Monthly Archives: October 2020

#784: Radiohead – Lucky

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Although Radiohead’s ‘Lucky’ is a track that will come to mind whenever you think of the band’s 1997 album OK Computer – seeing as it’s one of the songs on that record – it’s a song that was written and recorded when the group were on tour in 1995, promoting their second album The Bends. The high pitched squealing that can be heard at the beginning and throughout was created at a soundcheck by guitarist Ed O’Brien, and the band decided to develop the song around it. The song was recorded in five hours on 4th September 1995 and released on a charity compilation in the same week. The band thought it was the best song they had ever done to that point; Thom Yorke later stated that it set the direction for what the band were to do on their next record.

You could argue it’s a bit of a cop out to include a track that had already been out for two years on your new album, but somehow ‘Lucky’ manages to fit perfectly in its place on OK Computer. It’s a very cliché thing to say – though when it came to this song when listening to the album for the first time when I was 14 or 15, it was certainly unlike any song I had heard prior to it. It was a track that had a definite emotional weight to it. I thought ‘yeah, this is some sophisticated music’. It was definitely different to what was usually on MTV2. The song’s lyrics are unusually optimistic for a Radiohead song, but then they’re countered by the minor key, sad-sounding chords that make things sound like something terrible is about to happen. It’s very conflicting but it works tremendously and is a change from the usual sad/bad lyrics with happy music dynamic.

A list of elements that I thoroughly enjoy about this one: Thom Yorke’s vocal (a GLOOOO-rious daaaay), the ghostly choir-like keyboards that come in during the second verse, every crash cymbal hit during the choruses pack a punch, the descending chord progression of the bridge and its climactic transition into the instrumental end… You’ve got to hear it for yourself, it would be a good use of 4 minutes and 20 seconds.

#783: Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong – Lucio Starts Fires

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If you’re seeing the same message above that says the video can’t be played on here, then please follow the ‘Watch on Vimeo’ link.** A bit annoying that it isn’t on YouTube, especially considering that they have an alternate video for the same song on there. The one on Vimeo is the one I prefer, and the one I first saw back in 2007.*

So this is ‘Lucio Starts Fires’ by Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong. It was their first ever single released in the aforementioned year. The video played on MTV2 one day and I was immediately hooked, just in terms of its melody and rhythms. There’s an ashy sound to the guitars which caught my ear too. Its lyrics look at a narrator who seems to always be around whenever trouble starts brewing, though it’s never his intention to cause any harm. He also seems to be great at making friends with people. Or at least tries to be friends with people who don’t really reciprocate the relationship. It’s a typical NME indie 2007 era song that’s really good and doesn’t outstay its welcome.

Big things were meant to come from this band. Following this song came ‘Lonely Buoy’, a track I didn’t warm to immediately but got accustomed to eventually, and ‘Where Do You Go’, the big single that was meant to lead right into the release of their album. NME hyped up the record giving it an 8/10 rating. But the album never arrived. The band felt that the music didn’t reflect their true potential, something along those lines, and to this day the album has never seen the light of day. The group split up in 2010, another casualty of the ‘landfill indie’ scene – a term I didn’t know was a thing until I read this VICE article the other day.

*09/01/2021 – Alternatively, you can just listen to it here.

**15/06/2024 – Hey, the vid’s on YouTube now.

#782: Jay-Z – Lucifer

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Welp, you’re gonna have to do with this live performance of today’s song; its studio version can’t be found anywhere online. Streaming platforms are the way to go here: Spotify, Apple Music, or preferably TIDAL in Jay-Z’s case. This appears to be the first Jay-Z song I’ve covered in this long, long seven year list I’m in the process of doing, so I’ll just give you my small and insignificant thoughts on the man. I’m not the biggest fan. He’s regarded as one of the best rappers of all time, that’s fine. What do people think of when Jay-Z comes to mind? Probably Beyoncé. But then there’s his voice. Again, one of the most iconic voices behind a microphone. When he starts rapping, you instantly know it’s him. Have I ever wanted to listen to that voice on a regular basis? Can’t say yes. But the man makes good music, I can see that.

‘Lucifer’ is the 12th track on The Black Album, a record released back in 2003. That album was promoted to be Jay-Z’s last before going into retirement, and there was this whole documentary on the making of the Black Album following Mr. Carter as he worked with Kanye West, Rick Rubin, Timbaland and many more producers to get the job done. Alongside fellow album track ‘Encore’, Kanye West produced ‘Lucifer’ taking a sample of Max Romeo’s ‘Chase the Devil’ and layering a piano riff and a whole lot of percussion on top. Jay-Z raps about sinning under the eyes of the Lord, and seeking revenge on the killers of his late friend and hip-hop legend The Notorious B.I.G. The final verse is also dedicated to Robert “Bobalob” Burke who was killed in 2003, and Jay-Z prays to God that Burke is allowed into heaven because, even though he may have sinned in his lifetime, he was an overall good man. The match of Kanye’s production with Jay’s vocal here is just perfect. It wasn’t the first time the two collaborated, but everything from the groove to Jay’s confident delivery works too well. Well, the kick drum may be a bit overbearing to some, I don’t know.

My sister got The Black Album, I want to say in 2004, and I have vivid memories of that ‘LUCIFER-LUCIFER SON OF THE MORNING’ sample blaring from the computer speakers as she played it on Windows Media Player. I think that’s just been ingrained in my head ever since. I also like the song ‘Change Clothes’ from the album; that song features the one and only Pharrell Williams. I would suggest listening to the album as a whole. Below is a clip from the aforementioned documentary, showing Jay-Z and Kanye West working on this song together in the studio.

#781: Tame Impala – Lucidity

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Going through Tame Impala’s Innerspeaker many moons ago, I didn’t think ‘Lucidity’ was anything special. Unlike ‘It Is Not Meant to Be’ or ‘I Really Don’t Mind’, which I thought were great from first listen, ‘Lucidity’ didn’t have that feeling you get when you stumble upon something special. It has a good driving tempo, nice swirling psychedelic guitar effects, and falling-down-the-stair drum fills that make for a very active listening experience. Still, I more or less left it for another day and went about listening to other stuff.

One day I saw that the track had a music video. I was on my Tame Impala tip, still discovering who the band was and finding out more about Kevin Parker’s work, so I had a look. I think it was through watching it when the track suddenly clicked. It’s one of those videos that make such a perfect accompaniment with the music that you can’t imagine one without the other. The video is filmed by a camera that was attached to a huge weather balloon. Once the balloon’s let go by Parker right at the beginning, the video follows the balloon’s journey into sky and eventually into space before it comes hurtling down towards the ground again. Its erratic movements and motions work too well with the song’s rhythms and lyrics where mentions of floating and reaching the sky arise in the verses. The track’s lyrics were written in the mixing stage of the album so whether there should be a serious effort for interpretation is up for debate. However, I take it that the song is simply about a person who suffers from lapses in concentration and in that state wishes to get to a clearer mind space. There’s not a very linear narration to it, so it’s hard to tell.

So that’s all the songs from Innerspeaker you’ll see on here. Shout out to ‘I Don’t Really Mind’ though; that should have got its own post… but I think I suffered from a lapse of concentration there myself. If you would like to see more about the video for ‘Lucidity’, Tame Impala luckily uploaded a ‘behind the scenes’ video on the making of it some time after the track’s release as a single.

#780: Coldplay – Lovers in Japan/Reign of Love

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A trick that Coldplay utilised on their 2008 album Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends was merging two completely different songs together to make one long track. Two of them, ‘Chinese Sleep Chant’ and ‘The Escapist’, were hidden as they weren’t shown on the tracklist. For whatever reason though, the band decided to show that ‘Reign of Love’ was a song that was meant to be shown to all; it enters the frame as the long fade out of ‘Lovers in Japan’ is still happening. The two songs were then placed together, slap bang in the middle of the album.

‘Lovers in Japan’ is the upbeat, optimistic, us against the world type track. The sort of theme that’s been a constant in the band’s discography from about X&Y onwards. Chris Martin sings to lovers, runners, and soldiers telling them to carry on doing their thing in this crazy world we’re living in. Then he turns it round into a first person narrative in the second verse, telling his baby that they’re going to run away from all of their troubles with dreams of getting to Japan. Chris Martin’s lead vocal is probably one of his best performances, containing great melodies throughout. The track also possesses one of Coldplay’s best choruses. That’s just my opinion, though. ‘Reign of Love’ is the comedown. A beautiful, piano-led track with these twinkling loops and a subtle bass that lay the comforting backdrop to Martin’s restrained vocal. Looking briefly at the lyrics, I think the track captures a narrator who has fallen in love so hard that they’re like a prisoner in its grasp. I’ve gotta say I’ve never paid too much to what the lyrics are because the matching of the melody with the production is 10/10.

‘Lovers’ was released as a single in late 2008, a few weeks before the Prospekt’s March EP came out. In this format, it was unveiled with a new mix known as the ‘Osaka Sun Mix’ and this was what was also used in its music video (below). For a long time, that the version of the song I listened to. Upon rediscovering ‘Reign of Love’ it had to go. There are some minor differences between the ‘Osaka Sun Mix’ of ‘Lovers’ and its original album version. I’ll let you listen and find them out.