Tag Archives: man

#801: Massive Attack – Man Next Door

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Landscapes of black and white and various shades. Things moving in slow motion. A creepy feeling of something waiting around the corner. Those are just some images and feelings I get when listening through Massive Attack’s Mezzanine. Apart from ‘(Exchange)’ and its instrumental counterpart ‘Exchange’ which are much more uplifting in tone, maybe ‘Teardrop’ too, there’s always a sense of uneasiness and tension throughout. For me, ‘Man Next Door’, which arrives just about in the middle of it all, really encapsulates the anxiety.

This is a cover of the 1968 track by The Paragons. It’s about having a noisy neighbour. In Massive Attack’s take, I feel as if the noise isn’t the major problem. There’s something very unpleasant about this neighbour, but we don’t know what it is. There’s no reason to think this because the lyrics are the same; again, it’s just the production on here. The minor chord progression remains the same, but Massive Attack stamp their own name on it by giving it a weighty soundscape led by echoing snares and a booming kick drum. The thick bassline leads the song’s melody, and it’s joined by these guitars here and there that play these sparse notes. A sample of The Cure’s song ’10:15 Saturday Night’ is buried in there too at various points. The tempo’s slowed right down, and reggae singer Horace Andy expresses his pain and annoyance with the neighbour with his wailing vocals.

Probably not a highlight for a lot of people who love this album, but when I heard the record for the first time I remember that ‘Man Next Door’ really grabbed my attention. It’s not a song that will have you jumping for joy. It’s a song that will have you listening for any suspicious sound when you’re alone in your house. You need that type of music sometimes.

#645: Hot Hot Heat – Island of the Honest Man

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Does anyone else remember when Windows Media Player had this option where you could search for a song on the internet and add it to your own playlist after the program provided a link to the website where the file was hosted? I think it was called the ‘guide’? Something along those lines. It wasn’t such a great tool as the music was very scarce. Not always in great quality either. It wasn’t like now where you can virtually listen to anything now because of Spotify and the like. But to build on my initial question… I think that is how I came to hear today’s song for the very first time back in 2005, and it’s probably one of the better songs from the album it’s on.

‘Island of the Honest Man’ was the initial promo single from Hot Hot Heat’s second album Elevator, before ‘Goodnight Goodnight’ was released as the proper commercial track some time later. In 2005 I was ten, and I guess there was something about this track that I thought stood out from a lot of other things I was listening to around that time. The clangy guitar in the verses is very sharp and biting in its delivery. Its general fast tempo and the way the timing changes during the transition into the chorus. The chorus is fantastic too. There’s a very uplifting sense about it, something I’ve got from those fluid summery guitars that back it up. I don’t think the track excites me as much as it did way back when but I still get into its groove when its momentum gets going. Also recently I noticed that there’s a guitar part that harmonises with the lead vocals during the last choruses. That’s pretty cool.

I guess because I heard it at that young age I never considered what the lyrics are about. Though mainly from its chorus, it’s about finding this place where you can do whatever you want to do without being judged. Be yourself. All of that sentiment.

#602: Wilco – I’m the Man Who Loves You

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‘I’m the Man Who Loves You’ is the eighth song on Wilco’s 2002 album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. It, ‘Heavy Metal Drummer’, and ‘I Am Trying to Break Your Heart’ are the songs from that album that I’ve been listening to for the longest time. There was something about those three on first listen that just grabbed me for whatever reason. ‘I’m the Man’ is probably the most relaxed out of them, though begins with an erratic guitar freak-out by Jeff Tweedy that gets things off to an unsteady start before eventually switching into a chilled acoustic number.

The song’s name is sung at the end of ‘I Am Trying to Break Your Heart’ so you may think that it would be some sort of centerpiece of the album. I certainly did at first. Maybe it is but I’ve never noticed how. To me it’s just another great song on there. Generally, it’s about Tweedy’s (or anyone’s) inability to express their love for someone. The lyrics describe a narrator trying to write a love-letter and failing at it. Though they wish they could express themselves to their fullest, they know that sometimes it can take a simple action to let their significant other know how much they care for them. Like holding their hand, for example.

Like I said earlier, there’s a very laidback and brisk quality to the track. As it progresses there are little flourishes added here and there that prevent the track from falling into a lull. Little keyboard presses on the left channel, ‘ooh-ooh’ backing vocals and then the magnificent horn section that suddenly appears during the last verse and stay for the track’s long outro. It would be during the final minute and ten seconds that a producer would decide to fade it out but it rather comically comes to an abrupt halt with the drums coming to a sudden stop and the lead guitar doing whatever it pleases. Seems as if they didn’t really know how to close things out. Still makes for some great listening.

I regarded ‘I’m the Man’ as one of the more ‘radio-friendly’ tracks from that album in a post back in 2015. Upon more frequent listens of the album I’ve realised that there are a few other songs on there that you would be more likely to hear on your station. Not that that’s important in any way…. I just had time to listen to the album closely to really appreciate other tracks on there. Check out Yankee Hotel Foxtrot everyone.

My iPod #474: Weezer – The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations on a Shaker Hymn)

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“The Greatest Man That Ever Lived” is one of the most confusing Weezer tracks to exist. It can also be considered to be their most epic, depending on your taste. Lyrically, the song finds Rivers Cuomo at the height of hubris. In every line he is adamant on telling you he’s the best, no one can tell him he’s not the best, he will show that he is the best if you don’t believe him, he’ll mess with you if you get in his way leading into the final verse in which he defiantly declares that he is the song’s title, and it is his destiny to give to the world.

The other thing about this song is, for every verse that is delivered the band sing in a different style ranging from rap, to Slipknot, to Beethoven and Bach. Quite the mindfuck. Though it does make for an adventurous and unpredictable six minutes of your life. On listening to it years ago, I still have the thought that what happens in this just shouldn’t work. I shouldn’t like this at all. But it does. And I do. It is weird.

So either Rivers had just cracked during the writing of this, or it is the sign that the man is some sort of crazy genius.

My iPod #438: Radiohead – Go to Sleep. (Little Man being Erased.)

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“Go to Sleep.” was the second single to be released from the album Hail to the Thief, Radiohead’s sixth album released in 2003. The record marked a return to the guitar oriented music the band were known for, after taking a few years down the electronic/experimental route with “Kid A” and “Amnesiac“. Though it gets a bit of flack for not being as cohesive as other Radiohead albums, and because its almost-hour-length is a bit too much for some to handle. Thom Yorke had the same feeling; he posted an alternate tracklist showing what the album may have been had the band taken more time on it. Good to see that today’s track made it on there.

The song has many twists and turns to it. It starts off with an acoustic guitar driven riff playing at a 10/4 time signature that after being accompanied by Thom Yorke’s wailing vocals for a while is joined by Phil Selway’s drums and delicate electric guitar touches via Jonny Greenwood. The track then takes another turn when tom-tom drums dominate the mix as Yorke starts singing about the possibilities of the loonies and the monster taking over and Greenwood’s guitar becomes more distorted and frantic, eventually producing random noises and glitched out sounds as the song fades out.

It’s one of the songs from the album that I’ve known for the longest; I watched the video on the television way before I ever bought the album. It will always be a favourite track of mine from it.