Tag Archives: friends

#1098: Kanye West ft. Ty Dolla $ign – Real Friends

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So it actually has been eight years since Kanye West initially released The Life of Pablo, before making some fixes to the mixes some of the songs, adding a few new ones too, and then released it again a few months after. That was a hectic time to be a Kanye West fan. When is it not, really? This new record that eventually became TLOP was constantly being renovated and shaped up even in the lead up to its unveiling. It could have been released in 2014 as So Help Me God, which fans will still say is West’s best unused album title. It was going to be called SWISH for the longest time, up until a week before the release West announced on Twitter that it would indeed be named The Life of Pablo. Think there was meant to be a prize for any Twitter use who guessed what the “new” title would be after West announced that “TLOP” were the initials of the album’s official name. Wonder if that person ever got their prize.

Yeah, I was there when it was all happening. Was a hectic time. I was in my year out of university doing work at Songlines magazine, August 2015 – July 2016. A month before that February ’16 release of Pablo, even though I can’t remember this specific part myself but it’s what Wikipedia says, Kim Kardashian announced that the GOOD Fridays weekly music release that West had previously utilised in the run up to Dark Twisted Fantasy was back. The song that marked its return was today’s subject, ‘Real Friends’. Now, I have a vivid memory of loading up the exclusive page dedicated to the song on Kanye’s official website and playing it at least three times on repeat. Thought it was the best thing he’d done since anything on Dark Fantasy. Yeezus has never done much for me. And the standalone singles from 2014/15 were okay. This really felt like the Kanye return I had been waiting for for years.

This is a sad, sad song. The sample loop that continues throughout set the icy tone from the very beginning, but the sense of desolation is only reinforced by Kanye’s lyrics concerning his own failures in being a less than awesome friend and family relative, something that fans were quick to jump on when thinking about great being in the family sounded when exploring that theme on ‘Family Business’, and his inability to trust anyone he may come across knowing that at any moment they could take advantage of him. Singer Ty Dolla Sign comes in in various places, lending his heartfelt vocals to the proceedings, particularly to the choruses in which West jokingly states that he deserves all the hate and bad treatment he gets because of… well, everything he’s done that gets people talking. This and ‘FML’, a track that I would have written about too had the stars aligned, are the one-two punch of sincerity in what was the tail-end of the original album before the “bonus” tracks were added on (“Wolves” was meant to be the true album closer, but things changed), and both hit me right in the gut every time I hear them both. Kanye would get sad on records that followed, but there’s something about them that can truly make a heart sink on one of those days.

#888: Red Hot Chili Peppers – My Friends

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Though Red Hot Chili Peppers are sometimes known as that group with the guy who kinda raps nonsense and sings about California all the time, you can’t deny that Anthony Kiedis comes up with some good melodies to his lyrics. He may have some assistance from his bandmates. I could see John Frusciante being heavily involved in that front. But even when Frusciante wasn’t there for that period in the ’90s where he left the band and became a full-on junkie, the band still delivered – albeit with a new guitarist in Dave Navarro of Jane’s Addiction, and a new heavy rock/less funk change in sound that arrived as a result.

‘My Friends’ is a track from One Hot Minute, the only album of the group’s to feature Navarro as a guitarist, released in 1995. It was also released as a single from there, hence its music video above. That is the original video, but upon seeing it Anthony Kiedis decided he didn’t like it, so another one was made. I’ll embed that below. The original though is how I came across the song in the first place. Was probably 10 or something and it showed on MTV2. I mean, there was that time that Stadium Arcadium was coming soon, so it only made sense that everyone prepared by showing Red Hot Chili Pepper videos throughout the day. Even though the video may have been a bit strange to me, the song sounded good. Kiedis sings about being there for his friends, present and past, whenever they’re at their lowest, loving them, and letting them know that he’s been in their place.

I listened through One Hot Minute once a while ago. From looking around I’ve gathered that it’s a bit of an outsider in the discography of RHCP in terms of appreciation. Mainly ’cause of the lack of Frusciante and the whole change in sound and everything. I probably couldn’t judge with that much merit, but I remember feeling like it went on for ages. Though the singles from there are up there with some of the band’s best songs, I feel. ‘My Friends’ is definitely a dark horse. Just how I feel, you know.

#682: Nine Black Alps – Just Friends

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‘Just Friends’ is the ninth song on Nine Black Alps’ debut album Everything Is. It was released as a single. I sort of remember the time it’s video was doing the rounds on MTV2, recalling how upbeat and light-hearted it was in comparison to ‘Unsatisfied’.

Turns out I’ve been mishearing this song’s lyrics for all this time, and as a result my initial interpretation of it has been thrown out the window. Originally I thought it was about two people breaking up and becoming ‘just friends’. It’s actually the opposite. What I thought was “now, in the long, we’re just friends” in the chorus is really “now we’re no longer just friends”. It’s about being heavily invested in a relationship and stepping up to the plate to make things work, but it’s all delivered in a very cynical, “meh, I don’t really care” attitude in the lyrics.

The track is two minutes and 15 seconds long, starting off strongly right from the start with a drum roll and its main riff, just as the cymbals from the preceding track on the album are beginning to fade out. It’s a song with high energy, great melodies throughout via the guitars and Sam Forrest’s vocal take. It’s another gem from a fantastic album that I’m grateful I actually own to this day.

My iPod #547: The Who – How Many Friends

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Afraid of turning thirty and becoming irrelevant in the music business, Pete Townshend expressed the personal issues he was going through in his songwriting. The material written resulted in The Who by Numbers, The Who’s seventh album released in 1975, which marked a return to the straightforward studio album format after their second rock opera of Quadrophenia in 1973.

“How Many Friends” is the penultimate track, and is arguably the one in which Townshend’s insecurities are laid bare. It is something of a biography, with Townshend recalling moments of being hit on by a guy, falling in a love with a lady at the cinema, and signing a contract for the first time. However, all of these times bring up the issue on whether he is just being used, leaving him questioning who he can really trust and whether he has true friends he can really depend on and will take him for the person he is. Its message struck a chord with Keith Moon, who is said to have cried and hugged Townshend after hearing the song’s demo for the first time.

Once again the band provide a brilliant performance, but what really gives the song its delicate touch is the lush piano courtesy of the late Nick Hopkins, who fills the slot as the ‘rhythm guitar’ while Townshend delivers what is essentially a four-minute solo in the left channel. It is maybe one of the songs by The Who where the rhythm section aren’t the musical highlights. Of course you can’t disregard the playing of John Entwistle and Keith Moon completely, they very much do their job greatly, but Daltrey’s majestic vocals with Hopkins’ piano and Townshend’s intense guitar work reinforce the track’s sad energy. A tear will be shed.

My iPod #393: The Zombies – Friends of Mine

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“Friends of Mine” is a track from The Zombies’ album “Odessey and Oracle”. Unlike every other love song where the narrator tells a listener how happy and lucky they are to be in a relationship themselves, “Friends of Mine” flips the idea around, instead detailing how much joy they feel seeing so many of their friends in love. That is a subject you would rarely come across nowadays in music. Even in real life, you wouldn’t be able to go anywhere with without people seeing you as the ‘third wheel’ of the group. What’s the world coming to?

A pacy track filled with bright guitars, jubilant backing vocal harmonies and general catchy melodies “Friends of Mine” is a song that will get your spirits up when times are bad. Especially if you’re a person who cares a lot about their mates.