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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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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 7:26:33 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 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 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 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 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 skepticatfirst on Dec 7, 2021 7:21:34 GMT -5
Thanks a lot for writing these up --- fun to read, *and* make me feel less shitty about missing out this year. *Because I'm a weirdo who likes analyzing art, I'm going to do an addendum post breaking down their song selections a little more -- stay tuned for that coming soon. You may be in good company Looking forward to seeing this when it's done!
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Post by skepticatfirst on Dec 3, 2021 19:30:43 GMT -5
Still available.
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Post by skepticatfirst on Dec 3, 2021 11:25:26 GMT -5
Just to be clear, when I said "promise of a future beer optional," I meant that they're free for anyone who'll enjoy going to the show. Let me know!
============
Hi all,
At the last minute I couldn't quite pull it all together to get down there for tonight's show, but I've got a pair of tickets that shouldn't go to waste, and they're yours if you want em (promise of a future beer is optional, but would be a good trade). PM or reply here, I'll try to keep an eye on both.
Cheers!
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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 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 12:19:57 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 Sept 30, 2021 7:37:23 GMT -5
You're awesome, man, thank you! Listening to it right now ... the ending to this version is intense. Really curious to hear the rest of these, probably 75% I've never heard before. Much appreciated!
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Post by skepticatfirst on Sept 29, 2021 20:21:34 GMT -5
#13: STAR WARS HIPSWhen I put Star Wars Hips on #13, I imagined myself making some sort of separation between the s/t and the Entertainment And Arts version. But when we’re finally here, I think the fact that there exist two pretty much equally good versions of this, is a big part of the appeal. Cause where the earliest version offer in it’s ramshackle, yet focused fuzzy pop sound, the latter slows everything down, and displays the internal drama of these characters. It’s weird how the same songs with the same chords, played at a different tempo, gives totally different experiences, and sheds different lights on the lyrics on the top of them. It’s not oceans between them, but I still feel the s/t version have an element of rushing through the scene, without too much afterthought, while the latter suggest that the characters understand more about the consequenses and reach of their actions. And it reaches a climax in the slow, dragged out “Guess you heard about the nightclub fires/ I got two big scoops” part, where I really get the feeling that this shit is important, it’s real-life drama, not just a random encounter with the cops. And I do have to admit that a) the lyrics, and b) the off-stage comment from Craig that this is where the story really starts, is what makes this song a top 10 contender. I’m not sure if it’s fair, but it’s certainly the way I feel. Just the knowledge that the genius mind behind these tales pinpoints this as a valid starting point, gives the song a weight and meaning beyond the sounds we hear. There’s other songs further below the list who maybe thrill me more, but this still feels special in some sense. Yeah, this is a special one, very much for the reasons you mention. I like the draggy drums of the E&A version (and the double-draggy vocals: "... stay inside"), but much prefer the s/t version overall; it's got that jaunty "ok kids! storytime, here we go" energy that reinforces those same special qualities. I can't really separate all the memorable lines from my habit of seeing it as the Origin story, but it does feel unusually rich with them. #27 for me, right above Double Straps and right below Jeep Beep Suite, and a steady reminder of just how good that first album really is.
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Post by skepticatfirst on Sept 29, 2021 20:13:25 GMT -5
#14: LA QUEREIRAI think La Quereria at the same time is one of Lifter Puller’s most subtle, and yet most cinematic and bombastic songs. It’s not unique to mash these two entities into one single song, but after the short and hectic career of the band, this sure feels like some next level shit, and as a symbol of how far they had travelled, and what things might have looked like if they stayed together. Wholeheartedly agree with this --- it's not my favorite song among the last five tracks, but that next-level complexity is real. The thing about La Quereria that really stands out to me is that first verse ("Undisclosed sources ... nike air forces"), which is some kind of master class in meter, diction, rhyme, and alliteration with almost nothing except a beat to work off of. Total tour de force. These characteristics put it above other tracks from the same era (BiB, for example), but having said that it's still not a listen I much look forward to. With the usual protest of embarrassment, #30 for me. Two tracks that would've been super tough to rank, for sure. La Quereria might compete for my favorite of the more dramatic, slow-burner tracks in the entire discography, and it's great that we have a live version of a B-side/Soft Rock track like that from the Brownies show in 2000. Whoa! didn't know about that. Got a link by any chance?
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Post by skepticatfirst on Sept 25, 2021 16:41:16 GMT -5
I guess I'll add one more thing about LDoL, and about that ending: namely, that the effect it has on me is partly due to having come to Lifter Puller *after* The Hold Steady, where "who we are" is an expressly difficult thing to come to terms with:
Maybe our anxiety lives in the spaces in between who we really are and what we want to be and the things that we let other people see [Spectres]
or (to take an example from a setting that sounds a lot like the one in LDoL):
We were hanging at a rock and roll club It was painted just like hell The bar was plywood painted black They have skull mugs up on the shelves They throw such killer parties But some nights you don't feel so well But you shouldn't be the singer in a be yourself band If you don't want to be yourself [GoaH]
LDoL, on the other hand, has dispensed with all that anxiety and unwell feeling, and even with the mourning of "we're budweiser we're benzedrine" [SdS]; in its ecstatic finale, it's reached a level of frankness that feels like liberation. Even if we know it isn't quite.
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Post by skepticatfirst on Sept 25, 2021 12:16:04 GMT -5
#15: LIE DOWN ON LANDSDOWNEAnother pretty tough one to rank. There’s many songs, even on Fiestas And Fiascos, who’s more monumental, more emotionally huge in some sense. But Landsdowne is just a damn fine rock song, and the way it’s both composed and performed, is so solid, so tight. And even though it’s not huge in a traditional sense, it has this ability to build momentum and some drama too. The intro feels very much like being thrown into the midst of things, not at a crucial crossroad, but into the everyday struggle of these characters. And when the band blast into the “Down by the docks…” part, the heat is turned on for real, I love that part. To me, this is maybe first and foremost one of very few songs I’ve enjoyed socially. I haven’t that many friends who’s into Lifter Puller, but all the way back in 2009-10 I remember playing this song at some party, and a friend of mine screaming along to every single word of it. And that counts for something. Also: One of not-that-many songs who’s explicitly referenced in a Hold Steady lyric too. The line about lying down on Landsdowne in For Boston can’t be a coincidence. Been wondering where this one would show up! Lie Down On Landsdowne is my #1. LDoL, for me, is a lot like Secret Santa Cruz: mesmerizing, exhausting, elating. We talked above about songs that end more positively (as positive goes in the Lifter Puller world) than they began; the way LDoL opens out into an ecstatic and totally objective embrace of what the kids have become makes it, in my book, the top of that class. There's no story here: it's all image and lyric and wordplay, but holy fuck, look at what's on display. The whole baseball theme, with the elided Fenway Park on Lansdowne street, the H and the K, the queue of guys, the hits and misses, etc., woven into the literal themes of drugs and sex and badness, is just incredible. Like you, I love the chaos that starts with "down by the docks," that whole verse is a masterpiece of power in images and verbal sound. But what's especially hard to describe is what happens at the end. All through the first two verses, the music (the bass, the synths, the drums) is just powering up and up, gathering itself for what's to come; and then, after a final coil through the "bars and scars and tar" part we hit the whole scumbags/junk jags/rock rags thing. For me, the way Craig takes these same words repeated over and over and loads them with such variety, is a picture of him at his best: not because these are his best lyrics, but because the guy's delivery is so incredible that he doesn't need anything but a handful of syllables and the lift of the tune to create total exaltation. And then the second ending (like in Sweet Payne, to similarly catapulting effect) with "jet lag" etc. ... man. Gets me every time.
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Post by skepticatfirst on Sept 25, 2021 11:26:18 GMT -5
#17: I LIKE THE LIGHTS... It’s a quite laidback song, though. It’s not tough or abrasive, just elegance paired with a buzz. But it’ so god damn COOL. And the lyrics are among my favourites too. Not in the jaw-dropping, revealing sense, but as a character portrait, believable and enjoyable, even without connecting this Jenny girl to the broader narrative. It’s also an early example of one of my Craig Finn hangups, the ability to flesh out a full scene with a snippet from a conversation. Here it is “can’t believe you were crashed out watching some movies” who does it for me. That dry comment, who simultaneously tells us what the she-character just have told the narrator, and the facial expression of the narrator when he answers with “weeell, that can’t be entirely true”. So much in so little. ... Once again, we have a song who tells the story of a band maturing and finding its own sound, without compromising on any of their core ideas. I still think this is a nice entry point for people who haven’t heard that much Lifter Puller. For me too it's an early reference point, in the first place because you quoted it in the Here Goes thread, and then because I recognized it from your post when I started listening to Lifter Puller. I think it's a little too easy for me to take the lyrics of this one for granted, which are fantastic, starting with "and you said it was nothing" and continuing pretty much uninterrupted from there. But I'm trying to keep my rankings focused primarily on the criterion of what I most like listening to, the things I like to hear, and the thoroughly laid-back quality you describe kind of limits its upside for me. Embarrassed, as usual, to say that I have it at #34, though that's right above The Gin and the Sour Defeat, The Candy Machine and My Girlfriend, and Roaming the Foam, so hardly faint praise! #16: THE PIRATE AND THE PENPALI really, really love The Pirate And The Penpal. To me, it’s a candidate for the warmest, most empathic song in the entire Lifter Puller catalog, a really soft and sweet portrait of someone the narrator of the song really cares about. ... If this had been an integral part of an album I got to experience as an album, it might have felt less impressive. I’ve gotten to know this song as a stand-alone piece of music, a song not embedded in a sequence of an album or as a part of a greater whole. And I think that’s why it stands out as a little gem to me, and why I like it so much too. I wish tableinthecorner was around for this, he had very high praise for TPatP, and would confirm your collective instinct that this is a favorite, despite being socked away among the outtakes. For me, the warmth of it comes at the price of a certain lack of energy or focus, the very things that pull me in to Lifter Puller with an avid ear; I've got it down at #38, my least favorite listen of the four tracks that didn't make HDaD. What I *do* love about it is the whole getaway finale, with "highway barricades" being one of the top two or three a-ha moments in the whole catalog; but I've deliberately tried to play down the weight of those narrative considerations in my ranking. What a great band this is, that these kinds of choices have to be made ...
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Post by skepticatfirst on Sept 10, 2021 21:00:28 GMT -5
Wow, all the way up at #3. I didn't really see that coming. But I totally agree on how and why Secret Santa Cruz is so great. I obviously have great affection for it too. I think what puts it at #19 rather than top 10 for me, is the same thing I've been writing a lot about, the separation of intellectual impressive and emotionally moving songs. This is a hard, tough, tight and raw song I admire a lot, but there's other songs with a stronger emotional nerve who really gets me in other ways. Gotcha. I guess it's not emotional exactly, but the feeling I get from SSC --- the racing heartbeat and hair standing on end at "i think we're starting to peak," whipsawing into the washed-up wreckage of the final verse --- is one hell of a ride. It's the kind of thing that usually wears off after you hear a song too many times, but somehow this one can still do it. #18: SANGRE DE STEPHANIE... Sangre The Stephanie is more mood than pure melody. The slow, slightly scary builup, and the way it now and then erupts in wide open guitar parts, sounds like a different band, and sort of dips into the not-very-hip, backwards-looking sound that Hold Steady so often dive into. I hear this as a counterpart to the cheesy saxophone on Hostile, Mass or even the sleazy shuffle of Charlemagne In Sweatpants. What really makes this song for me, is the entire “She’s getting stoned when I came down the stairs” part. The sense of drama, the way Craig sounds so fucking tuned in, everything coming into focus. It’s not a flashy musical exhibition, it’s pure vibe, and I love that. I've been thinking about your description of songs that (unusually for Lifter Puller) build up to reveal something more optimistic or positive than they started with; similar to that, what always gets me about Sangre de Stephanie is the way it builds up to what I think is the purest note of *mourning* in the LP catalog. It's a lot like the end of Sweet Payne in that way, only Sweet Payne has the consolation of a kind of glory and distance from the loss that's being recalled, whereas Sangre de Stephanie is all about what we've become & what we are right now, in the full-throated bleakness of "on and on in the breaking dawn." It's not an emotion I experience with pleasure, exactly, but it's a song I respect massively, and one I hear in my head a lot. Right with you on "came down the stairs"; also, the title is amazing, probably tied with "Back In Blackbeard" for best of the bunch after CaAoC/SSC. #24 in my list.
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Post by skepticatfirst on Sept 8, 2021 21:47:28 GMT -5
As for the negative-songs-turning-positive, I think you could add Nassau Coliseum. The final part there is way brighter and more optimistic than the the first part of the song. Touch My Stuff is another contender, allthough you could argue it turns more hectic and now-the-fuck-what than positive/optimistic. I think you would find interesting stuff it you apply "who's in charge"/agency as a way to measure this. I guess it's been a lot on my mind after all your stuff about THS being a positive spin on the Lifter Puller narrative, but I think that contrast is apparent in individual songs too. Yes, and this is what got my attention when you formulated it this way; I think it's a minority of songs that have this characteristic, and yet the top 4 on my list all fit the description. This includes #4 Mission Viejo, which ends in a weak, but still-there, hope of improvement ... #19: SECRET SANTA CRUZI had the impression that it was a little too simple. An abrasive riff, with an even more in-your-face version of Craig, just rambling through the wild tales of Jenny’s summer. But it’s actually a really well composed song, performed with elegance and energy. The first minute or so is mostly a single and simple riff, with a confident as ever Craig on top of it, and it’s close to the best adaptation of this version of Lifter Puller you’ll get. Then everything tightens up, and that amazing middle part about the fun-fun music and the hedonistic rodeo is pretty mindblowing. It’s so tight and energetic, with Craig as a ringleader, but the entire band acting like directors, building drama and intensity with total control. And from 1:50 they blast into the final part with a blazing fury. The images of arson and The Alamo feels just about right, adding a cinematic feel to the aforementioned drama. And they keep it up all the way through the final line about not forgetting the alibi, adding some mystery to the rushed intensity. ... and #3, Secret Santa Cruz, which after as pure a stretch of insanity as exists in the catalog, ends with the kids' escape --- burned out, amnesiac, afraid of the long arm of the law, but in one piece. I have so, so much to say in praise of this song, but I'll limit it to 5 points: 1) it's tied (with Cruised And Accused Of Cruising) for the best title in the catalog. 2) "cash advances and jenny's back on campus" is such a great opening line that we have to point out the iambic pentameter and start talking about in medias res and Shakespeare if we want to get serious about it. 3) "the blue looks beautiful toppin' off the torch/ you don't have to go inside to buy, you can buy it off the porch" is one of the top 5 chills-down-the-spine moments in the catalog. 4) "and the night of all that bloodshed i was kissin' on some crackhead/ who said he knew about a party/ he keeps it in his mouth in those crazy chipmunk cheeks/ i gave him fifty and he kissed me, spit a little treat between my teeth/ i think we're starting to peak" is another, and is in addition maybe the truest moment of physically palpable panic in the whole thing. 5) all the things you said about the final two verses. Just unreal.
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Post by skepticatfirst on Sept 7, 2021 22:39:48 GMT -5
#21: LIFTER PULLER VS THE END OF THE EVENING30+ songs deep into the ranking, I feel a little bad for the lack of attention to the pure musicality of Lifter Puller. I’m not a musician, and I’m not trained in evaluating musical performances as such. That’s part of the reason why I put emphasis on what Craig does and say (but come on, he takes up a lot of place too), or head into a more vague territory where I talk about mood, sound and the general feeling of a song. Still, I found it a lot easier to talk about guitar patterns, the interplay between the bass and the drums, the way the keys were used or arrangments and production when I did the THS countdown. I think it has a lot do with Hold Steady being a classic rock band, playing music I intuitively know, music easy to describe with the same language I’ve used to describe so much other music. Lifter Puller IS something different. Harder, grittier, more edgy or angly, more rythmic, dryer. Not exactly indie, not quite punk, a little arty, but still pretty straight-forward. They sound a little like many bands I love, but not quite like anything else. The musical comments were a highlight of your THS rankings, in that they made me go back and listen with new ears to a bunch of songs I'd already heard a few hundred times. But you and thrasher9294 have said a lot of things here that have made me do the same thing with Lifter Puller, too. Long intro cut short: Lifter Puller vs The End Of The Evening ranks at #21 mostly because of what the band does, and how they do it. It’s just a really great piece of music, perfectly balanced and tempered, with so many small pieces fitting perfectly together. It’s elegant, in a way, and I’m not just talking about the sweet intro, but also large chunks of what makes up the body of the song. I love the rolling, slightly choppy drums (re: the stuff I wrote about post punk and early 00s a bit upthread), and the way they play up against the guitars. And I love the variety of guitar sounds floating in and out of the song, from the clean melody stuff via the chugging fuzz chords beneath them to the solo fills. Agreed --- there's more going on here musically, in the sense of shifting from one distinct "sound" to another, than in any other song I can think of. It feels way longer, by the time it's done, than 3:27 (only 6 seconds longer than The Flex And The Buff Result! actually shorter than Lie Down On Landsdowne! improbable!). Some of those brief parts are fantastic: the opener, with the laid-back guitar over the cars that sound like waves; the part at the beginning of the final verse that ends up in the warmth of "speedin into scranton." It’s also a Lifter Puller song who follows a pattern in opposite to many other songs. Where plenty of their songs seem to start off pretty light, and the descend into something darker (plenty of songs from the debut, but also later songs like Manpark or Rock For Lite Brite), this one seems to built positivity and agency throughout. Musically, it seems to end on a lighter, maybe even more triumphant, note than it starts off. This is a really good observation. You're right that there aren't many songs like this; I have to think about how that correlates with my rankings. Craig does a hell of a job here too, of course. And he does it by trading some of the manic intensity with style and control. I can dig that. Almost loses it with "christ on the cross," but manages to keep a lid on. Anyway, #21 for me, right below Nice Nice. #20: LONELY IN A LIMOUSINEOn the very opening track of Fiestas And Fiascos, Lifter Puller have finally arrived at a point where they’re able to be a slick and shiny beast of a band. The core of the song is most definitely rock, with a muscular and beefy engine. But the exterior is borderline sleazy, in the same way Charlemange In Sweatpants or the saxophone in Hostile, Mass are sleazy. And just to be clear, I mean that in the best way possible. Just mere months back I considered Lonely In A Limousine as a little bit low-intensity opener, but going back to it for this list, my respect for it have grown a lot. There plenty of interesting things going on here musically, and the way the band build the groove everything else rely on, are in fact pretty impressive. Over a weird rythmic pattern, the guitars chum out just the kind of vibe the song need, and the drums work so well, both as the spine of the main riff and in all the fills between the parts. I have it all the way down at #32, lowest ranking of all the tracks on F&F. But you're right that it's a great opening track, and just listening to the drums after reading your writeup, I have to admit it's pretty fantastic. Love the vocals on "long strings of pearls," too. And, not to drag in the narrative stuff beyond confessing a point of irrational attachment, I'll always be grateful for "calling you and me the chappaquiddick kids."
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Post by skepticatfirst on Sept 2, 2021 18:13:20 GMT -5
It's all good about finding time for replies ... not easy to stay after a project like this day in and day out, with the demands of real life getting in the way. There's no hurry, either. #22: JEEP BEEP SUITESo here we are, at the very last entry from the debut album. I’ve been expressing a lot of doubt over how and where to rank these songs, and I’m still not sure I’ve nailed it. As I’ve said before: These songs have really grown on me the past year, and some of them could have been higher, some of them might get the benefit of some kind of recency bias. But I think it’s justifiable to put Jeep Beep Suite close to the top 20, cause man, this is a good song. In a short playing time, it contains so much Lifter Puller-ness. From the light intro who turns into something darker pretty quick, the gritty and noisy guitar rock who’s a so large part of that debut album, they descension into something darker and more disturbing, the breakdown into something slower and more sweeping, and finally, the synth-bathing ending who sounds representative of the narrator’s mental and emotional state. There’s both a playfulness and an intense drive to Jeep Beep Suite, which I enjoy a lot. To come back to previous themes: it sounds fulfilled, complete in a way. Not perfect, most certainly a little shaky, but it’s an idea thought all the way through, and presented the way it sounds like it was meant to. This is pretty close to where I am; I still have Sublet and Mission Viejo above it in my ranking, but I like Jeep Beep Suite a lot. Those jaunty intro notes after the Damon Locks "alright alright" opening totally set the tone for me; and even though it feels like the whole song is one long musical resolution from the first couple of chords after that, still I really like the way it winds down into its final notes. There are a lot of tricky Finn lyrics in JBS that I'm attached to, and the "brought back just a little bit" ending was revelatory when I was working on the narrative; but my favorite quote from the whole thing ends up being the little "picked her up at the airport/ she said i just got back and i'm already bored" character sketch while it's ramping up. Something in the offhanded way that last line rides the music is just perfect. Anyway, #26 for me.
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Post by skepticatfirst on Aug 31, 2021 20:08:42 GMT -5
Hey, just saw this --- this is great! I can definitely hear the Lifter Puller influence. (I've never been to Minneapolis either, but I hope I've got that ear by now :-)
Good luck with that concept album, and keep us posted here about your progress.
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Post by skepticatfirst on Aug 31, 2021 19:56:19 GMT -5
I have to say, I'm starting to get really curious about your top tracks ...
My take on Manpark is pretty different from yours, but for me too Nice Nice is precisely one of "The Two Songs Who Make Up The Middle Section Of F&F" (the second one comes in several slots lower in my ranking; I'll identify it when you get to it).
Leading with the critique of such a great song feels a little off, but I think I can sum up the entire reason why NN doesn't rank higher with a single observation: there's an indisputable "Nice Nice" anthem on F&F, and it's not called Nice Nice, it's called Candy's Room. Whereas the opening verse of CRoom is maybe the most electric image in the whole catalog, NN never comes close to pulling together that kind of focus or power; by the time you hit the endless final groove, it's receded into the background, a baseline of the overall atmosphere.
That said, it's one hell of a baseline. NN is our main authority for some of the most crucial information about the story: the initial relationship of Dwight and Juanita; the roofies; Dwight's hand in making things go off the rails; the initial identification of the Nice Nice with the brewery bar; the events on Franklin Frontage Road; the vicious cycle of drugs and sex; the doorman procedure at 15th and Franklin; the nature of the eventual revenge on Dwight; and a lot of other minor things too. Without being able to connect a word of it to any other song, it's an incredible canvas, a Hieronymus Bosch hellscape. Your "freaky tourist bus, going through Craig’s lyrical universe" is perfect.
Finally,
and the positive youth's shootin hoops slippin roofies in your jungle juice
has to be one of the top ten Lifter Puller lines ever, just knee-buckling filth (in the like vida blue sense).
#20 for me.
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