tbob
True Scene Leader
Posts: 548
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Post by tbob on Apr 22, 2022 15:07:07 GMT -5
#35: GOING TO A SHOW (Faith In The Future) I’m inevitably gonna contradict myself plenty of times in this thread, and this might be one of them. I’ve written some songs off because they sound a little underdeveloped, like sketches of a great song rather than a big tune in their own right. And Going To A Show is certainly a little like this. A meandering and pretty static tune who kinda promises an evolution or something to break the deadlock, but never get there. Still, I like it a lot. There’s just a so intriguing vibe here, like the entire song is a snapshot of a certain feeling of a very specific point in time. The lyrics are shifting from being in the present, and giving us historical context, but the feeling persists. The main theme of the lyrics remind me of “hard to hold steady when half your friends are dead already”, and many, many similar statements of trying to stay calm, sane and afloat when bad things go down around you. Like the narrator takes an inward turn, just to keep himself together. And while there might not be much going on melodically here, there’s a rich and interesting soundscape, with lots of stuff happening. It keeps me interested all the way through. Not a big tune, but certainly a good song which fits so well into the extremely strong first half of Faith In The Future. This is a personal favourite of mine although I think it’s placing is fair. I’d probably have it higher just because the lyrics get to me. I’m quite regularly at shows on my own and I’m definitely that guy who turns down the bathroom encounter “to go outside and smoke”! This thread is so much fun and again, while I think it’s placing is fair, I’ve been listening to Sarah, Calling from a Hotel a bunch the last few days. It’s not at the top of his solo canon but I like the vague, noir-ish story and the wordplay as ever is very skilfully done. So many hidden nuggets in the solo back catalogue.
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Post by muzzleofbees on Apr 25, 2022 4:46:19 GMT -5
This is a personal favourite of mine although I think it’s placing is fair. I’d probably have it higher just because the lyrics get to me. I’m quite regularly at shows on my own and I’m definitely that guy who turns down the bathroom encounter “to go outside and smoke”! This thread is so much fun and again, while I think it’s placing is fair, I’ve been listening to Sarah, Calling from a Hotel a bunch the last few days. It’s not at the top of his solo canon but I like the vague, noir-ish story and the wordplay as ever is very skilfully done. So many hidden nuggets in the solo back catalogue. I'm really glad you like it! As I've said a couple of times, this is a big part of this thread: Giving both myself and all of you guys a tool and an arena to revisit these songs. I really like the vibe in Going To A Show myself. I haven't been to that many shows alone, but one of them were in Amsterdam, and I flew in by myself to catch Hold Steady. It still feels like a peak freedom experience.
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Post by muzzleofbees on Apr 25, 2022 4:46:50 GMT -5
#33: ST. PETER UPSIDE DOWN (Faith In The Future) I’ve been pretty aware of not making this ranking into a feast of lyrical analysis. The main reason is that I want to evaluate these individual songs as listening experiences, the way I hear them as a whole. Another reason is that we have entire threads dedicated to it, threads that have enriched my life in a way I didn’t think was possible, but still with a very narrow perspective on lyrics, as something that exists separate of the music. Still, this is a ranking of how I feel about these 60 songs. And there’s no way to escape that the reason I like some of these songs as much as I do, has to do with the lyrics. And St. Peter Upside Down is most definitely one of them. It’s definitely a nice song in its own (musical) right as well. What I like the most about that part, is the sneak-peek into a future where Craig stacks his songs with so many different elements, while still a) keeping his vocal in the center of it all, and b) keeping the songs breezy and breathing. It’s not an easy task: Listen to this, or almost anything from We All Want The Same Things, and compare it with Party Pit. Take your time and really listen to it. I think there’s a vast difference in production, arrangement and the way the songs are balanced. But, yeah, the lyrics. It’s not that I think St. Peter Upside Down is a self-contained masterpiece. The reason I like the lyrics so much, is because they keep me constantly on my toes with a TON of references to various lyrics Craig have written in the past. It’s like tapestry of images, references and situations, some of them put into a new and narratively consistent context within the realm of the song, some of them seemingly randomly thrown in there to evoke certain feelings or moods. So, just for the fun of it, but also to showcase why I get so lost in these lyrics, and therefore rate the song pretty high, let’s have a look at all the lines, and how they loosely connect to other tracks. And mind: This isn’t an analysis of any sort - it’s just a map of where my thoughts fly off to when I hear these lines. -- ** Simon Peter - Not only a guy getting crucified, but also the main “fisherman”, which corresponds with plenty of references (especially in Lifter Puller) to kids as fishes, swimming with the sharks, getting hooks caught in their mouths. This is also the same Peter denying Jesus in the aftermath of his arrest, as referenced in Both Crosses (“Hey, Peter, you’ve been pretty sweet since easter break). ** “We all gotta sell out somebody sometimes” - Going back to the very beginning of Lifter Puller, the narrator says “And, hey Juania, I guess I sold you out” (Star Wars Hips). Selling out somebody to get off the hook yourself, isn’t that mirrored in Peter/Jesus too? ** “Meet me in the booth in the back by the bathroom” - Man, this seems familiar, right? Even in the very first line in the same Star Wars Hips we get “Here’s what happened in the back of the restaurant”, and later on we’ve heard MANY references to booths, stalls and bathrooms, and to some not very specified back half of a room (“She wants to know what’s going on the room that’s all the way in the back”, “...in the back half of the theater…” and so on). So, yeah, this is a familiar scene. ** “Upper 20s, 7th avenue, just south of the Garden” - We’ve been used to think of 7th Avenue as the one in Minneapolis, but it’s pretty obvious that this is in New York City, with the reference to Madison Square Garden. I think back on Heavy Covenant, with its hockey references, before “...in the garden with a day to spare”. ** “Mustang Sallys, Monday mornings” - “I think she drove a new Mustang” + plenty of references of a party lasting throughout the weekend, and into a new week (think Joke About Jamaica, and the Saturdays being a runway into Sunday - sometimes Monday). ** “Watching out the window” - Yeah, like the main character of Cheyenne Sunrise seeing the (morning) sun through a crack in the curtains. ** “Nero Augustus Caesar” - Obviously the guy who ordered the execution of Simon Peter, but have we heard about emperors before? Maybe in the very title of the first Lifter Puller single? Through the emperor Charlemagne? Or maybe explicit references to Caesar in not just Jester And June, but also the next song on the album, Ninety Bucks (“well, Ceasar’s in his car right now/ he says he isn’t far right now”). ** “Can you hear me, Mother Mary” - Mary is ALL OVER the lyrics of vast parts of the Hold Steady catalog, and is arguably the main character of the entire universe. ** “I’m unsteady in the lobby” - The lobby is usually a place where drugs are being dealt. And when you realize how many different ways this room, the informal meeting place who leads to a room (in the back), are described, it’s stunning. Foyer, reception, porch, hall, vestibule, even the coat check in The Weekenders - and most prominently, lobby. See Newmyer’s Roof, Three Drinks, The Most Important Thing and - of course - Meet Me In The Lobby. And that's before we consider what's the opposite of being unsteady really are ** “Claymation fawn” - This is a pretty clear nod to one of the next lines, the one about Disney cartoons, where Bambi is a prominent “claymation fawn”, right? But “fawn” appears plenty of other times too. Think about “we hit the nightlife like deer in the headlights”. Or the fawn straying from the forest in The Prior Procedure. ** “I came in to the city” - The very first line on the very first song on Lifter Puller’s debut album (“Well, I came into the city”, Double Straps) ** “I met her in 1999 up in Windows Of The World” - Well, the next line in Double Straps is “the buildings made me dizzy”, probably because they are high (as hell). ** “I was desperate to make a connection” - Again, numerous references to “connect”, “connecting”, “connection” in about fifteen songs. The girl in Terrified Eyes are “sick of not connecting”, the narrator in Almost Everything reminisce over “how we made a connection”, and you know, there’s plenty more. ** “I was from another planet” - so, here our narrator is, inside a very tall building, desperate to make a connection, and I can’t help thinking the planet he’s on, is just one of the six he visited in the span of five hours (Denver Haircut). Or Screenwriter’s School, where he silently croons about “still life on different planets”. ** “I’m speeding through a Saturday morning” - He could be driving, but also speeding in a different sense. “And we sped through the seventh straight dawn” (Let’s Get Incredible). Or “it’s hard to slow down when you’re picking up speed” (Same Kooks). Or “And when we touch you know it seems/ like we’re one big machine/ picking up speed” (The Langelos). -- Some of you might think this is a meaningless exercise, and you’re totally free to. But I have to say that drawing this lines between songs from 1994 till 2022, and constantly being reminded about them listening to Craig’s words, have been a great pleasure for me. And it keeps the listening fresh and interesting, even when I hear a song for the 100th time.
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Post by muzzleofbees on Apr 26, 2022 3:16:53 GMT -5
#32: TERRIFIED EYES (Clear Heart Full Eyes)
I’ve written plenty about the unfinished and not very confident aura that surrounds Clear Heart Full Eyes, but Terrified Eyes hits a sweet spot for me. It sounds like a Hold Steady song from a parallel universe where they’ve gone down the road of americana instead of rock’n’roll, representing the struggles of rural fuckups rather than street rats in a more urban area.
The melody is jolly as hell, like the entire band has a foolish grin on their faces while jamming it out. There’s a lightness here, and it really works - it’s music that makes me happy listening to it. And the main appeal of the song is how this is contrasted with the pretty bleak and hopeless lyrics. This isn’t Craig at his most earth-shakingly narrative best, but both the scenery and the characters shine really bright here. You can certainly tell the desperation and the “no way out” mentality, and it’s easy to imagine some of these characters popping up again on I Need A New War, when the initial rush of the edgy life, when the thrill of a girl crossing herself when it’s the bartender’s round, has worn off for good.
The middle part/bridge (“In the middle of the day…”) adds some contemplative beauty to it all, strongly resembling known lines like “In barlight she looked alright…” and “You wouldn’t be so impressed with the sunlight if it wasn’t for the darkness”. It’s a pretty simple image - someone having two states of mind, having two separate personas, depending on night/day, intoxicated/sober.
It’s not a top 20 song for me, a little too light and one-dimensional. But it’s fun as hell as what it is, and I think it has a lot of the confidence the rest of the record suffers a little under the lack of.
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Post by muzzleofbees on Apr 29, 2022 0:26:29 GMT -5
#31: IT HITS WHEN IT HITS (We All Want The Same Things)
It’s weird to come back to a few of these songs, and listen to them in light of things happening after their release. It Hits When It Hits is a pretty obvious precursor to I Need A New War, still it didn’t feel out of place at We All Want The Same Things when it first arrived. Right now, I wonder if I’m being too kind on the song, or maybe I need to re-evaluate how I feel about some of the INANW tracks. But still, here we are, at #31, and for the sake of the countdown it’s gonna stay that way.
This is a slow and moody jam, very much encapsulated in its own sound and world. We’re back to the category of songs that feels like snapshots of a specific moment in time, in the life of someone who’s not at a very good place. What really gets me with this one, is Craig’s vocal delivery. There’s few songs where he so well communicates the weary disconnection to the situation his character has put himself in. That makes the landing point of the lyrics, the “tonight’s gonna be a celebration” even bleaker. Not only do we quickly understand that this is ironic, it makes it even sadder that the character himself understands where this is ending. Yeah, there might be a celebration, but he’s sure as hell won’t feel very celebratory.
We’re also somewhere in the schisma between admiration and appreciation here. This is certainly not a song I actively put on very often, but when it pops up, it sounds so well executed, so at home in its own skin, and I very much admire how Craig has succeeded in making it so. I kinda like it on a pure sound level too, it sounds really pleasing, like so much of We All Want The Same Things do.
So, yeah, a little uncertain about this belonging right in the middle of the pack, quality wise, but it sure has qualities.
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Post by jz on Apr 29, 2022 13:50:06 GMT -5
#38: THEY KNOW WHERE I LIVE (Newmyer's Roof EP) They Know Where I Live feels like a precursor to I Need A New War, four years in advance. There’s that slight jazzy-ness in the chords, the tempo and the sweeping feeling on top of anything. Still, the lyrics (not to mention the vocals) are very much rooted in a pre-We All Want The Same Things era. Where “dudes from St. Paul” are more present than middle age issues concerning long-running friendships, losing out in the lottery of life or keeping a steady job to pay for your sick partner, are brought into the mix. It feels like a mashup of what now, in hindsight, looks like to very distinct parts of Craig’s body of work. I like the bleakness in this song, underscored by Craig’s pretty intense, bitter and paranoid delivery. This is another case of a character who’s done some things he shouldn’t and that the consequences are creeping up on him - and there’s really not much he can do about it. That sense of being caught in a net of your own actions, and the laws of the game you play. This is very familiar THS territory, but I think Craig’s solo style suits the stories so well, just in a different way. And you can trace this all the way back to Lifter Puller, where you felt like you were in the fucking middle of the actions, throughout Hold Steady’s more retrospective and romanticized version of the same events, to Craig’s solo version of it all, where weariness and defeatism have crept into everything. It’s not the most built-out, fully-fleshed song, and it makes sense that it was dropped from Faith in The Future and ended up on Newmyer’s Roof EP, but it’s still a fine song. Hearing the studio version of this song really surprised me because of just how bleak it was. I heard it live before it was released during a CF acoustic set (don't remember if it was one I attended or if I caught a video online), but the acoustic (and far less moody) version got a fair amount of laughs. His delivery of course was very different, and he laughed along with everybody too. I remember it the lyrics being quicker and way more punchline-like, or it could've just been the vibe. Whatever it was, definitely a big change from that performance to the EP.
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Post by muzzleofbees on May 1, 2022 9:35:44 GMT -5
Hearing the studio version of this song really surprised me because of just how bleak it was. I heard it live before it was released during a CF acoustic set (don't remember if it was one I attended or if I caught a video online), but the acoustic (and far less moody) version got a fair amount of laughs. His delivery of course was very different, and he laughed along with everybody too. I remember it the lyrics being quicker and way more punchline-like, or it could've just been the vibe. Whatever it was, definitely a big change from that performance to the EP. That's both unsurprising, and really interesting. To me, this have been one of the most fascinating results of digging deeper into Craig's lyrics through skepticatfirst's threads: That I suddenly see the different layers of the lyrics, and especially how so many lines are disguised as something funny, really are (or at least could be read as) pretty sad or even frightening. What you say about Craig performing the song in a "far less moody" way only underscore what he's able to do as a performing artist, on the stage. He's so good at inducing the audience with a certain mood. In Hold Steady, he's obviously this fired-up persona, something in between a hype man, a cheerleader of some sort and a preacher. He's there to spread the gospel, underline the celebratory and communitive part of the lyrics, and that's how we see and hear him (or at least, that's my take, and I guess some other feel the same). The solo persona are more subdued, introspective, but also (as you kinda point out) humourous. There's a level of tounge-in-cheek in many of the songs, and in an acoustic setup, the lines shine clearer. I'm not surprised people laugh out loud at some of the lines. Going back to They Know Where I Live, just to read the lyrics, give me the impression that this, at is core, is a pretty bleak tale, but with obvious dark-but-still-funny lines who are amusing the right setting.
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Post by muzzleofbees on May 8, 2022 1:26:06 GMT -5
#30: BLANKETS (I Need A New War)
Blankets is one of the songs I think it’s hardest to rank properly in the entire countdown, and maybe that’s why I subconsciously placed it right in the middle of the list.
The song feels weirdly singular to me, like I remember it mostly as a single, not as a part of I Need A New War. And when I think of that album, I don’t think about this sound at all, even though it’s not a particular outlier of the record either. Thinking back, I think it might have something to do with the song being released before I traveled to Munich to catch Craig opening for Brian Fallon, and the album not being on my mind then. Like the trip separate the single from the album.
There’s a particular twang to Blankets that I don’t really care much about in general. This is hard to explain, but while I love lots of americana, country and everything in between, I’m not a fan of, eh, this type of blues-y, cold, electric… well, twang. It sounds dusty, but in a colder, more unwelcoming way than more wholesome americana. More western than country? I don’t think I have the vocabulary to describe it any better. It reminds me of how Calexico always sounded like a band who should be perfect for me, but never really got under my skin.
That doesn’t mean I don’t like Blankets. It’s just that this is the starting point for me, approaching the song: That it’s draped in a sound I’m not that fond of. Cause this IS a good song. And it’s probably in the semi-large category of songs who maybe impress me more than they warm my heart. There’s a certainty and sternness to Craig’s style here, like he’s asked to tell a story he don’t really want to tell, and does so with a few drops of bitterness in the mix. And it ends on a very bleak note, summing up life as the path to the place you’re gonna die, which is pretty god damn sad.
This might be an unfair and wrong assumption, and I don’t anyone want to read this as condescending in any way, but still: I get a feeling that Craig by 2019 was so eager to show off his development and skills as a songwriter and solo artist that this somewhat outshined the heart and soul of his songs. This is all down to personal preference, of course, but listening to Messing With The Settings and Birthdays, I hear so much more personal presence in every note and word. Like, on I Need A New War, he was able to show everyone that he was capable of writing and recording a big, classic sounding album, something left to impress and admire. And Blankets is that kind of song, something classic sounding, hitting so many right spots in theory, but still leaving me a little cold emotionally. It sounds like an important piece in the big arc about Craig’s solo career, but not a song I keep coming back to enjoy.
It’s good, though! And I probably have written enough by now. #30 it is!
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robs
Hoodrat
Posts: 297
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Post by robs on May 9, 2022 9:57:25 GMT -5
#30: BLANKETS (I Need A New War) Blankets is one of the songs I think it’s hardest to rank properly in the entire countdown, and maybe that’s why I subconsciously placed it right in the middle of the list. The song feels weirdly singular to me, like I remember it mostly as a single, not as a part of I Need A New War. And when I think of that album, I don’t think about this sound at all, even though it’s not a particular outlier of the record either. Thinking back, I think it might have something to do with the song being released before I traveled to Munich to catch Craig opening for Brian Fallon, and the album not being on my mind then. Like the trip separate the single from the album. There’s a particular twang to Blankets that I don’t really care much about in general. This is hard to explain, but while I love lots of americana, country and everything in between, I’m not a fan of, eh, this type of blues-y, cold, electric… well, twang. It sounds dusty, but in a colder, more unwelcoming way than more wholesome americana. More western than country? I don’t think I have the vocabulary to describe it any better. It reminds me of how Calexico always sounded like a band who should be perfect for me, but never really got under my skin. That doesn’t mean I don’t like Blankets. It’s just that this is the starting point for me, approaching the song: That it’s draped in a sound I’m not that fond of. Cause this IS a good song. And it’s probably in the semi-large category of songs who maybe impress me more than they warm my heart. There’s a certainty and sternness to Craig’s style here, like he’s asked to tell a story he don’t really want to tell, and does so with a few drops of bitterness in the mix. And it ends on a very bleak note, summing up life as the path to the place you’re gonna die, which is pretty god damn sad. This might be an unfair and wrong assumption, and I don’t anyone want to read this as condescending in any way, but still: I get a feeling that Craig by 2019 was so eager to show off his development and skills as a songwriter and solo artist that this somewhat outshined the heart and soul of his songs. This is all down to personal preference, of course, but listening to Messing With The Settings and Birthdays, I hear so much more personal presence in every note and word. Like, on I Need A New War, he was able to show everyone that he was capable of writing and recording a big, classic sounding album, something left to impress and admire. And Blankets is that kind of song, something classic sounding, hitting so many right spots in theory, but still leaving me a little cold emotionally. It sounds like an important piece in the big arc about Craig’s solo career, but not a song I keep coming back to enjoy. It’s good, though! And I probably have written enough by now. #30 it is! Probably my favorite from I Need a New War - the "You travel your whole life just to get out to the place you're gonna die" is devastating but genius in its absolute truth.
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Post by kayfaberaven on May 9, 2022 13:09:48 GMT -5
Probably my favorite from I Need a New War - the "You travel your whole life just to get out to the place you're gonna die" is devastating but genius in its absolute truth. Yes! That line is absolutely gutting to me.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on May 11, 2022 4:15:39 GMT -5
#40: TANGLETOWN (We All Want The Same Things) When Craig repeatedly uses the word “mundane” to describe themes of his solo writing, I always think of Tangletown. These characters are both so sad and lonely, but they hang on, with each other as substitutes for something more profound or real. Bruce Springsteen played this song on his radio show, according to a transcript I read, to highlight Craig’s solo work (he also played Stuck Between Stations as the song more people would know). Unfortunately, I can’t find the actual transcript of what he said about the song (I remember it was complimentary), just playlists showing he did play it, like this one: www.springsteenlyrics.com/bootlegs.php?item=1918So I believe there must be something there if The Boss picked it to introduce Craig’s solo albums to his audience. It’s a small story, and a sad one, well-told.
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Post by muzzleofbees on May 12, 2022 3:42:33 GMT -5
#40: TANGLETOWN (We All Want The Same Things) When Craig repeatedly uses the word “mundane” to describe themes of his solo writing, I always think of Tangletown. These characters are both so sad and lonely, but they hang on, with each other as substitutes for something more profound or real. Bruce Springsteen played this song on his radio show, according to a transcript I read, to highlight Craig’s solo work (he also played Stuck Between Stations as the song more people would know). Unfortunately, I can’t find the actual transcript of what he said about the song (I remember it was complimentary), just playlists showing he did play it, like this one: www.springsteenlyrics.com/bootlegs.php?item=1918So I believe there must be something there if The Boss picked it to introduce Craig’s solo albums to his audience. It’s a small story, and a sad one, well-told. There's something there for him, at least. Applying some sort of objective or inter-subjective criteria to determine quality, is not my cup of tea. That's why I keep this explicitly subjective. But I certainly hear that Tangletown is a song people could like, even love. There just so many other songs and stories from Craig's pen I enjoy way, way more.
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Post by muzzleofbees on May 12, 2022 3:44:58 GMT -5
#29: EXTRAS (Newmyer's Roof EP)
Newmyer’s Roof is such a gem of an EP. It’s not that everything Craig released in 2015 was perfect, but close to every damn song was good. And the EP, which presumably were made up of songs that didn’t fit the album, is very, very good.
Extras isn’t a massive song, but it’s clever and sweet. Over a mild-mannered melody, arranged in a way that makes me think of a breezy road trip, Craig does a laidback medley of some of his favorite themes: Baseball, driving and tired parties, everything delivered in a nothing-at-stake-business-as-usual kinda way. And the way the melody drops a little bit before what comes after “repetition”, like the “waves of grain” or “summer rain”, adds a nice little bittersweet flavor to it all.
There’s not much about Extras that really stands out, that elevates it to a top 20 status, and on our way into the top half of the ranking, I’m starting to doubt my own opinions on it too. But I do really think it’s a nice song, a track who easily could have done a job on a proper album too.
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Post by skepticatfirst on May 15, 2022 19:33:15 GMT -5
#29: EXTRAS (Newmyer's Roof EP) Newmyer’s Roof is such a gem of an EP. It’s not that everything Craig released in 2015 was perfect, but close to every damn song was good. And the EP, which presumably were made up of songs that didn’t fit the album, is very, very good. Extras isn’t a massive song, but it’s clever and sweet. Over a mild-mannered melody, arranged in a way that makes me think of a breezy road trip, Craig does a laidback medley of some of his favorite themes: Baseball, driving and tired parties, everything delivered in a nothing-at-stake-business-as-usual kinda way. And the way the melody drops a little bit before what comes after “repetition”, like the “waves of grain” or “summer rain”, adds a nice little bittersweet flavor to it all. There’s not much about Extras that really stands out, that elevates it to a top 20 status, and on our way into the top half of the ranking, I’m starting to doubt my own opinions on it too. But I do really think it’s a nice song, a track who easily could have done a job on a proper album too. I mentioned I'm having another listen to the songs as you unroll them in your rankings ... Extras is another one that caught me, hard. In my head it was something different: I remember reading the first verse in some magazine article before I ever heard the song, and let myself be led by that writeup into thinking it was Craig doing the faux-rustbelt-working-class-interpreter thing that he sometimes seems to do, which kind of turns me off. Shame on me for being swayed by some journalist's take ... as usual, Craig's work repays close listening. (FWIW, I'm hearing a quiet song about driving around the prairie town western suburbs of Minneapolis to the Wednesday night parties ... occasional double play in there, a motel room, a stop at the frontage road on the way back; business as usual, for sure.) Apart from the lighthearted ease imparted to the story by the music, which I like a lot, the part that really gets me is the end: Keep on feeling fascination Alternate real life with lucid dreams Keep on feeling fascination Alternate real life with lucid dreams Not super strong on paper, but it's got a restrained awe in the delivery that I find deeply powerful and moving. I can't help but compare it to the end of Blankets, which uses the same technique of panning out from concrete details to a twice-repeated reflection: You live your whole life Just to travel to the place you're gonna die You travel your whole life Just to get out to the place you're gonna die The Blankets ending comes on way stronger; it's a hell of a line. But somehow, the cold tenor of the song saps it of most of its power. I'll take Extras over Blankets any day of the week; maybe (at this point I realize I have to follow you through the rest of the rankings before I'll know) it's even a top 20 or top 10. Learning a lot here!
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Post by sequesteredinuk on May 16, 2022 12:47:50 GMT -5
Extras is a hidden gem for sure, this time a few weeks ago I wouldn't have added 'hidden' and just written 'gem' but recently I had a conversation with someone who's a pretty big fan who knew nothing of the whole excellent Newmyers roof EP (real life got the better of him and distracted him), he knows now and loves it so it's a happy ending to a tragic story.
Every time I listen to Extras I wonder to.myself whether Craig had to cut a check to the Human League or not? It wouldn't be much I'd imagine? 40 Bucks? 90 Bucks? 😁
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Post by muzzleofbees on May 18, 2022 2:42:33 GMT -5
Thanks for you input, guys! Always nice.
There's been a short stoppage here, due to responsibilites at home and at work. But I assure you that I'm very much planning to finish up this list before the summer.
I even think we'll have to discuss A Legacy Of Rentals in some way or another. I started off this thread without knowing a new album coming up, and there's really not a good way to incorporate the new tracks into the countdown. But I'll figure out a way to make them a part of this thread too.
Tonight I'm finally gonna set up my turntable in 45rpm speed, and re-listen to the studio versions of Sarah I'm Surrounded and Some Guns. They should appear in the thread sooner rather than later!
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Post by muzzleofbees on May 18, 2022 3:24:37 GMT -5
I mentioned I'm having another listen to the songs as you unroll them in your rankings ... Extras is another one that caught me, hard. In my head it was something different: I remember reading the first verse in some magazine article before I ever heard the song, and let myself be led by that writeup into thinking it was Craig doing the faux-rustbelt-working-class-interpreter thing that he sometimes seems to do, which kind of turns me off. Shame on me for being swayed by some journalist's take ... as usual, Craig's work repays close listening. (FWIW, I'm hearing a quiet song about driving around the prairie town western suburbs of Minneapolis to the Wednesday night parties ... occasional double play in there, a motel room, a stop at the frontage road on the way back; business as usual, for sure.) Apart from the lighthearted ease imparted to the story by the music, which I like a lot, the part that really gets me is the end: Keep on feeling fascination Alternate real life with lucid dreams Keep on feeling fascination Alternate real life with lucid dreams To me, the title also carry another weight, seven years down the line. I know the movie stuff have always been very present in the lyrics, but with Screenwriter's School at the same EP, and with the increasing emphasis on directors, lights, actors and cameras on Open Door Policy, the image of an extra in a movie sense, feels more relevant. Not that I'm able to articulate it in a precise way, though.
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Post by skepticatfirst on May 18, 2022 20:06:45 GMT -5
To me, the title also carry another weight, seven years down the line. I know the movie stuff have always been very present in the lyrics, but with Screenwriter's School at the same EP, and with the increasing emphasis on directors, lights, actors and cameras on Open Door Policy, the image of an extra in a movie sense, feels more relevant. Not that I'm able to articulate it in a precise way, though. Yes, this has to be right. (My specific reading, which of course presupposes a particular take on the LP/THS narratives, is that it's a reference to the kids tagging along at the fringes of a Scene [Milkcrate Mosh] whose real cast is older and harder than they are --- most especially by getting rides to the parties in a certain dealer's car, the one whose "windshield" appears prominently on the cover of Fiestas & Fiascos. In other words, the "extras" are the "hangers-on." But YMMV.) Extras is a hidden gem for sure, this time a few weeks ago I wouldn't have added 'hidden' and just written 'gem' but recently I had a conversation with someone who's a pretty big fan who knew nothing of the whole excellent Newmyers roof EP (real life got the better of him and distracted him), he knows now and loves it so it's a happy ending to a tragic story. Nice! In my case I only have myself to blame --- at the time, muzzle tipped me off to Screenwriter's School, which even then I had to agree is incredible, but I was too busy working through the Lifter Puller catalog to sit down and really listen to the solo EP for its own sake. Happy to be making up for lost time now, though.
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Post by muzzleofbees on May 19, 2022 2:06:10 GMT -5
#28: NEW FRIEND JESUS (Clear Heart Full Eyes)
Ok, I get that people find this one both goofy and gimmicky. But I’ve always liked it a lot. First and foremost because it sounds so loose and joyful, and that the band seem to enjoy themselves playing it. But also because it sounds stylistically confident, like both Craig and the band going full country/bluegrass, and doubling down on it.
There’s also more than a few drops of bittersweetness here, and it’s framed in a quite clever way: The born again Christian talking engaged and hyperbolistic about how he’s a “better me”, but also approaching an old lover, feeling sad he’s not able to be the new and better version of himself for her. And in-between this, there’s a lingering feeling that either he’s not totally honest about who he is now, or a sneaky feeling that the relationship that were, wouldn’t really be a thing if he was on a religious path already.
And it IS a fun song. I mean, “People say we suck at sports, but they don’t understand/ it’s hard to catch with holes right through your hand” - come on, it should raise a smile or two.
I have put this in several THS/Craig playlists, and I still think it’s a nice entry point for the debut album, and a valuable song in the catalog as a whole.
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Post by muzzleofbees on May 20, 2022 8:17:04 GMT -5
#27: SOME GUNS (7" b/w Sarah I'm Surrounded)
There were a string of really sweet, seemingly simple songs coming out of the Clear Heart Full Eyes sessions, very country inspired, but not tipping over into pastiche. Just sincere, very American, nice songs from a great lyricist, and a songwriter in development.
When Craig played this live in 2012, he told a story about how the band would be called Craig Finn And Some Guns, and that this song was gonna be their “motherfucking theme song”. It’s not really a very theme song-y song, but it’s sure as hell nice!
I think it’s a bit hard to rank these “simple” songs. In one way, I recognize that elaborate songs from later albums are more impressive, both musically and composition wise. Then again, I’ve always been a sucker for A Really Good Song, in the vein of decades of all American songwriters. And Some Guns is like that: A song that could have been from the 70s, the 80s, the 90s, from Texas, or Tennessee or Minnesota. Timeless and universal, a song you might have trouble humming a day or two after you heard it, but who just FEELS good in the moment you hear it. And if you already are deeply in love with an artist, these songs are sometimes the best of them all - the one that shows you that this enigmatic, magnificent guy who bangs out lyrical masterpieces and one hell of a stage show for fun, sometimes can take a step back, and just deliver a Pure And Simple Song.
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Post by muzzleofbees on May 23, 2022 4:07:17 GMT -5
#26: SOMETHING TO HOPE FOR (I Need A New War)
I really liked Something To Hope For when it arrived. It felt lighter, more optimistic and way more open than Blankets, and it really fueled my expectations for I Need A New War. It’s pretty obvious that it’s meant to be this kind of song, and that its shiny and flowery sound is meant to be a counterweight to the bleaker songs on the album - but the pieces and elements it’s built out of are very much in sync with the rest of the album. The backing vocals, the horns and the tempo. I just think it works a lot better here than on most of the other songs, there’s a subdued but mostly energetic spark here that gives me joy.
Lyrically, I can’t quite seem to settle on a verdict. A huge chunk of them feels strangely unimportant - not bad in any sense, just a little generic and not-magical. Then, there’s a couple of lines I adore here. The opening is clever (“calling just to tell you that I’m gonna be calling”), and it certainly makes me wonder what kind of person it is on the other end of the line. And the verse opening with “For once in my life I’ve got a little something here in my pocket” is fantastic. It’s a simple, but so telling line, the kind Craig tosses around his songs, painting a character portrait with a seemingly throwaway line. His delivery here is also pitch perfect.
On top of this, there’s parts who connects the dots throughout Hold Steady and all the way back to Lifter Puller. “The darkness in the taverns, and the boys back by the bathrooms/ all the nickles and dimes” is all too familiar territory, the same goes for the verse who connects dreams/smoke/bored. And I’m all into that stuff.
In the end, Something To Hope For sounds more like a promise unfulfilled. It’s good, but not transcendent, and I can’t help hearing it in the light of I Need A New War, which (as you might have understood by now) I have some trouble with fully embracing. Still: Good, solid and very well-sounding.
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Post by muzzleofbees on May 24, 2022 3:18:16 GMT -5
#25: SANDRA FROM SCRANTON (Faith In The Future)
It’s not that Hold Steady doesn’t do slow jams or ballads. But one of the main differences between Craig’s solo output and both Hold Steady and Lifter Puller are quite obviously the room for the more mellow songs. Not just mellow, soft or slow, but introspective, contemplative and something far more, I don’t know, soul searching. It’s not just a tempo thing, it’s a mood thing. And Sandra From Scranton is the type of song you won’t find elsewhere in Craig’s world, and the type of song I’m really glad he’s found the room to make.
I’ve used this word a couple of times during this write-up, but this is where it might fit the most: Sandra From Scranton sounds defeated. This isn’t just sadness or melancholy, it’s crushing defeat. It’s a story told by a narrator who might have had some time between the scenes described and where he is now, but the wounds seem as fresh as ever. There’s a longing here, acceptance too - but he’s not fully at peace with what went down. And all of this is so beautifully displayed in the music itself. There’s real stuff at stake here, the emotions are real. The song isn’t so much slow as it is slow-burning, intense, all-consuming.
The lyrics just hammers this point all the way in, and the more time you spend digging through Craig’s lyrics, the more similarities and connections you are bound to find. What strikes me the most revisiting this song, is the emphasis on how the first few days of the week are “blown out” by what happens on a Sunday. There’s dancing, there’s borders being bashed and there’s boredom. The tale is all too familiar at this point: These kids went on an adventure to tear up the boredom, and they got paid in full. It became life-changing for both of them, in vastly different ways, and before too soon, they’ll both pay the price.
I’ve been wondering about what to make of Scranton as a geographical reference. In Lifter Puller, the kids are “speeding into Scranton”, in Hold Steady there’s a reference to “like in Scranton like it’s 1999”, and here we get named character, who we’re told are from there. I don’t know what it means, but it still seems like one of the most mysterious geographical references to me.
I realize I’m not doing a great job describing why I hold Sandra From Scranton so high, but I sure do. I love the intensity, the sense of defeat and - maybe most of all - Craig’s delivery. A great song hidden away on a low key great album. I could even push it a little higher up the list.
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Post by muzzleofbees on May 25, 2022 4:34:59 GMT -5
#24: RENTED ROOM (Clear Heart Full Eyes)
Craig once labeled Clear Heart Full Eyes as a “divorce album”. It seems to be about a whole lot more than just that, but the songs who fit the bill, are heartbreakingly good. Once again, we’re in the territory where Craig does classic singer/songwriter stuff, and also steers away from the rock’n’roll euphoria of Hold Steady. Personally, I think it’s amazing to hear him evolve into something more singular and unique. But damn, some of his acoustic and country flirting jams from early on, are really good too.
And that’s what Rented Room is. Soft, sad and personal, yet universal enough to fit different listeners with different lives. The image of a rented room is so simple, but yet effective, so loaded with context and juxtapositions. It’s a room, not an apartment. It’s not in a nice residential area, but above a saloon. It’s rented, and implicitly temporary. He’s not there out of choice, but necessity.
The melody is simple and classic, in the best way imaginable. It’s not a song with the stamp of Craig all over it, quite contrary, this could have come out of pretty much any great American singer/songwriter from the past 50 years. There’s a string of these songs from the earliest part of his solo career, and they’re all really nice (and one is coming up next too).
So yeah, while I appreciate the evolution through Faith In The Future and We All Want The Same Things, I’m really glad the catalog has these small and sweet gems. #24 seems about right.
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Post by muzzleofbees on May 30, 2022 15:41:13 GMT -5
#23: JEREMIAH'S BLUES (The Revival Tour, compilation, Spotify)
If Rented Room is a classic song, so is Jeremiah’s Blues. It’s a pure country song both in theme and style, simple and straight-forward, with longing, loss and love at the center of attention. I realize that this is a song I probably would have overlooked if any other artist had released it, and my affection for it comes directly from a willingness to devote anything Craig produce, a closer listen. But, hey, that’s just a part of being a fan, and this ranking is sure as hell based on that premise.
And with that said: Not many can do a straight-forward country song the way Craig does. Musically, it’s really template, but the lyrics are clever in a subtle and low key way. Just to put the narrator in that position he is, making a straight case for the convenience of letting him replace Jeremiah. It’s like the earnest version of Bob Dylan’s If You Gotta Go, where all we get is the various arguments from the protagonist on why the “she” in the lyrics should do what he pleases.
And yet, it works so well, in the sense that I think the song is emotionally moving. The narrator seems to have a true concert for the well-being of the “she” and her baby - and Jeremiah too. This isn’t a plea for forgetting all about him, it’s just a practical proposition on how his absence can be soothed. And the little words and lines that paints a picture of despair - the legal costs, they way she turns to “dancing” to make ends meet - are devastating.
It’s not Craig at his absolute peak, artistically, but it’s a more than nice nod to tradition and heritage. This is the kind of American music that’s the very foundation for so much of what makes Craig Finn into Craig Finn, and I think this plays as a sweet homage to all of that.
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Post by muzzleofbees on May 31, 2022 3:42:04 GMT -5
***RESPECTIVE COASTS*** (Single, recorded for Esquire's Songwriter Challenge/released on iTunes - no longer available anywhere)
I said somewhere at the start of this thread that I would fit in Respective Coasts in some way. At the time I completed the list, I wasn't able to find it anywhere, and if felt wrong to include it in a ranking. When I finally got to hear it (someone over at Facebook shared it via Dropbox), it struck me that I maybe hadn't heard the song back then either. There was a time early in Craig's solo career where song were I couldn't keep track of everything. There was that Sarah I'm Surrounded/Some Guns 7", Jeremiah's Blues were around, there was that video where Craig played an acoustic version of Meserole and there were b-sides not available everywhere. At the time, I had a quite new job and were moving between a couple of different appartments - maybe I just forgot about it all.
But Respective Coasts is a proper recording, allthough it was released in a strange way. From what I gather online, it was recorded exclusively for Esquire, and released as a part of a digital compilation. It looks like it was available at iTunes at some point, but not anymore. Anyway, it deserves to be a part of this thread.
It's a really nice and sweet song, softer and lighter than almost anything else Craig have recorded. It sounds all-acoustic, with a bright guitar in the foreground, and some tambourine, handclaps and sing-along backing vocals in the mix. It's simple and straight-forward, but with a beautiful bittersweetness to it. Lyrically, we're in familiar territory, and very much in sync with Clear Heart Full Eyes: A couple breaking apart, but still keeping in touch, with their shared past as a bond between them. We're not too far from Separate Vacations here, either. Interestingly enough, the main female character of the song are named Heather, a name we in 2012 hadn't heard mentioned before, but who in 2021 pops up on Hanover Camera.
I'm not sure exactly where in the ranking this song should sit, but I think somewhere around where we are now - #25-#30. I'll se what I'll do about it when I compile the final list at the end of this thread.
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