#913: The Who – New Song

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This here is ‘New Song’, the opener to The Who’s 1978 album Who Are You, one that many may argue to be their last great record solely due to the fact that it’s the last one Keith Moon played on before he died a few weeks after its release. I think it’s okay. The predominant use of synthesizers throughout definitely gives the album a sound of its own. Certainly unique compared to the albums that preceded came before. But they also make the album sound quite dated on there as a result. And ’cause of that lack of those usual balls-to-the-wall rock-and-roll performances, the majority of tracks don’t possess that power that The Who were usually known for. But I like this track though. I like it quite a bit.

At the time of its release, Who Are You was the arrival of new Who material in three years. In the period, all four members went their separate ways pursuing their own individual interests and journeys. But now they were back. And the first track was suitably titled ‘New Song’. So what would this about? Turned out it was a song about making music. Pete Townshend tackles the subject of writing songs in the cynical, joking, almost mocking way that only he could. He explains to the listener how hard it is to write material without inadvertently creating a song that’s been done in the past. How despite his aging appearance and his tendency to go to the bottle to drown his sorrows away, he can write a hit song that’ll get us all up on our feet and make everything okay. And how in the end, the new songs he writes aren’t really that different from those he’s written before, and yet we all come grovelling for more. It’s a track that self-deprecates as well as pokes fun at fans as well. Something to say the artists are chumps and so are the followers, but as long as the music’s there it’s all fine. I think that’s why I like it in a way, everyone gets a fair share of ridicule.

It’s a solid performance from all four Who members. As I said before, it’s not the manic teetering-out-of-control type of show that The Who would give in the past. Instead, it’s more of a controlled affair. Townshend seems to have put his guitar down to have more control on the synths, but he does come in with neat guitar fills and strident chords here and there. Daltrey sings almost each line with that trademark growl of his, but when the music changes and calls for a softer approach he obliges. Fair to say Keith Moon isn’t as spectacularly flamboyant with his drumming here, but he definitely still includes those fills that shouldn’t work but somehow do. There’s a moment at about 3:20 where I think he overlaps into the chorus a bit too late, but comes into it like nothing happens. Arguably the best performer on here is John Entwistle on the bass, who provides a drone-like atmosphere during the introduction and provides a standard rhythm during the verses, before going all funky on the choruses when the track goes into half-time. More than 40 years on, the album may not be The Who had their best, but there was a certain magic that always happened when the four individuals played together. Such a bummer Moon went so soon. Music goes on and all that, still.

#912: Beck – The New Pollution

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‘The New Pollution’ goes in that list of songs that I don’t have much of a deep association to. Didn’t appear at some crucial stage of my adolescence or any significant moment during my life. I may have seen the video for it on MTV2 one time and forgotten about it. But then I went and listened to Odelay once upon a time and couldn’t shake off its catchiness from then on. Bit unremarkable, I realise. But man, this song funks a large amount. Great groove. Couldn’t even try and come to a full understanding of what Beck’s talking about, but that goes for almost every track he wrote in the Odelay era.

In the track, Beck goes through a list of possessions and actions that a mysterious lady owns and carries out in her life. Very surreal things that definitely let a listener’s imagination run wild. Possessions include: A carburetor tied to the moon, a hand on a wheel of pain, a cigarette on each arm and a paradise camouflage. She’s able to sleep in a fiery bog while throwing troubles to the dying embers, among other things. And summing it all up comes the track’s refrain: “She’s alone in the new pollution.” What does that mean? To put it simple, I think it’s a way of saying she’s just another strange, strange girl living in a strange, strange world.

I enjoy the general loopiness of the whole track. So many elements are repeated endlessly from start to finish, I’m very sure the rhythm section rarely changes if at all. Or when instruments or new melodies are introduced, they come in for about four bars before dipping out again. Like that smooth saxophone that comes in at various points. The ‘doo-doo’ introduction is an earworm in itself. Reminds me of a loading menu in a game or something alongside those weird pinging noises and explosion-like sounds. A big nod goes out to the Dust Brothers production team who assisted on the making of the instrumentals throughout the album. They didn’t have to go as hard as they did. The video’s cool too. Going for a swinging-60s vibe. Far out, man.

#911: John Linnell – New Hampshire

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What struck me about John Linnell’s ‘New Hampshire’ when I first heard it coming to a decade ago, was how grand it sounded. From the start it gave me this image of a huge parade going through town with a marching band, floats, balloons, the lot, and that’s always persisted to this day. All of the music was performed via an arrangement that was then cut out on paper and inserted into the carousel organ in Glen Echo Park, Maryland. The video linked doesn’t show the track itself playing through that carousel, but just gives an example of how it works. The instrument is one that is used predominantly in Linnell’s State Songs album, but it’s this track that he imagined to be the ‘big tour de force’, incorporating the drums and glockenspiels that the Echo Park carousel provided. It’s the soundtrack to a grand day out. So it’s a bit of a whiplash when the lyrics describe a character who’s something of a loner and not really liked by anyone.

The track starts off with the narrator looking through a window into a party or some sort of social gathering, only let in by a polite but startled attendee, who is then very much rejected by the people they come into contact with. Linnell really lays it on thick that this character is someone that we shouldn’t like. They’re a gatecrashing parasite, they’re morose, a downer, broken-hearted. At most, they’re “very interesting.” Any stroke of luck they may have had in the past just so happened inadvertently. Very negative pronouns and adjectives abound. So it’s a huge ironic twist to have this person described to the sounds of twinkling glockenspiels, strident organ chords and a somewhat classical-influenced melody. It’s something that probably wouldn’t work if anyone else tried it, but it’s John Linnell, so there’s always a high probability that it will whenever he pursues that approach.

And so, the main message of this track is “No one likes New Hampshire man.” That’s pretty much it. It’s a dramatic march dedicated to an intolerable person. Though I’ve recently come to think that Linnell’s also sneakily singing “No one likes New Hampshire, man.” I wouldn’t put it past him, makes for a nice double meaning. Moments that stand out to me… that part during the second “Woman wonders…” section where it the track turns into a bit of a waltz? And when those clarinets come in right at the end mirroring the ‘No one likes New Hampshire man” line, before the track goes out on these slightly out of time chord strikes. Ends it all on this big “hurrah”. I really dig this live performance of the track with Linnell playing it on the accordion. Why not just watch the whole thing too, it’s one of only a couple Linnell solo 1999 shows you can find at the moment.

#910: Joy Division – New Dawn Fades

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Some may say this track is the quintessential Joy Division moment. The one that summed up everything the band was about and stood for. They have their popular ones, the songs that everyone know like ‘She’s Lost Control’ and ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ goes without saying. But for those senses of insecurity, intensity, ambience, sadness with a sudden power, it’s ‘New Dawn Fades’ that tops the bill.

It slowly lures the listener in bit by bit, starting with Stephen Morris’ drum pattern that’s then joined by Peter Hook’s descending four-note bassline that barely changes throughout the entire duration. Bernard Sumner comes in with a sharp introductory guitar solo, very grimy in its tone as it moves amidst Hook’s bass and Morris’s drum fills. It’s all so sparse, everything reverberates in the spaces. And after a minute and 20 seconds, Ian Curtis creeps into frame with his vocals. Now, before listening to Unknown Pleasures for the first time, would have been years ago at this point, I’m fairly certain the only song I’d ever heard by the band was ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’. Going into it, I was expecting tracks that more or less followed the same formula of mid-tempo guitar rock where the lead vocals were barely above a murmur or whisper. Curtis yelling on ‘Disorder’ and ‘Day of the Lords’ were mindblowing to me because they were so unexpected. So when he really lets it out in his final verse completely wiped out. It’s such a climactic ending, and a powerful way to close out the album’s first half.

As for the song’s meaning, well, sort of knowing from far away what Curtis was going through in the Joy Division times, I think he’s writing from a point of view where he’s essentially a spirit looking at him living his life from a distance and not being immensely disappointed with what he sees. The dissociation allows him to enjoy some things just that little bit more, change of speed, style and all that, but then he sees himself and everything closes in again. It’s a bit basic to say, but it is depressing. Just thinking about how it all ended for Ian Curtis, it just brings in a lot of sadness. But his words and the music always provide that powerful light.

#909: Muse – New Born

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Muse’s ‘New Born’ starts off the band’s 2001 album Origin of Symmetry. I’ve always seen it as something of a “Welcome to the 21st century” moment, and I believe that’s meant to be reflected in the way that it transitions from the soft piano-based into the mega-crunchy guitar riff properly introduces the track and the overall sound of the rest of the tracks that follow. The riffs throughout this six minute wonder are quite spectacular. There’s the aforementioned riff that gets things going, there’s Chris Wolstenholme’s bass riff that occurs throughout the verses… Matt Bellamy’s guitar solo’s pretty out there too. On a whole the band are firing on all cylinders, it’s a huge ball of energy.

Matthew Bellamy’s vocal style is one that’s lost if effect on me as the years have gone on, but there are still some Muse tracks where it just suits perfectly with all the melodies and rhythms that are happening around it. ‘New Born’ is another one of them, in my opinion. How he changes it around to match the tone of each respective section… It subtly builds and builds from the verse up to that final line in the chorus with the falsetto, and it’s extremely effective when that falsetto turns into a scream and segues into the track’s closing instrumental section. Goosebumps every time that happens. Some could be cynical and say something like the whole “technology is taking over and humanity is suffering because of it” subject was already done by Radiohead a few years earlier, arguably in a better way, but whatever it’s just another take on it from another band at the end of the day.

Last year the band released a remixed and remastered version of Origin of Symmetry to coincide with the 20th anniversary of its release. The new mix of ‘New Born’ revealed some details that were really buried in that original 2001 mix. Like those ‘aah-aah’ backing vocals during the choruses? Did you know those were there, because I certainly didn’t. It also generally took away a lot of the compression present in the original mix, so it sounds very open and somewhat wider in comparison. If that makes any sense. I may still prefer the original release though. But I’ll link the new mix below, so you can make up your own mind.