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My iPod #396: Nick Drake – From the Morning

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“…listening to this album, with headphones to be isolated of all exterior noises, with eyes closed, is a unique experience. Because at the end, the last song you hear is FROM THE MORNING, and this song is so positive! After all an album of a beautiful darkness, you finish on this moving celebration of life, telling you that another day starts after this tormented night, all starts again with a beautiful morning, that everything is possible with the rise of the sun. It’s at the opposite with the whole rest of the album, and it ends like that. I’m telling you, you can’t arrive at the end of PINK MOON with your eyes dry. That’s why this song has a particular saviour. And you need to know that FROM THE MORNING was his parents favourite song, proof that it has a positive reflect, and that’s why they chose a quote of this song as epitaph on his gravestone “Now we rise, and we are everywhere”.

That is a comment under the lyrics of “From the Morning” on songsmeaning.net. And I actually couldn’t put it better myself.

“Pink Moon” is the album to play during the hours of a cold winter night; its bare atmosphere and depressing lyrics matching the dark, silent environment. You walk around wondering where to turn.

But then “From the Morning” begins just as the sun rises, the skies turn a pinkish colour, the birds start to sing and you realise you’ve been bugging out over nothing. Everything will be alright. Another day is here. Time to learn something new.

The track’s presence wipes the sadness and desolation present throughout “Pink Moon” away, and as the last song ends the album on a happy, positive note. Sadly he would pass away only a few years later, but at least his official discography came to a definitive conclusion with this highly-spirited tune.

My iPod #395: Linkin Park – From the Inside

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“From the Inside” is from Linkin Park’s second album “Meteora”. It’s my favourite track on that album, too. It was released as its fourth single in 2004, physically in Australia and the USA whilst it was download only in the UK. It’s a track of the band’s that isn’t really overplayed so I never feel as if I can ever really get tired of it, say like “What I’ve Done” or “In the End” or something. This is an actual track I can really get into when that siren-like keyboard melody begins.

“From the Inside” adapts that quiet verse/loud chorus dynamic that is typically used in grunge music. Chester Bennington softly sings alternating with Mike Shinoda’s raps in the verses, before Bennington lets loose and the trademark Meteora wall of guitars enter for the chorus. Bennington screams a lot during the bridge too, which excites any Linkin Park fan.

Not much else I can say about it. It’s a very heavy tune about being betrayed and not knowing who you can trust anymore, with a waltz time signature. Cool stuff.

My iPod #370: Gorillaz – Fire Coming Out of the Monkey’s Head

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Looking through my iPod before I started this I found that, to my embarrassment, I have accidentally missed out a song. Silly me. I thought I had the order sussed out too. I’ll get to it one day. For now, the series must continue.

“Fire Coming Out of the Monkey’s Head” begins the “End of the World” track trilogy at the end of the “Demon Days” album with “Don’t Get Lost in Heaven” and the title track coming after. Listen to those three songs in succession. I also don’t think they have an official name together, “End of the World” just seems like the most appropriate thing to call it.

The track is essentially a story, narrated by the late and great Dennis Hopper, about the ‘Happyfolk’ who live under the great mountain called Monkey. Monkey eventually explodes, consuming the Earth in a great wave of fire after the ‘Strangefolk’ dig deep into its centre, stealing the jewels that lie within it. A menacing, repetitive bassline plays with deep humming backing vocals and clicking guitar licks setting the tracks mysterious and creepy tone during the verses. Damon Albarn (2D) comes in with a few verses too, accompanied by a sole acoustic guitar.

I read an interesting comment on there that suggested that this track was the main track of the entire album. Every track preceding has essentially been parts of the narrative that is told in this one song where everything comes together. Kinda makes sense. The happyfolk being the “Last Living Souls” and everything, and “Feel Good Inc.” being that point where the happy people seem to realise that something is going amiss but try and block it out to all they’re might. It’s very long to describe. But I can see it. Can’t remember where I saw that comment though, must have been years ago. Oh well.

My iPod #364: Dinosaur Jr. – Feel the Pain

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“Feel the Pain” is a track I swear I’d heard in an advert somewhere, way before I actually saw its music video on the television one day. As I witnessed J Mascis and Mike Johnson play golf using what appears to be the whole of Lower Manhattan as their golf course, the guitar phrases between each verse sounded very familiar. Wherever I had heard it before – which I’m starting to think I didn’t as time goes on – at least I knew who the music was performed by.

The track is the opener to Dinosaur Jr.’s 1994 album “Without a Sound”, one where Mascis handled most of the instrumentation after the drummer and bassist left. He does a good job though. After a few seconds of what sounds like something being plugged in (or sucked out?) of something else, the actual track starts slowly with the main riff panning from one ear to the other. Mascis lazily slurs out the song’s main refrain during the quiet parts, and volume rises during the breaks where the guitars go wild. In the last few lines, a guitar solo begins under J Mascis waiting for the correct time to leap in and really get to work. The last line finishes, and straight after he bursts one out that I can only nod my head to in appreciation. And whip out some air guitar.

My iPod #357: Franz Ferdinand – The Fallen

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Don’t worry, I am still here. Just been very busy this weekend so I had to hold this off for a while. To make up for it, this is the first of four so here goes nothin’…

I can’t put the official video of “The Fallen” on here. Although the song is of a reasonable length – just under four minutes – the version in the video cuts out the second verse about ‘drinking to the devil and death to the doctors’. Quite strange. Is that supposed to be a censor or something because this is the twenty-first century and everything.

It is not that big of a deal, anyway. “The Fallen” starts Franz Ferdinand’s second album off, a long note in the key of C blares out for a few seconds before the guitar comes in and begins the main riff. The song contains many references to the New Testament of the Bible. The Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene, the water into wine stuff. It’s all in there. Alex Kapranos likes that stuff. I have a feeling he has done that sort of writing in another Franz Ferdinand song, but what it is fails to come to me at this moment in time.

Anyway, “The Fallen” is alllright. Probably not my favourite from “You Could Have It…” only because I’ve heard it so many times due its single release. It has to be one of those times when it just randomly appears on the iPod when I really appreciate just how good it is.