Post by Deleted on Nov 20, 2016 18:33:32 GMT -5
Thought I was three days late with this looking at Wikipedia but apparently not, (Andre I have a job for you LOL!) ....today/ tomorrow depending on where you are is the day notorious is 30 years old. Happy birthday! Quite remarkable how that record hasnt aged at all, much like this listener! I thought this might be a thread where people comment on their relationship with the album or a particular song.
I never cease to be impressed that despite the alleged ummm....?snowstorm in the studio that such musical mastery was achieved. It's a dark, brooding, funky, winter album, I always think of being indoors, it's not that it's cold or barren (perhaps with the exception of the album artwork of course and winter matches on.....oh and the snow haha!), but the instrumentation is so warm and rich and rather it has a co* like feel to it, and ironically there's a sensation of intimacy in that, which is not a word I would have used in relation to the band's music up to that point in their career. This co* effect ( edit. Oh ffs why can't I type the word for a little pods where a caterpillar turns into a butterfly, maybe the caterpillar wants to go full frontal) is pretty much confirmed by Simon. The seven and the ragged tiger had been reduced to three and a much tamer feline, and aggressive letters from Andy's lawyers were pouring in.
"Surprisingly enough, recording was the only relief we had from all of that. We were able to concentrate on the music, where we could go and hide I suppose, and because of that the album got done".
And again, as I've mentioned before, consciously or unconsciously, that unity and strength borne out of that co* is captured very well in band portraits from the time, and perhaps more truthfully in three to get ready.
Now maybe, it's just that I bought notorious and SRTR during the winter of 93/94 and those albums for me forever evoke a feel of dark overcast days, Dewberry body shop perfume, lying in the bed in my attic bedroom (parents called it my ivory tower = noun
1. a state of privileged seclusion or separation from the facts and practicalities of the real world. Lol....spot on! Wish I had one now to indulge in all things Duran.)
.....with a wide brimmed velvet hat and suede waistcoat trying to channel some female version of John Taylor.
So you all know brevity is not one of my strong points, so I'm gonna focus on one song that really connects with me. Vertigo is one of my favourite tracks from notorious. Supposedly it's one of three tracks recorded at the time which was inspired from titles of Alfred Hitchcock movies. I had a brief look at the plot I actually sounds like a great film, but is really more about obsession than vertigo.
Coming back to the song I can draw parallels between it and new religion in that it deals with internal conflict and compulsive behaviour. With vertigo what really moves me here is the perfect marriage of the music and lyrics in evoking a sensation of spiralling self destructive behaviour. It's easy to think that every DD song is about either sex, drugs or rock n roll, and you could be forgiven for thinking they scored a hat-trick here. However when you consider the inspiration?? I don't know, I always get the impression that Simon draws threads of ideas from stuff around him and expands them into greater themes. (I certainly thought that recently when I heard him recounting some kid in the US making nuclear bombs as inspiration for PWU).
Ah jeez where was I?? Oh yeah the millefueille that is vertigo, musically and lyrically. To me this song is about the lies we tell ourselves, ignoring those nagging inner voices, as a means of enabling continued self destruction / addictive behaviour. Simon has often said, of the first three albums, that they never looked down, and the title, though vertigo is never mentioned, is appropriate, as a reflection of a band taking stock for the first time from the dizzy heights of fame. However it also captures the notion of how self realisation can make you dizzy and nauseous, the highs of your altered reality are challenged by inner voices.
The song opens with a sinister hypnotic synth loop that's perfectly captures that rotational disorientation of vertigo, and also the trance like pattern of compulsive / addictive behaviour. Aggressive almost punctuated guitar riffs to me evoke a sense of something being pushed down within. Bury it.
"Hey guys, turn it up to get sleazy.
Twist it in a vice"
This is about the volume we give to competing voices in our head. That self destructive behaviour, and all the emotional requirements it fulfills, needs to be loud enough to drown out the rising feeling in your gut that that you need to save yourself.
"Nobody said it was easy.
Just use your naked eyes, oh"
Oh indeed, there's that voice of self honesty, not dressed up in addiction and short term highs. And here's the internal dialogue. The musical key change, change in environment, allows that to happen.
"How to see and how to hide it.
How to save it. Well, maybe. Maybe. Maybe."
Simon could be singing about addictive behaviour here, drugs booze sex whatever??? in the seeing and hiding, but then what does that say about saving? I think it's more about self honesty, and maybe burying it a little while longer because change just seems impossible and too painful. Those "maybes" ascending in tone and volume, (because hey...they need to shout and unite to be heard), open the door for the possibility of change but it's quickly shut again, the melody becoming more pedantic and reverting to previous form "Chew your life supply / just need a little hit / help tonight"
"You can take it and eat it, and chew your life supply"
There's the lie again, "you're in control, it's okay", winning out.
There are very much two opposing voices in this song in different musical keys. And the voice of self honesty needs volume. I have seen complaints that you can't really pick Simon's vocal out clearly in these parts, but the architecture of the song is a beautiful fit for the theme, and those added voices add a volume and urgency pushing for change.
Where's the real life in your illusion?
On the dark side your power's in confusion.
Do the dance. Do the demolition.
And lose the chance to hear when you don't listen.
The dance is a ritual as is the behaviour. Self analysis and giving equal volume to all inner voices is an active process, i.e. Listening, and you won't hear them unless you commit to some self honesty, rather than confusion which gives you license to continue as you are.
"Don't you feel edgy?
Bite your lips and bleed.
Conversation is empty;
Abandoned in the freeze."
Again the conversation that's empty is the internal one, but the opposing voices are simmering away below the surface, and there's pain in that.
"Freedom is your condemnation.
Free to say well, maybe. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe.
You can take it or leave it.
Just need a little hit tonight.
And personal freedom allows us to choose self destruction or personal salvation. It's pretty obvious that the subject of this song is not at the very difficult point of change, but is struggling with a dawning self awareness.
This is a band under full public glare in deep crisis, and yet like all great art they channel that personal pain into a creative process musically and lyrically. There's a gift and a lesson for us all in that.
I never cease to be impressed that despite the alleged ummm....?snowstorm in the studio that such musical mastery was achieved. It's a dark, brooding, funky, winter album, I always think of being indoors, it's not that it's cold or barren (perhaps with the exception of the album artwork of course and winter matches on.....oh and the snow haha!), but the instrumentation is so warm and rich and rather it has a co* like feel to it, and ironically there's a sensation of intimacy in that, which is not a word I would have used in relation to the band's music up to that point in their career. This co* effect ( edit. Oh ffs why can't I type the word for a little pods where a caterpillar turns into a butterfly, maybe the caterpillar wants to go full frontal) is pretty much confirmed by Simon. The seven and the ragged tiger had been reduced to three and a much tamer feline, and aggressive letters from Andy's lawyers were pouring in.
"Surprisingly enough, recording was the only relief we had from all of that. We were able to concentrate on the music, where we could go and hide I suppose, and because of that the album got done".
And again, as I've mentioned before, consciously or unconsciously, that unity and strength borne out of that co* is captured very well in band portraits from the time, and perhaps more truthfully in three to get ready.
Now maybe, it's just that I bought notorious and SRTR during the winter of 93/94 and those albums for me forever evoke a feel of dark overcast days, Dewberry body shop perfume, lying in the bed in my attic bedroom (parents called it my ivory tower = noun
1. a state of privileged seclusion or separation from the facts and practicalities of the real world. Lol....spot on! Wish I had one now to indulge in all things Duran.)
.....with a wide brimmed velvet hat and suede waistcoat trying to channel some female version of John Taylor.
So you all know brevity is not one of my strong points, so I'm gonna focus on one song that really connects with me. Vertigo is one of my favourite tracks from notorious. Supposedly it's one of three tracks recorded at the time which was inspired from titles of Alfred Hitchcock movies. I had a brief look at the plot I actually sounds like a great film, but is really more about obsession than vertigo.
Coming back to the song I can draw parallels between it and new religion in that it deals with internal conflict and compulsive behaviour. With vertigo what really moves me here is the perfect marriage of the music and lyrics in evoking a sensation of spiralling self destructive behaviour. It's easy to think that every DD song is about either sex, drugs or rock n roll, and you could be forgiven for thinking they scored a hat-trick here. However when you consider the inspiration?? I don't know, I always get the impression that Simon draws threads of ideas from stuff around him and expands them into greater themes. (I certainly thought that recently when I heard him recounting some kid in the US making nuclear bombs as inspiration for PWU).
Ah jeez where was I?? Oh yeah the millefueille that is vertigo, musically and lyrically. To me this song is about the lies we tell ourselves, ignoring those nagging inner voices, as a means of enabling continued self destruction / addictive behaviour. Simon has often said, of the first three albums, that they never looked down, and the title, though vertigo is never mentioned, is appropriate, as a reflection of a band taking stock for the first time from the dizzy heights of fame. However it also captures the notion of how self realisation can make you dizzy and nauseous, the highs of your altered reality are challenged by inner voices.
The song opens with a sinister hypnotic synth loop that's perfectly captures that rotational disorientation of vertigo, and also the trance like pattern of compulsive / addictive behaviour. Aggressive almost punctuated guitar riffs to me evoke a sense of something being pushed down within. Bury it.
"Hey guys, turn it up to get sleazy.
Twist it in a vice"
This is about the volume we give to competing voices in our head. That self destructive behaviour, and all the emotional requirements it fulfills, needs to be loud enough to drown out the rising feeling in your gut that that you need to save yourself.
"Nobody said it was easy.
Just use your naked eyes, oh"
Oh indeed, there's that voice of self honesty, not dressed up in addiction and short term highs. And here's the internal dialogue. The musical key change, change in environment, allows that to happen.
"How to see and how to hide it.
How to save it. Well, maybe. Maybe. Maybe."
Simon could be singing about addictive behaviour here, drugs booze sex whatever??? in the seeing and hiding, but then what does that say about saving? I think it's more about self honesty, and maybe burying it a little while longer because change just seems impossible and too painful. Those "maybes" ascending in tone and volume, (because hey...they need to shout and unite to be heard), open the door for the possibility of change but it's quickly shut again, the melody becoming more pedantic and reverting to previous form "Chew your life supply / just need a little hit / help tonight"
"You can take it and eat it, and chew your life supply"
There's the lie again, "you're in control, it's okay", winning out.
There are very much two opposing voices in this song in different musical keys. And the voice of self honesty needs volume. I have seen complaints that you can't really pick Simon's vocal out clearly in these parts, but the architecture of the song is a beautiful fit for the theme, and those added voices add a volume and urgency pushing for change.
Where's the real life in your illusion?
On the dark side your power's in confusion.
Do the dance. Do the demolition.
And lose the chance to hear when you don't listen.
The dance is a ritual as is the behaviour. Self analysis and giving equal volume to all inner voices is an active process, i.e. Listening, and you won't hear them unless you commit to some self honesty, rather than confusion which gives you license to continue as you are.
"Don't you feel edgy?
Bite your lips and bleed.
Conversation is empty;
Abandoned in the freeze."
Again the conversation that's empty is the internal one, but the opposing voices are simmering away below the surface, and there's pain in that.
"Freedom is your condemnation.
Free to say well, maybe. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe.
You can take it or leave it.
Just need a little hit tonight.
And personal freedom allows us to choose self destruction or personal salvation. It's pretty obvious that the subject of this song is not at the very difficult point of change, but is struggling with a dawning self awareness.
This is a band under full public glare in deep crisis, and yet like all great art they channel that personal pain into a creative process musically and lyrically. There's a gift and a lesson for us all in that.