Tag Archives: right

#1125: Ween – Right to the ways and the rules of the world

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Maybe the best way to listen to The Pod is through the way its broken up on its vinyl releases. Split up into four sides, having the time to digest one of those at a time with some breaks in between would probably allow a new listener to at least digest the 15-20 minutes that each side of vinyl provides. I didn’t do this. When I was fully on my Ween exploration in 2015, I dove headfirst into the album on Spotify and listened to it the whole way through. All 76 minutes. That first time was a slog. I don’t know if you know, but the album is known for having extremely shitty production, even though a lot of the songs are classics. At least to us Ween fans, anyway. ‘Right to the ways and the rules of the world’ is only the seventh track on there. On that first listen, it felt like I’d been listening to the album for much longer than when the song arrived. And it also felt like it went on for a lot more than the mere five minutes it lasts for.

Now of course I’m used to it all. The track is a slow, slow one though. Coming after the little non-song of ‘Pollo Asado’ (a very popular one for Ween people), ‘Right…’ is what I believe to be a mimic of those old, melodramatic ’70s progressive rock songs by bands who would write about things like folklore or traditions of the past… myths and legends and the like. Gene and Dean Ween take on this melodramatic route, singing about nothing but a bunch of silliness – brilliant imagery though, gotta be said – all of which is crowned by the aloof harmonies that recite the song’s title phrase. “Monsters that trinkle like cats in the night/The cosmic conceiver continues his plight.” Those are just the first couple of lines.

The screeching organ that blares throughout is the melodic linchpin throughout the song, really hammering home that sort of medieval type of sound that I think the song’s going for. Something of a vocal chameleon, Gene Ween puts in another captivating performance. Increasing in intensity throughout, it culminates in the final verse where he lets out a shriek and then falls into a fit of laughter as the instrumental continues. Some people may argue that the song takes some momentum out of the album’s proceedings. Whatever “momentum” that may be, going through this album can feel like being in a state of purgatory sometimes. It’s just as essential as any other track on there, I feel. The production is so murky, you could almost choke on it. But the song at the core of it stands strong.

#890: Big Star – My Life Is Right

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This is the second post with Big Star that I’ve written in the entire history of this blog. Had I started the whole thing earlier, I would have a few more songs of theirs up. And if I did, you would have noticed that I prefer the band’s songs by Chris Bell compared to those of Alex Chilton. ‘Feel’ and ‘Don’t Lie to Me’ would have received my high praise in a few paragraphs made up of waffling sentences. And while ‘In the Street’ was a Chilton song, it’s Bell’s lead vocal on it that gives the track its grit. These three tracks are all from #1 Record, the only album of Big Star’s that Chris Bell featured on before leaving the group, and so is today’s.

‘My Life Is Right’ is another Bell-penned track, and an older song that he had performed with an previous band before joining Big Star. He was really into his Christianity. His love of the Lord was a message in quite a few of his compositions, and it’s clear in this one too. He sings about having no one to share his troubles with, until one day he was shown the way and now feels that he has purpose in life. He was lost and now he’s found. Though listening for the first time, you wouldn’t be wrong to assume that it was about a new love or a woman, something along those lines. But nope. It’s God. Or at the very least, Jesus.

And although it’s got a religious overtone to it, it’s nothing that’s preachy or overbearing. It’s a wonderful upbeat power pop tune with brilliant production and an uplifting tone. Things start off with this wandering piano with a double-tracked Bell singing the first few lines concerning loneliness and frustration, but then the bass guitar and acoustic guitars join in to mirror the change in mood with the lyrics where he then sings on how he’s been shown the way before the whole band kicks in for the huge chorus. For a track made in the early 70s, there’s a grandness and pristine sheen to every strike of the guitar and crash of the cymbals that make this track sound massive. It’s common throughout the whole album. Might just be one of my favourites of that decade.

#725: Julian Casablancas – Left & Right in the Dark

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I want to say that I was the first person to get the lyrics for this song on the Internet back in 2009. If anyone remembers the website we7.com, I believe Phrazes for the Young was an exclusive on there before it was officially released a week or so later. Somehow the lyrics for every other song were up on sites already, but no one had taken the time to try and decipher ‘Left & Right in the Dark’. So I did. I listened to this song over and over again, pausing and restarting at various points in order to decipher exactly what Casablancas was singing. I think I did an alright job. I’m very sure that the lyrics I typed up (back a long time ago on letssingit.com) are the ones that are available all over the World Wide Web today. They may have been edited at some point though.

And it was through that somewhat tedious task that I got to know this track. While some may have become sick of the track if they were in my shoes, I found that Casablancas’ song was still bearable. The album was his first solo project outside of The Strokes; while that band is stemmed by 60s classic rock like The Velvet Underground, Phrazes signified an emphasis on glossy synthesizers and drum machines in debt to 80s new wave. ‘Left & Right in the Dark’ makes this apparent right out of the gate with an awesome keyboard riff that is echoed by Casablancas later on in the song.

The track sees Casablancas having almost something of an existential crisis. He reminisces on days when he was a child, when he may have wronged people, generally situations in the past where things were so real. Now they are just moments in time and Casablancas wants the listener to make the most of the time they have in the here and now. Like a lot of Stroke songs, the track is characterised by the songwriter’s classic croon, which seems to sound quite different to how it usually does in his band’s recordings. That might just be down to the mechanical sounding guitars and glossy drums that surround it though.

I listened to Phrazes for the Young fully for the first time a good decade after it initially came out. Wasn’t really for me. This is my highlight from it, still.

My iPod #340: They Might Be Giants – Everything Right Is Wrong Again

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They Might Be Giants are known to be unorthodox when it comes to making music. The two Johns seem to be able to use any instrument or find some weird recording technique to produce a song. And they will never disappoint in giving you something different with each album they come out with. But most importantly every album of theirs is a fun and entertaining listen, and nothing sums up those two adjectives then They Might Be Giants’ debut album. Look at this album cover and tell me you don’t feel just a bit happier after looking at it.

It all began with this track. “Everything Right Is Wrong Again”, is about exactly what the song title tells you. Everything is going bad and the narrator only wants to know when things get better again. And while this may be a bit dire, this is all sung against some of the happiest music that’s been written. Sometimes it reminds me of that kind of music that would be a theme tune to a comedy show or something (there’s just something about that chord progression during the “all the dishes” part that makes me feel it should be in a cartoon). Or it may just be the reference to a comedy film that is made in the refrain.

I think if you were to ask me what track I thought really depicted what They Might Be Giants are all about, it would probably have to be this one. Most of the themes the group use are covered in the two-and-a-half minutes “Everything” lasts for and the track is cleverly written with humorous lyrics and busy rhythm. It slows down only for the middle section before resetting back to its original pace for the last chorus, where the keyboards rise in volume and perform the most joyous, almost-classical sounding piece of music bringing a triumphant end to a brilliant opening track. The fun carries on for eighteen more songs after.

The post is over now.

My iPod #339: Radiohead – Everything in Its Right Place

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“Everything in Its Right Place” is the opening track on Radiohead’s “Kid A” album, one where the band completely diverted away from their heavy guitar-driven music to warmer, electronic material. Fans waited for three years after “OK Computer”, full of anticipation with what Radiohead could deliver. Apparently, “Kid A” polarized many. Either people loved it ‘cos of the new musical direction, or hated because of the same reason. Whether the band made the change to make people not like it as much, I’m not sure. The members, especially Thom Yorke, were burnt out from the success that “OK Computer” gained. “Kid A” made them a lot more successful anyway.

I was five when the album was released, and so have no recollection of anything Radiohead did. Who were Radiohead? I didn’t know; I was in Year 1. But I eventually got round to listening to “Kid A” (and “Amnesiac” for the hell of it) in 2012. Why did it take me so long? Well…. I think I used to label those years as the period where Radiohead went a bit weird. The first song I remember liking from them was on “Hail to the Thief”, and their singles I usually saw on the TV were “Creep – OK Computer” era. It wasn’t until I actually researched that both albums were very much appreciated, that I thought I would listen to them.

And so “Everything in Its Right Place” started playing, and it was then that I realised I might have been missing out on something. Everything about it is just so peaceful, calm and tranquil even though the lyrics are from the perspective of a person going through some problems of their own. Got a steady 4/4 beat playing against a 10/4 time signature, unconventional yet wouldn’t sound out of place in any dance/house party. And the song’s only made up of four phrases which are repeated in many different and memorable ways, that when you think one will be repeated again the track begins to fade out. And then it’s gone.

I’ve seen comments from people saying that Radiohead should start playing guitars again but they did do this song, cut them some slack.