk of falling apart any moment. There’s a fragility here, a delicate balance, just as the fine line between euphoria and total destruction these kids try to balance. As Craig sings in another outtake from the Heaven Is Whenever sessions: It’s a wonderful struggle. And I guess that’s what makes this a top 5 song for me. They way it exemplifies this eternal battle these characters fight, and fills it with so much doubt, ambivalence and mixed emotions. In total agreement with you here. In a world where I'm slightly less keyed to the manic side of Lifter Puller, Viceburgh is arguably my #1; but after hashing out all the tough choices I have it at #7. No matter how you slice it, a colossal song. Viceburgh is also the object of, for my money, the funniest LP critique ever ( youtube):
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Post by skepticatfirst on Jan 18, 2022 7:54:18 GMT -5
#4: TOUCH MY STUFFI’ve written so much in this thread about the hectic, intense and dizzying drive that runs through Fiestas And Fiascos, and I just might think Touch My Stuff is the purest manifestation of it. I can’t quite explain what separates it from the rest of the hasty rush, but I think it’s a combination of intensity and elegance. There’s that rousing, swooshing sound that anchors the song (a synth, I guess?), the super tight rhythm section, and the way the song descends into dangerous territories. But there’s also a playfulness on top of everything, like Craig is surfing on a wave of madness with tons of confidence and determination, but also a smile on his face. The start/stop part in the middle of the song sounds so damn heavy, so loaded with meaning and consequences, and it’s the perfect bridge to the rhythm change, and the hypnotizing and descending pause of the “We are the troubadours…” part. ... It’s a mess of a song, but it’s a mess tied so well together, perfectly balanced and tempered all the way through, to a devastating effect. It took me years to appreciate it the way I do today, but some days I think it’s the best song they ever put to tape. I was wondering how high this was going to come in. You're right that it's an incredibly well-balanced mess, in the best sense --- that it never stops changing and still hangs together so tightly is amazing. And I do really like the "troubadours" verse, that's very good. But for me, TMS lacks the emotional breakout of all the best LP songs, almost like it's too tight to take off. Anyway, it came in at the top of my third bucket, and lowest of any F&F track except for LiaL, at #29. Different strokes!
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