Shakira released her latest studio album in November 2009. We downloaded it (legally), burned it to CD, and listened to it while driving to our relatives’ house for Thanksgiving. I’ve been listening to Shakira for over 10 years now ever since I saw the video for her song “Inevitable” on one of the Spanish language channels. I think it was Univision. I got the album “Donde Esta Las Ladrones” that includes that song and is full of cerebral melodic songs along with soulful love songs all in Spanish. They now seem like classics: the emotional and celebratory “Inevitable”, the soulful “Tu”, the political “Octavio Dia” and “No Creo”, the fun-sounding but still serious “Ciego Sordamundo” (Blind deaf-mute) and the title track, the quiet “Moscas en la Casa”, and the loud raucous “Ojos Asi” with its Middle Eastern rhythms. I soon learned that Shakira is from Colombia like Juanes. She’s from the town of Barranquilla and had been famous in Latin America since the mid 1990’s. When I first moved it L.A., I would listen to Spanish radio stations and watch the Spanish channels to keep up with the Spanish I had learned in college. I heard many of Shakira’s songs both from listening to 107.5 KLVE FM and watching Univision and Telemundo.
I soon acquired her first major CD: “Pies Discalzos” that was originally released in 1995 when she was 17 or 18. She had actually released two CD prior to that one: “Magia” in 1990 and “Peligro” in 1993, but these are hard to find. “Pies Discalzos” consists primary of love songs but some still rock such as “Donde Esta Corazon.” “Estoy Aqui” was one I heard frequently on KLVE. She won two or three Latin Grammys at the inaugural awards show in September 2000 and did an impressive performance of “Ojos Asi” on the show. She still was not very well known among English-speaking Americans until November 2001 when she released “Laundry Service”, her first English language album. Its songs were also catchy with intelligent lyrics. There was at least one song just in Spanish on the CD, “Te Dejo Madrid” and two songs with both Spanish and English versions: “Where ever Whenever” (“Suerte”) and “Objection Tango”. There was also an English version of “Ojos Asi” (“Eyes Like Yours”).
In the fall of 2002 we saw Shakira perform live at Staples Center for the L.A. leg of her “Tour of the Mongoose”. I joined one of her fan clubs so I could get tickets before the regular ones went on sale. I got seats in the front row of the top level and also got commemorative tickets with prints of paintings done by Shakira herself. The concert was impressive with major production. She did many songs from her earlier Spanish language albums. The crowd was mostly young Latinas. She did a couple of English language covers: Aerosmith’s “Dude Looks Like a Lady” and AC/DC’s “Back in Black”. There was one point where she was supposed to play drums but that didn’t work out and she said that she “owed us one.” She had several costume changes and had the audience sing along with “Estoy Aqui”. The concert ended after a first or second encore with an extended, production-heavy version of “Where ever Whenever” where she was brought out on a moving platform from above the stage and cannons shot out lots of confetti into the crowd on the floor. When she finished she disappeared through a trap door in the stage floor.
A week or two later we were at the deli Dan’s Subs in Woodland Hills. We overheard the deli’s manager, who was older than us, talking with another employee about being at the Shakira concert. So she doesn’t just appeal to young Latinas and people like us. I later read that Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez (known as “Gabo”) is a fan.
In 2005 Shakira released two new albums: the Spanish language “Fijacion Oral Volume I” and the English language “Oral Fixation Volume II”. The former included the loud, rhythmic Reggaeton (labeled as Shaketon) song “La Tortura” featuring Alejandro Sanz. The latter included the song “Don’t Bother”. It didn’t do as well as expected so later they released a version with the song “Hips Don’t Lie” with Wyclef Jean. This was a bit of a shallow departure from her more cerebral themes and I’m glad I got the original album before it was re-released. Shakira recorded a duet with Beyonce, “Beautiful Liar” and in January 2009 performed at President Barak Obama’s inauguration with Usher and Stevie Wonder.
After “Hips Don’t Lie” I wasn’t sure what to expect of the next album to be released in late 2009. The first single, “She Wolf” was in a similar vein, though it had a brash silliness to it. Shakira had said she wanted her album to cheer people up during the recession. The album consists of 13 tracks, a few of which may be bonus tracks and three of them are Spanish versions of English tracks.
The album begins with the title track, the electronic, quick-rhythm “She Wolf”. It gets a bit silly with Shakira howling during the chorus. Not her best, but interesting. I saw the video online and it gets fairly suggestive. The next song “I Did it Again” is a duet with rapper Kid Cudi. It has some verbal not-too-fast verses. For the chorus there’s a bit of a tribute to Michael Jackson with Shakira singing “Annie” and Kid Cudi singing “are you OK” or something like that. The song seems to be about making a mistake: going with the wrong guy, so it’s not the same as “Oops, I did it again”, though it has the shallowness. Kid Cudi has an extended rap towards the end where he mentions how Shakira said, “your hips don’t lie”, a reference to her earlier song. The next song starts with a rhythmic percussive beat. “Long Time” has the same level of shallowness as the preceding songs, or maybe it’s just silly. How many other songs have the lyric “You got me thinking outside the box”?
The next song, “Why Wait”, has a similar rhythmic beat that almost sounds Middle Eastern. It follows the common theme of the other songs and I found it more enjoyable when I didn’t listen to the lyrics. The theme of the next song, “Good Stuff”, is nearly identical but the rhythm is faster and more electronic than percussion based. It includes the silly-sounding “The grass is much greener with us on it.” The theme finally gets more interesting with the next track, “The Men in this Town”. It’s about L.A. and movie stars and starts by singing “Matt Damon’s not meant for me” in the first verse. It goes on to mention the Skybar to the Standard (Hotel in Downtown L.A.). It’s a fun party song with enough character to overcome its shallowness and it ends with some high singing. I also like the next song, “Gypsy”, a slower song with acoustic (banjo?) and string accompaniment. It’s about the gypsy life (“I might steal your cloths and wear them if they fit me.”) It has the requisite silliness, a fun little song.
It back to shallowness with the next song, “Spy”, another collaboration with Wyclef Jean, this time celebrating an obsessive, overprotective boyfriend. But it sounds fun and has some interesting “skat” like singing by Shakira. The next song, “Mon Amour”, is a bit more interesting since it’s sung by a woman whose heart has been broken (“I hope you have a horrible vacation.”) It’s a fast song heavy on guitar and pathos. The end gets a little silly, though. The next three songs are Spanish versions of the songs “She Wolf” (“Loba”), “I Did it Again” (“Lo Hecho este Hecho”) without Kid Cudi, and “Why Wait” (“Anos Luz”). I think the songs sound better in Spanish. The lyrics just sound better and somehow the songs don’t seem as shallow, unlike the last song, “Give it Up to Me”, a bonus track in English featuring Little Wayne. The song is rhythmic and catchy but the subject matter about being submissive may not be the best message. The song is popular, though. I heard it playing on KISS FM at Fisherman’s Wharf restaurant on January 11, 2010.
Like the song, I can’t say that the album “She Wolf” is Shakira’s best effort. It has some interesting songs and the music is good, often overshadowing the lyrics. It’s always nice when a place in my old neighborhood, the Standard in Downtown L.A. in this case, gets mentioned in a song. But overall Shakira has continued the successful “Hips Don’t Lie” formula and made an entire album out of it. I guess there’s a fan base for that, but I found it a bit lacking. It makes me want to listen to a better album such as “Donde Estan Las Ladrones”. Shakira has come a long way since singing about “John Paul Satre” and “Carlos Marx”. I’m just not sure it’s the best way.
In October or November of 2009, David Bisbal released his fourth studio album, “Sin Mirar Atras” (“without looking back”, sounds a bit like the Boston song title “Don’t Look Back”). I’ve been listening to his music since the fall of 2003 when I saw him perform on the televised Latin Grammy Awards back when they were broadcasted on CBS with English commentary. They moved to a Spanish channel with Spanish commentary in 2005. When I first saw Bisbal on the 2003 telecast what first struck me was how he appeared on stage by sliding down a transparent slide. He and the band and dancers (who also took the slide) then launched into his powerful, rollicking song “Llorare las Penas.” After they finished, host George Lopez said something about only a Latino would be so lazy as to use a slide to reach the stage. I believe Lopez also mentioned that Bisbal was a top finisher of Spain’s version of American Idol called Operacion Triumfo.
A few days after seeing that telecast I went to a music store, probably Tower at the time, and bought Bisbal’s debut CD “Corazon Latino” that had come out the year before. It contained three fast intense songs (“Ave Maria”, “Llorare las Penas”, and “Corazon Latino”) and many softer but very soulful ballads including a duet with Spanish singer Chenoa. I enjoyed it especially the faster songs that were tinged with Flamenco sound. My wife (girlfriend at the time) enjoyed Bisbal’s Spanish accent especially his pronouncing the “s” sound as “th” such as “corazon” as “corathon”. Bisbal released a follow-up album in 2004, “Buleria”, that had equal numbers of fast Flamenco-tinged pop songs and soulful ballads. It alternated between the two and I liked this album even better than the first, especially the title track and “Camino y Ven”. He performed on the Latin Grammys again that year first performing the song “Oye el Boom” from “Buleria”. The dancers wore blank t-shirts with the shiny logo “db” on them. He then performed a ballad as a duet with Jessica Simpson (Jeththica Thimpthon?) where he sang in Spanish and she sang in English.
In November 2004 I saw Bisbal perform at the Avalon in Hollywood. The concert was supposed to be at the Wiltern on a Saturday but they moved it to the small venue on Friday due to low ticket sales, I believe. I only found out about the change from the Weekender (or was it called Preview) section of the L.A. Times that came out on Thursdays. I went to the Avalon and the crowded waiting to get in consisted mostly of young Latina women. A venue security guard asked me where my date was. I don’t recall if there was an opening act. Bisbal had a full band, some with traditional instruments, and two dancers. He sang well but his backup singers weren’t as strong as on his recordings. He did one ballad that wasn’t from any of his albums. One young woman made it up on stage to kiss him on the cheek. His best performance was “Buleria” during the encore. While there I got my own black shirt with the “db” logo.
In 2006 Bisbal released his third studio album, “Premonicion”, that was a departure from the Flamenco pop/soulful ballad formula. Many songs were more serious such as “Que me iba a Decir” and “Aqui y Ahora”. He tried experimenting with other styles such as spoken word raps and singing some lines in English such as in the song “Calentando Voy”. There are also songs about serious issues such as “Soldados de Papel” about some countries enlisting children as soldiers. The Reggaeton song “Torres de Babel” is about past injustices and features other rappers and singers. Overall the songs were edgier, had more intensity, and showed progressive change. The album also featured my favorite song so far by Bisbal, the very celebratory “Silencio” (Thilenthio).
In late 2007 or early 2008 my wife downloaded the live and compilation album “Premonicion Live” that included English versions of “Oye el Boom” (“Hear the Boom”), and “Me Derrumba” (“I’m Crumbling”) and a duet with Rihanna, “I Hate that I Love You”. My wife also downloaded the latest album, “Sin Mirar Atras”, in late 2009. It’s actually a deluxe version of the album that includes bonus tracks. Overall, the music is similar to Bisbal’s music before “Premonicion.” He has returned to his formula, somewhat. The first track, “Esclavo de tus Besos” (“Ethclavo de tuth Bethoth”), is a fast, upbeat love song that he follows with a soulful ballad, “Mi Princesa” (“Mi Printhetha”) that has acoustic accompaniment. He speeds things up for the next track, “Dame tu Amor”. His fast songs don’t have the same level of production as those on his earlier album and that’s actually a nice change. There aren’t too many background singers pronouncing the “s” as “s” rather than the proper “th”.
Unlike “Buleria” this album doesn’t alternate between fast and slow. The next song is also fast and has a bit more production. It’s the celebratory title track “Sin Mirar Atras” (“Thin Mirar Atrath”). The next song, “Besos de to Boca” (“Bethoth de to Boca”) begins with a jazzy saxophone and has a bit of attitude. The words make it sound like a sing of praise though the music makes it seem more like a soap opera or telenovela. The next song, “Si Falta el Aire”, is more referential. He follows this ballad with the equally reverential-sounding “Suenos Rotos” (“Thuenoth Rototh”) that has some strings accompaniment. The next song is faster with some traditional strings and guitar. “Al Andalus” (“Al Andaluth”) has a strong drum beat and I think the title alludes to the region of Andalucia in Spain.
It’s back to soulful ballads for the next song, “Antes o Despues” (“Anteth or Dethpueth”). He seems to pronounce the “s” sound like “s” when singing the title words but he still sings “corathon.” The song also has a strong guitar solo. The next song is the fast and fun sounding “24 Horas” (“24 Horath”) about how his world would end if she isn’t in his arms in 24 hours or something like that. The next track is the soft ballad “Cuando Hacemos el Amor” (“Cuando Hathemoth el Amor”) that has piano and acoustic guitar accompaniment. A slightly more rhythmic ballad, “El Ruido”, follows. He gets very soulful for the chorus. I think this is the last song for the album proper and that the next two are bonus tracks. The first is a duet with British teenage singer Pixie Lott who sings her part in English. “Sufriras” (“Thufirath”) has a fast electronic beat and the title translates to “It will hurt”. When Bisbal sings the song’s title in the chorus it sounds like he is saying the name of a character of the book Dune, Thufir Hawat. Pixie Lott won the MTV award for Push artist, beating the band Hockey.
The last track of the CD is another soulful ballad, “Juro Que te Amo”, that’s similar to the third from the last track, “El Ruido”. With this album, Bisbal has more or less gone back to his bread and butter: Flamenco-tinged pop and soulful ballads. Unlike the title of the album he has “looked back” and done what originally made him successful. Or maybe he’s just doing what he wants and not comparing it to what he has done before. Either way, he still sounds good. The album is energetic and doesn’t want for air (“falta aire”). It’s not just noise (“ruido”), nor is it broken dreams (“suenos rotos”), and you could listen to it for 24 hours (“24 Horas”) and you will not hurt (“no sufriras”). David Bisbal keeps it fun “Anteth o Dethpueth.”
In 2009 the Swedish “Hair Metal” band Europe came out with a new album, “Last Look at Eden”. I’ve been following them off and on for over 20 years. They went on hiatus between 1993 and 1999 when they re-formed to play The Final Countdown at a concert on the eve of the year 2000. Since then they’ve released studio albums in 2004, 2006, and their latest in 2009. I’ve never seen them live unless you count their live almost acoustic webcast in January 2008. (see earlier review) They haven’t toured the U.S. since 2004 when I wasn’t following them as closely. I think I heard that the tour wasn’t very successful and they’ve spent most of their time touring Europe (the continent) with some occasional concerts in Japan and South America. In 2009 they played over 10 venues in Germany alone. Looks like I’ll have to go somewhere like that to actually see them live.
Obtaining this latest album wasn’t very easy either. Their website, www.europetheband.com, said that the album was going to be released sometime around September 15, 2009. But when that day came around it was only released in a few select countries and was only available to order as an import on websites such as amazon.com. Import versions can cost twice as much or more than domestic releases. I think this one cost around $27. The website cdnow.com was selling the album to be released in England (and possibly Asia) for only around $14.95 but it wouldn’t be made available until September 28, 2009. I decided I could wait until then.
After two weeks I placed the order online and it took less than a week to arrive. It seemed like the websites were selling different versions of the album, each with a different color trim on the CD case. The one I got has a white cardboard case with orange-brown trim. I had seen the cover of the album on the band’s website before it came out. It’s the cross section of an apple sliced in halve from top to bottom surrounded by spikes on its skin. The back shows more of the apple’s spiky exterior. I’m guessing the apple represents either the Garden of Eden or the forbidden fruit of that garden. The spikes mean that the fruit is now forbidden or that the garden is now off limits to us as if this cross section is our “last look.” Anyway the symbolism, or my interpretation of it, may be a bit clumsy, but I still think it’s a great album cover because I like to eat apples. You can make just about anything with them. The album cover also includes the band’s name in their classic logo both on the front and side.
The CD consists of ten tracks plus a short prelude at the beginning and two live bonus tracks at the end. It’s a very rock-oriented album that emphasizes their harder and faster sound more than their soulful side, though there are a couple of soulful tracks. It begins with an orchestral prelude by the Czech National Symphony Orchestra that sounds a bit like a soundtrack or maybe a Mahler symphony. It goes right into the first official track after about 50 seconds. That song, the title track “Last Look at Eden” has a loud, hard, and anthemic beginning. The lead singer, Joey Tempest, isn’t kidding when he sings, “and I won’t be quiet.” The orchestral accompaniment continues throughout the song with heavy emphasis on the strings along with John Norum’s lead guitar. Like most Europe songs it’s not easy to tell exactly what the song is about. I think it’s a call to change the world or help solve the environmental problems. It’s either take action now or take one “last look at Eden.” Perhaps they believe the world now will be “Eden” compared to what it will become. The theme is similar to their earlier big hit “The Final Countdown” without the science fiction overtones.
They lose the orchestra and overall political correct message for the next song, “Gonna get Ready”, but the loud fast rockin’ sound continues. The theme is simply the title “get ready” though it’s not clear what to get ready for. Just don’t hesitate, don’t fear, and try your best. The theme changes for the next track, “Catch that Plane” that urges “my baby” to catch and plane and get back here presumably to work out some relationship problems. Yeah, it’s a bit more selfish than getting ready or taking a last look at Eden. But it’s just as rockin’.
They slow down for the next song, “New Love in Town”, that showcases Mic Michaeli’s keyboard playing along with Norum’s guitar and Tempest’s vocals. The song seems to celebrate the beginning of a first love. This is interesting because the book I just reviewed, How to Talk to Girls by Alec Greven explicitly states not to celebrate in front of the girl when you get together with her. That’s probably why the video for “New Love in Town” has the band performing the song in an airplane hangar with no audience. Then again, the song doesn’t always clearly refer to romantic love. The chorus mentions how “you turned it around” and the bridges includes the profound lines “Everyone I met has made me what I am today/ Every choice I made has led me here today.” I guess that’s how profoundly the new love has affected. And the girl doesn’t want to hear about any of this.
They return to the fast rockin’ sound for “The Beast” that’s about going wild or possibly reacting to a situation (“We’re having more fun than we deserve.”) The song has a bit of attitude with lines such as “we don’t show up, we arrive” and “we gotta live before we’re back to dust.” The tone is urgent and only slows down for a short bridge. The next song is only slightly slower, just as rockin’, and has a lot of attitude. “Mojito Girl” is a about a party girl who’s the love with the voice singing the song (“can be the sweetest thing”). The song gets self-referential with the line “Hey, let’s get out of this second verse.” I wonder how the love of someone that “lost her halo a long time ago” and uses a mojito to “kill what’s left of her modesty” will be “the sweetest thing”. This isn’t one of their better songs and reminds me a little of “Girl from Lebanon” from the 1991 album “Prisoners in Paradise.”
The next song is better. It emphasizes Michaeli’s keyboards over Norum’s rockin’ guitar and has more of the anthemic song quality that I’ve enjoyed from their earlier songs. The subject of “No Stone Unturned” is not clear. It almost seems religious in nature (“Believe and you shall arrive.”) It’s back to rockin’ guitar for the next song, “Only Young Twice”. It seems to be about missed opportunities and the fleeting passage of youth, though it never really explains what is meant by only being young twice. Is it like the James Bond film, You only Live Twice? In any case twice young doesn’t seem to be enough.
They continue rocking with the next song “U Devil U” that’s actually a song of compliments. They seem to have a thing for the wild and bad. The song doesn’t measure up to their last devil song, “Devil Sings the Blues” from their 2006 album “Secret Society”. They follow their latest devil song with “Run with the Angels.” Are they paired to emphasize the religious dichotomy? The song seems to be a pledge to be true to someone who “runs with the angel.” It’s just as loud and rockin’ as the preceding “Devil” song. Maybe they’re not all just about being bad. The last track of the official album set, “In My Time” slows things down and sounds like a sad song with its haunting acoustic guitar. But the lyrics indicate some joy. It’s another pledge to be true as in “Run with the Angels” only more subdued. Norum still has an electric guitar solo. The song reminds me of “Settle for Love”, the subdued song that ends their 2004 comeback album “Start from the Dark”.
The official album tracks are followed by two live bonus tracks and the first of the two is fast becoming an old favorite of ours. It’s the very rockin’ “Yesterday’s News” performed live in Paris in 2005. We originally heard the song on their greatest hits CD “Europe 1982-1992” and it’s an outtake from their 1991 album “Prisoners in Paridise” making it 19 years old. But its quality has held up and it is better than many songs on the “Eden” album. The song has a slightly humorous chorus line: “I’m so down I’m reading Yesterday’s News.” We find it even more humorous because my wife showed me an ad in one of her magazines for a brand of kitty litter called “Yesterday’s News.” The next bonus track is a more recent song that’s just as rockin’: “Wake up Call” from “Start from the Dark”. Midway through the song Tempest shouts, “Look out, Tokyo!”
Overall “Last Look at Eden” is pretty good but doesn’t quite measure up to the other two albums recently released by Europe. It doesn’t quite have the standout anthemic emotional song that “Hero” is for “Start from the Dark”. “Eden” attempt to have standouts with the title track and “New Love in Town.” The musical quality of “Eden” also doesn’t match the more layered sound of the songs on “Secret Society”. The music is simpler and the themes are less universal and altruistic. But “Eden” still makes a good edition to their catalog. The may not quite “Ride with the Angels” but they still rock like a “Beast”. Let’s hope this isn’t the “Last Look . . .” at their music, that America stops thinking of them as “Yesterday’s News”, and they “Catch that Plane” that brings them on a U.S. Tour.
When I was in high school many years ago I participated in the school musical production of “West Side Story”. I was part of the chorus, a nameless member of the Sharks, the Puerto Rican gang. I guess that counts as my only gang affiliation. It was fun even though we didn’t get to sing very many songs. There was some choreography but I think the Shark girls and Jet boys have bigger roles than the Shark boys and Jet girls. I preferred participating in the school musical “Anything Goes” the year because there were more songs sung by the entire company. In “West Side Story” we only sang part of the “Tonight” quintet.
After my involvement in the high school production, I didn’t hear much else about “West Side Story”. My wife had gotten a CD of instrumental music from the musical a few years ago. Still, I’d nearly forgotten about it until sometime during the first half of 2009. We were watching the Tony Awards and learned that there was a revival on Broadway of “West Side Story”. They had revised some of the lyrics to be sung in Spanish and made the gangs look more thuggish and authentic. I believe the actress who played Anita in this production won a Tony. I also think I heard that the actress who played Maria was discovered by the casting directors when they saw her on YouTube. This all sounded interesting. When I was in the high school production I wondered how come the Sharks didn’t have more Spanish lines. The only one I remembered was Bernardo saying, “Vamanos, chicos! Es tarde.”
We got the CD of the New Broadway Cast Recording. The production came to Broadway in early 2009. I think it opened in March of that year. During the first track, “Prologue”, the Jets and Sharks have some skirmishes. The Sharks banter among themselves and yell Spanish insults at the Jets. The next song sounds identical to the original. “When You’re a Jet” serves to introduce us to the Jets: Riff, the leader; Action; A-Rab; Baby John; Big Deal; Diesel; Snowboy; 4H; and Anybodys, the tomboy. The next track, “Something Coming” sung by Tony, is also unchanged from the original. I remember the choreography for the next track, “Dance in the Gym”, a mostly instrumental number. It begins sounding like swing but soon changes to a Latin beat with everyone calling out “Mambo” at different points. In this new version both the Sharks and the Jets call out “Mambo”. I only remember the Sharks calling it out in my school’s production.
The next track, “Maria”, also sung by Tony, is also the original. But when the spoken lines are also included I could clearly discern Maria’s Latin accent. During the next song, “Tonight” sung by Maria and Tony, Maria speaks Spanish at the end: “Te adoro, Anton.” I don’t remember if that’s part of the original production or not. The next song, “America”, is sung by the Shark girls, principally Anita and Rosalia. Their Latina accents are very apparent but they don’t sing in Spanish. It’s still a fun song. The Jets sing the next song, “Cool” and I think some of the Jet girls join in for a few parts. Tony and Maria then sing “One Hand, One Heart” that’s all in English. The use of Spanish doesn’t become very apparent until the next song, the “Tonight” quintet. The singing alternates between the Jets, Maria, Tony, Anita, Riff, and the Sharks. This time the Sharks sing only in Spanish. They use a wide vocabulary with several words I didn’t know such as “impondremos”. When I was in the high school production, I think we just sang the same words as the Jets or, at least, words in English. But in this production, the Sharks get their own story in their own language. For example, the words in the earlier version were:
Jets: “Well, they began it.”
Sharks: “Well, they began it”
In the new version they are:
Jets: “Well, they began it.”
Sharks: “Son los cupables.” (It’s their fault.)
I also learned some more names of the Sharks from the CD liner notes. In addition to Bernardo, the leader, Chino, and Indio there are Bobo, Inca, and Pepe.
The next track is the “Rumble” that’s an instrumental and similar to the prologue. There’s not as much banter in either language. The only discernable word is Tony shouting “Maria!” The next song is all in Spanish and sung by Maria and the Shark girls. Previously it was the cheesy-sounding “I Feel Pretty”. Now it’s “Me Siento Hermosa.” Like the “Tonight” quintet, it has a complex and wide vocabulary with a couple of words I didn’t know: atolondrada and faz. It just sounds more natural in Spanish, like it’s more about celebration than vanity. It even has what sounds like a Latin rhythm.
The language is back to English for the next song, although not entirely. “Somewhere” is Maria and Tony’s fantasy about getting away from all the troubles around them. I think there was a dream sequence at this point in the high school production. In the new Broadway production, they added the character Kiddo, a Jet who’s young enough to be a child. He sings one verse of “Somewhere” in a choirboy voice. This adds to the fantasy of a safe and innocent place. At the end they sing one line in Spanish that I think greatly improves the song. Previously, the lines seemed a bit repetitive:
Maria: “Hold my hand and we’re halfway there.”
Tony: “Hold my hand and I’ll take you there.”
Now the lines are more original:
Tony: “Hold my hand and we’re halfway there.”
Maria: “Llevame para no volver.” (Roughly, carry me in order to not return)
The next song is unchanged from the original and it doesn’t require improvement. It’s the song that “lampoons the legal system” as my former English teacher wrote. “Officer Krupke” remains very funny and very witty. Action is the Jet on trial, 4H is Officer Krupke, Diesel is the judge, Snowboy is the head shrinker, and either A-Rab or Baby John is the social worker. I believe in our high school production they had the social worker sing in falsetto voice for some reason. Wisely, they don’t do this in the new production.
The next song is in Spanish. Anita and Maria’s former song “A Boy Like That” becomes “Un Hombre Asi”. Note the direct translation, “A Man Like That”, matures the subject from a boy to a man. But a man makes more sense. Again, the song includes a sophisticated Spanish vocabulary with lines “y este amor te sale caro”. The line “your own kind” from the original becomes “los tuyos” so it’s more like “your crowd” or “your group”. The last song is the finale, a recap of “Tonight” in instrumental. At the end this time Maria sings “Hold my hand and we’re halfway there,” and Tony answers “llevame para no volver.”
Overall, I think the New Broadway Cast Recording is a big improvement. The tragic story, excellent songs, and mixture of humor with the predominantly serious drama are all still there. But the use of Spanish lyrics and lines give the Sharks their own culture and identity, making them more than just foils for the Jets. It’s also more realistic. People that aren’t very far removed from their original cultures tend to bring them along, including the language. It makes the musical overall that much richer. I wish this version was around back when I was in high school. It would have given me a chance to practice my Spanish, maybe learn some new words. Then again, the directors might have thought it too difficult because my school had few Spanish-speaking students at the time, if any. Still, this new version would be great for high schools in Southern California, most of which have many Spanish-speaking students. Perhaps the musical itself will appeal to the growing Latino population in the U.S. West Side Story is about the clash of culture and the new version gives both cultures their proper respect.
In early April my wife purchased and downloaded the CD “Now That’s What I Call Classic Power Ballads”. There have been many “Now That’s What I Call Music” collections put out during the past 25 years or so such as “Now That’s what I Call Christmas”. I have been a fan of 80’s music since it was current and a fan of Hair Metal bands. A staple of both these general and specific genres was the power ballad. This collection contains 18 power ballads and a very wide variety of them. They’re not by all hair bands and not all from the 80’s either.
The collection begins with a staple power ballad: “Every Rose Has Its Thorn”. Poison was ranked the number one hair band on a show on VH1 many years ago. They’re known for songs about partying and excess and “Every Rose” reveals a softer, more soulful side. The next track is “Faithfully” by Journey, a band from the 70’s and 80’s, though not a hair band. When VH1 did its own ranking of power ballads, Journey’s “Open Arms” was ranked number one. But I’m glad the “Now” collection includes the relatively less popular and less cheesy “Faithfully” instead. It’s deeper, seems to tell a story, and is equally powerful. The next song is from the late 90’s by a perennially popular band: “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” by Aerosmith from the movie Armageddon. I remember that the song wasn’t written by Aerosmith but by Diane Warren and it was also nominated for an Academy Award. Perennially popular bands continue with the Kiss song “Forever”. I believe this is from their non-makeup hair band and possibly Day-Glo phase.
The next song indicates that the power ballad and hair band are not exclusively American phenomena (though Journey does have non-American members). It’s a song that asks the appropriate power ballad question: “Is This Love” by Whitesnake. This English band is actually one of the hair band forerunners. The next song breaks another stereotype: that all power ballads are sung by men. “Never” by the Seattle band Heart is a fun-sounding power ballad. One of the top placers of the lip-sync contest at my middle school performed “Never”. The next track is a slower, emotional song from a group known for faster, more fun songs. It’s “The Flame” by Cheap Trick and a bit of a change from their songs “I Want You to Want Me” and “Surrender”. Unlike the latter, “The Flame” does not mention The Philippines. Bad English recorded the next song, the romantic “When I See You Smile”. I believe they could be classified as a “supergroup” with John Waite on vocals and at least one member or former member of Journey. I used to own their debut album that had classics such as “Possession”, “Forget Me Not”, and “Heaven is a Four Letter Word” but my tape died.
It’s back to power ballad staples with the next song, the powerful but overplayed (in its time) “Sister Christian” by Night Ranger. The song isn’t exactly a love song, nor is it Christian rock. In fact I never really knew what it was about until I saw the 80’s music musical “Rock of Ages”. Right before the female lead, Sherry Christian, moves from her small hometown to L.A. her parents sing “Sister Christian”. Later in the musical her boyfriend sings “Oh Sherry” to win her back, though this song isn’t in the “Now” power ballad collection. The next song is a soulful track from a group known for their soundtrack songs. “The Search is Over” by Survivor is a celebratory power ballad. Most of their big songs such as “Eye of the Tiger” area about triumph over adversity and “Seach” has that feel, though it’s more about triumph over naivete (my interpretation). I believe the next song was a one-hit-wonder but what a hit it was. “When I’m with You” by Sheriff is a powerful, grandiose song about “being with you”. It contains one of the longest sustained singing notes in a rock song.
The next song is another foreign act, this time from the European continent. It’s the edgy, rockin’ power ballad “Still Loving You” by the Scorpions from Germany. It’s back to American hair metal for the next song: the wailing “Fly to the Angels” by Slaughter. The next song was one of two early 90’s hits from the band “Extreme”, the slower, soulful, and acoustic “More then Words”. The “Now” CD has the regular version of the song and not one of the extended remixes. I remember there were at least two performances of this song at my high school talent show my senior year. What follows is the only song on the CD by a band named for a place. Known more for their rockin’ and thoroughly produced loud music, Boston mellowed a bit for the mid-eighties hit “Amanda”. It’s also the only song on the “Now” CD with someone’s name in the title. I hadn’t heard of the next song before, though I had heard of the band. I was “Lovesong” by Tesla, the only song on the “Now” CD by a band named for a physicist and a unit of measurement in physics. Another hair band follows. “Heaven” by Warrant was also one of the songs in the musical “Rock of Ages”. The last song was unexpected but still a true classic power ballad. When I was in high school Queensryche’s popularity was rising as the hair bands were fading. But that doesn’t make the slow reflective “Silent Lucidity” any less of a power ballad. This song was also performed at my high school talent show, though, more appropriately, only once.
Who knew there were so many and such a wide variety of classic power ballads. About the only commonality other than their cathartic power is that they were all recorded by groups. No track is credited to an individual person’s name for a recording. I can’t think of many others that they could have included. For me the CD wasn’t just a trip of cathartic power but a trip down memory lane.
Hockey’s CD, Mind Chaos, is probably the first one I’ve purchased based on seeing a group as an opening act. Hockey opened for the Kaiser Chiefs at the Music Box at the Fonda on Veterans’ Day, November 11, 2008. We enjoyed their performance. They have a fast and funky sound with lyrics sung quickly and sometimes spoken. The lead singer energetically moved around the stage. He didn’t play any instruments except for occasionally helping out on drums. Their rhythmic sound and poetic lyrics stuck in my head, especially their song “Work”. Afterward I enjoyed listening to their songs on their MySpace page and from there followed a link CD Baby where I could order their album.
CD Baby were very kind about fulfilling my order. Their confirmation e-mail had the from line: “CD Baby Loves David”. A subsequent e-mail described how their “packing specialist from Japan lit a candle and a hush fell over the crowd as he put your CD into the finest gold-lined box that money can buy.” They said they had a celebration afterwards and “the whole party marched down the street to the post office where the entire town of Portland waved "Bon Voyage!" to (my) package, on its way to (me), in (their) private CD Baby jet.” My CD did arrive fairly quickly. I noticed that CD Baby is based in Portland, OR, just like Hockey.
The CD starts with a bang. “Too Fake” has a quick rhythm and an explosive chorus. Like most songs on the CD, the lyrics are poetic and profound (in my opinion): “Look out, cause I’m just too fake for the world.” The main beat of the rhythm sounds electronic. The song seems to be dissing fame. The next song, “3 AM Spanish”, is just as fast, but more vocal and uneven, though that suits its style. The vocals are fast and sound like rap in some parts. There are more profound lyrics: “I made the money but the money made me.” It seems to be telling a story about going out, meeting someone, getting rejected, in Spain? Whatever it’s about it sounds fun.
They slow down just a bit for the next song, “Curse this City”. It seems to be a reaction to a bad big-city experience. There’s more profundity: “Before it even knew me, it forgot me!” The city in question seems to be New York since they mention “From the Hudson to the Rhine” and they “Manhattan Skybridge”. The sound is hard, almost bluesy, but at the end the sound softens and it sounds almost like a fast folk song or even a spiritual. It’s a little more positive: “I’m gonna love this city if it only helps me shine.” The next song is also not as fast as the first two and has a prominent funky beat. It’s the song I find most relatable: “Work”. The chorus goes “Work work work, too much work for me”. The repeating of the word “work” three times makes the work seem even harder. Well, it is more work to say it three times. Now that’s how many times we say it when we have too much work work work.
If “Work” is a gripe song, the next one seems to say, “don’t worry about it because tomorrow’s just a ‘Song Away’.” The vocals say early on “I can’t get too full of myself, I can’t afford to be.” There are more profound questions: “What has your man done to the world? What has the world done to your man?” The song has a fast but easygoing rhythm with a strong drum beat replaced by clapping towards the end. There’s also a playful keyboard sound. The lyrics area also playful: “I stole my personality from an anonymous source.” In my opinion, “Work” and “Song Away” tie for the best songs on the album. The first five tracks are all very good with their medium to fast rhythms. I remember they performed all of them in their opening band set.
The next song, “Preacher”, initially seems slower but quickly speeds up. It seems to be a light rant about organized religion that references both Islam and Christianity. It’s another fun song though it lacks the profundity and catchy rhythms of the first five songs. I don’t remember them performing this one live. They definitely get slower for the next song, “What’s Up Now, Man?” I’m not sure what it’s about, possibly a friendship ending. It’s another song they didn’t perform live.
They remain subdued for the next song, “Mercenary Days”, though the rhythm speeds up a bit. It has some near-rapping and an interesting chorus line: “I love that you sold me out to your ideas.” At the end they get very loud and fast with the singing seeming to echo itself. They reference New York again and only mention the song title once as part of some quick singing. Again, I don’t remember them performing this song. Though the last song is the slowest and quietest of them all, I seem to remember them performing it. “Everyone’s the Same Age” is a reflective lament about aging? I’m not sure. It has some interesting, if not profound, statements: “I only feel three times a year” and “I want to play in the NBA.”
Mind Chaos is short and sweet without any extras or bonus tracks. It doesn’t need any. It’s worth it for the first five songs alone, though the others reveal a quieter, more reflective side. When we saw them live it seemed like all their songs were loud and fast. They performed some songs that weren’t on the album such as “Matthew McConaughey” and “I Want to be Black”. They have a varied, chaotic, but still very catchy sound. I’m surprised they’re not more widely known. Maybe people think they’re “Too Fake” or they don’t want to be reminded of “Work work work, too much work for me.” Perhaps New Yorkers were offended that they “Curse this City” or Latinos slept through “3 AM Spanish.” Or maybe it’s just that they don’t want to get too full of themselves because they can’t afford to be. Whatever the case, I enjoy this old form, new form, small town, big town music. I’m hoping they’ll love Azusa because it makes them shine, at least this resident.
I’ve heard of the band Live since I was in College. Though I never got any of their CD’s or seen them live I enjoyed hearing them on the radio when they were played. My wife had purchased some of their CD’s and once seen them live. A couple of weeks ago I was listening to 100.3 FM The Sound and they played “Forever”, a new studio track included on their new live album. I enjoyed the new track and since I didn’t mind having some Live music I decided to get the CD.
We downloaded the CD from Napster and had some trouble downloading the song, “Forever”. After sending Napster an e-mail and receiving their response we got it to work. The CD consists of 14 live tracks recorded at shows in the Netherlands on June 30 and July 3, 2008 and two new studio tracks. Most of their live tracks are their well known hits such as “Selling the Drama”, “I Alone”, and “Overcome”. Some weren’t so well known to me such as “Simple Creed” and “Operation Spirit”. One live track is a cover of “I Walk the Line” though I think Live’s arrangement of it is original. The audience at the Paradiso Amsterdam is featured prominently. They sing many of the main chorus lines and they sound good. They are especially featured on “Lightening Crashes” and “Dance with You”. The crowd and live recording make songs sound differently from the studio recordings but still good.
The studio tracks come at the end: #15 and #16. The last one, “Purifier” is a playful song that seems to be about cleansing sins. Live’s songs often seem to contain quasi-religious and Medieval or Ancient World references. This one also mentions “Vegas Baby Vegas.” The instrument sounds seem to include a prominent harmonica. It sounds different from the other songs, less epic and serious. It’s a fun track, but the track that really makes the CD for me is the one before it, the other studio track, the one that caused me to get the CD. “Forever” also seems different from the live tracks. It has a faster rhythm, involves less shouting, and builds up slowly. Its sound is minimal, almost acoustic, but it’s no less passionate. I can relate to the lyrics especially lines such as “Keep holding my hand tonight as we face this furnace”, “we can run from this place or we can stand together in vain”, “I stay here with you ‘til the end of the storm”, and “trouble times, they will come.” When I listen to this song I can’t focus on anything else. This morning (Jan. 6) on the way to work, I was stressed and frustrated. I missed the 7:20 am train because the parking machine wouldn’t take my money. After paying with my credit card and catching the 7:40 am train, I listened to “Forever” and felt better.
I’ve known many songs that spoke to me at times in my life, times of transition or stress. The Cure’s “Doing the Unstuck” and U2’s “Walk On” come to mind. I think the songs of late 2008 and early 2009 are Hockey’s “Work” and Live’s “Forever”. With all the “Lightning Crashes” “Selling the Drama” as we “Walk the Line”, Live gives us a “Simple Creed” to help us “Overcome.”
As a Christmas present my wife downloaded songs from the CD “La Vida es Un Ratico en Vivo” by the Colombian rock musician Juanes. In late October 2007, Juanes released his studio album “La Vida es Un Ratico” (LVEUR) that translates to “Life is Short” or “Life is a Moment.” We purchased it and continue to enjoy it very much. This latest album “LVEUR en Vivo” consists of that latter album plus three bonus tracks and seven live tracks. My wife burned a CD of just those bonus and live tracks since we already had the original LVEUR album.
I’ve been listening to Juanes since 2002 when my brother got me his second album, “Un Dia Normal”, a very pop sounding album and his first to get multiple Latin Grammy nominations. I subsequently purchased his first album from 2000, “Fijate Bien” that has a more rockin’ and less polished sound. In late 2004 I purchased his third album, “Mi Sangre” that has a more eclectic sound including the traditional-sounding but also rockin’ song “La Camisa Negra,” the tempo-changing “Nada Valgo Sin tu Amor” and the softer but still pop sounding “Volverte a Ver.” We saw him live at the Gibson Amphitheater at Universal Citywalk in May 2005. I learned that he’s quite the heartthrob for young women and that surprised me because his more rockin’ songs can have a slightly abrasive edge, though he also records some soft romantic songs such as “Fotographia,” a duet with Nelly Furtado on “Un Dia Normal.” Before he went solo, Juanes was part of a Colombian metal band called Ekhymosis.
His latest studio album, “La Vida es un Ratico” has more traditional-sounding upbeat songs. The first two on “La Vida es un Ratico en Vivo”, both new studio tracks, continue this style. The first is the reflective and slightly sad “Odio por Amor” or “Hate for Love”. It’s a slightly political song about making the world better by trading our hate for love. Juanes sings the refrain “It’s time to change” in English. This is only the second time I’ve heard him sing in English. The first was his duet with Tony Bennett, “The Shadow of your Smile”. The next song on “. . . en Vivo”, “Falsas Palabras” is louder with an even more traditional rhythm and more accusatory tone. Its title translates to “false words” and it’s about catching a lover lying and the subsequent pain caused by it.
The third song, “Hoy me Voy” is from LVEUR but this version is a duet with female singer Colbie Caillart. She sings lines from the chorus in English. The duet works even though both are singing the same part as someone leaving someone else who doesn’t love them. The next seven songs are live tracks. “Clase de Amor” from LVEUR has a 5-beat rhythm similar to “Falsas Palabras”. It’s also an accusatory song by a hurt lover. Juanes seems to know this role well. Partway through the song, Juanes shouts, “Puerto Rico!” indicating where he’s performing.
The next song, “Bandera de Manos” has a faster 4-beat rhythm. It’s about pride in one’s origins with the title translating to “Flag of Hands.” This one is performed in L.A. as Juanes shouts, “Ya son las manos mias, Los Angeles!” He did perform at the Nokia Theater in 2008. The next song comes from the 2004 album “Mi Sangre” and is the first song off it, “Nada Valgo Sin Tu Amor”. The title translates to “I am worthless without your love.” It has medium speed verses and fast choruses. I remember when he performed it during his encore when we saw him live. It was amazing. This time he asks the audience in “Miami” to sing a line and they oblige. The next song, “Me Enamora” is also sung in Miami. It’s a celebratory love song with a traditional rhythm from LVEUR. He shouts “Miami” many times and they really get into it. The Miami show continues with “Bailala”, a faster song urging everyone to “dance it” to cure the heart. He then does a live performance of “Hoy me Voy” and this time it’s not a duet except perhaps with the crowd. I think the song works better as a duet in English and Spanish with Colbie Caillart. He doesn’t should out where he’s performing during the song.
The last song on the CD is the live version of a song I hadn’t heard before called “Rebellion.” At the beginning Juanes says something like, “Dejeme mano la cuento un parasito de la historia negra, de la historia nuestra, caballero!” that I’m guessing translates to something like “help me tell the story of our dark history (or black as in African-American history).” I’m not sure why the word “parasito” is in there. I may have heard it wrong. The song has the 4-beat rhythm of what almost sounds like a Mambo. The first words sung are, “en los anos mil seisientos” (“in the 1600’s”), “cuando el tirano mato” (when the tyrant killed), “en las calles de Cartagena aquella historia vivio” (“that other history occurred on the streets of Cartagena”). He goes on to sing about people being enslaved and sings the repeated line, “No le pegue la negra” that I think means the blacks (Africans) did not give up. During a long rhythmic piano solo he shouts “Descargame, descarga!” that literally translates to “Unload me, unload!” but in this context probably means “Set me free!” It’s a long song that pays tribute to a defiance of long ago. It’s about injustices of the past similar to “Cherokee” by Europe and “Beds are Burning” by Midnight Oil. Again, Juanes doesn’t shout out where he’s performing perhaps because he’s caught up in telling the story.
Overall, “La Vida es un Ratico” is an excellent CD. It offers some new songs, a new version of a song, a hit from over four years ago and many spirited live tracks that celebrate where he’s performing and involved the crowd. It is not a greatest hits CD but still a great record that showcases many facets of Juanes’ music.
Three or four years ago, Paul Rodgers, the lead singer of the success groups Free and Bad Company got together with the active members of Queen: guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor. They went on tour billed as “Queen + Paul Rodgers” playing both old Queen songs along with the hits of Free and Bad Company. We saw them 2½ years ago at Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim (now called Honda Center). Well, they enjoyed working together so much that they released an album of original material, “The Cosmos Rocks” on October 28.
“The Cosmos Rocks” is a straightforward rock record. The music seems more akin to Bad Company than Queen, though it has much more of a polished, pop sound than Paul Rodgers’s earlier music. It has kinetic rockers (“Cosmos Rockin”, “Time to Shine”, and “Surf’s Up, School’s out”), rhythmic tracks (“Still Burning”, “Call Me”), soulful ballads (“Small”, “Some Things that Glitter”), rockin’ jabs at the military (“Warboys”), and pop culture (“C-lebrity”) and brooding blues tracks (“Through the Night”, “Voodoo”). Paul sings lead on most songs with Roger and Brian on backgrounds. What brings the songs above the ordinary is Brian May’s guitar playing especially during the solos. “Warboys” is interesting in that they use war sound effects such as explosions and machine guns. The song seems to glorify war but then turns to critique with the line “Warboys, your boys, politicians’ toys.” I think my favorite track is “Voodoo” because it doesn’t fit a generic mold. At times it’s dark and others rockin’ with Brian’s guitar solo dominating. “Say it’s not true” features all three of them singing lead at different times. It’s about the devastating effects of AIDS, the illness that took Freddy Mercury, Queen’s original lead singer and frontman.
Paul, Brian, and Roger aren’t trying to sound like Queen, Bad Company, Free, or anything from the past. They’re just playing what they want to play and it makes for fun listening.
The Cure released a new album on October 28 called “4:13 Dream”. They’ve been fairly regular, releasing an album of new material every four years since 1992. That’s also about as long as I’ve been following them seriously, though I’ve known of them longer and they’ve been around for about 30 years with numerous lineup changes. I’ve seen them live three times, the last time being their Curiosa Festival four years ago in support of their album “The Cure”. I haven’t been following them as closely this year. They did play a live show at the Hollywood Bowl at the end of May of this year, the same night we saw Swervedriver. They’ve been releasing singles for 4:13 Dream since June. I’d listened to snippets of them on the internet and for my birthday my wife got me the EP of remixes of the four singles called “Hypnagogic States” that I’ve enjoyed. The theme of this latest has been 13 since it’s their 13th studio album. They released the singles on June 13, July 13, August 13, and September 13 (all dates in the UK, US dates vary since singles in the U.S. are released on Tuesday by tradition).
Earlier this year I heard that The Cure were going to release a double album that contained both upbeat and depressing songs similar to 1987’s “Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me”. Later I heard that they changed their plan from releasing one double album to two standard length albums, the first to contain the upbeat songs and the second the darker ones. 4:13 Dream would be the first of the two released. These might be just rumors and after obtaining and listening to the album several times I’m no longer sure about them.
The album art is mostly abstract renderings and outlines of faces and hands on a watercolor background. There are also arrows and x’s that suggest a map or trail. It’s interesting but I wouldn’t say it’s as upbeat as the child-drawn fantasy on “The Cure” or the smiling toy on a bright yellow background on 1996’s “Wild Mood Swings”. Then again, despite their album art, neither of those albums was 100% upbeat but rather contained a mixture of happy and gloomy songs. The art for 4:13 Dream seems to combine the gloomy sleeve of 1981’s “Faith” (also full of dark songs) with the playful upbeat sleeve of 1992’s “Wish” (another mixture of upbeat and down). The sleeve of 4:13 Dream is by Parched Art that is the art company owned by current (and past) Cure guitarist Porl Thompson that also did the album art for Faith.
Like the album art, the music on 4:13 Dream does not fall into a clear category of upbeat or dark or even angry. The first track, “Underneath the Stars”, suggests gloom with its long beginning (a Cure trademark), heavy guitar with a bit of keyboard thrown in. But the song isn’t sad, but low key, reminiscent of “Closedown” from their 1989 album “Disintegration” (but much lighter on keyboard) or possibly “Jupiter Crash” from “Wild Mood Swings”. Things pick up greatly with the next track, “The Only One”, also one of the singles. The song has what sounds like a xylophone or marimba for accompaniment. But the song seems more about obsession than about love. “It gets crazier every day I stay with you / it’s like dream.”
The next track, “The Reasons Why” has upbeat music and gloomy lyrics. The Cure have written many of these kinds of songs most famously “In-Between Days” from their 1985 album “The Head on the Door”. “The Reasons Why” leans more towards gloom that that earlier song. The mood changes with the next track, “Freakshow”, a song about craziness (of a date? An relationship? A club? It’s hard to tell.) Whatever it is, it sounds fun. The album version actually sounds more “sane” than the remix because it has clear verses. The next song, “Siren’s Song”, isn’t quite so hectic. They bring back the xylophone sound. It’s a casual song that tells a story about being seduced. It’s also uncharacteristically short.
The next track, “The Real Snow White” tells a very different story. It seems to be a tense conversation between a man and a woman with Robert Smith singing both parts. He sings on without stopping for breath. It’s an uneven sounding song, but that suits the theme. The tone stays the same but the theme changes for the next song, “The Hungry Ghost”, a tense critique of society’s unlimited materialistic wants. “All the stuff we know we never want / seems like we get it anyway.” The hungry ghost is a metaphor for the pressures of society. The tone is accusatory and a bit self-righteous but not altogether gloomy. The next track, “Switch” is darker. It’s a rant about getting older, becoming more disillusioned, losing friends, seeing people for who they really are, etc. It’s similar to “Cut” from Wish but not quite as dark.
Things do brighten up for the next track, “The Perfect Boy”, another single. It’s a story of a relationship told between a woman and man (again, Robert sings both parts continuously and even gives commentary). Things start off good (“He is the perfect boy”) but ultimately don’t work out (“He’s not the perfect boy at all”). But the song maintains a cheerful tone throughout as if it’s OK it didn’t work out. The next song, “This, Here and Now. With You”, is a playful rant urging the listener, a partner in an relationship, not to focus on the past, not to ask or think about it. It’s a very vocal song that seems to change intensity with each stanza or maybe that’s just Robert’s voice changing register.
The intensity and speed pick up for the next track, the single “Sleep When I’m Dead.” The lyrics don’t seem to make much sense. “Give it to the chicken/ and see if it ticks/ Give it to the kitten / and see if it sicks.” It seems to be about having to meet the demands of others (as a pop star?) and having no time to relax (hence “Sleep when I’m dead.”) That’s a rough interpretation. Like some others on this CD, it’s a short track, atypical for The Cure. But the reference to a feline is typical of their early work. Robert begins the next track, “Scream” by singing in a lower register. His voice gets higher as the song builds in intensity until he literally screams the title of the song. At one point his scream blends with a higher guitar chord. The next track, the last one, the appropriately titled “It’s Over” begins with a long, fast guitar showcasing Porl’s skills. It’s another fast and ranting song this time about ending (a dysfunctional affair? A career? It’s not clear.) What’s interesting is that The Cure have had a song about ending on their past 5-6 albums (e.g. “End” from Wish, “Bare” from Wild Mood Swings, “39” from “Bloodflowers” (“The fire is almost out, but there’s nothing left to burn”), and “Alt.End” from The Cure (“This may be the last thing we do . . .”)). It’s like they’re always hinting at something but never going through with it. Most of these songs allude to or advocate a calm ending but not “It’s Over”. The song wants to just shut things down now, throw up its hands, be done with it.
No, I wouldn’t call this an upbeat album. The most upbeat songs are probably “The Only One” and “The Perfect Boy” (and arguably “Freakshow”, though it seems more crazy than happy to me.) Neither of these approaches the unabashed brightness of “Friday I’m in Love” or “Mint Car” and they tackle less-than-upbeat themes. Then again, there’s nothing as gloomy as “100 Years” or “39” from earlier albums though “Scream” and “It’s Over” do sound pretty hopeless. The songs have many different moods but don’t quite have the “Wild Mood Swings” of that earlier album or The Cure or Wish. 4:13 Dream presents more complex concepts than merely upbeat or dark moods. It explores missed potential for happiness (“The Perfect Boy”), discontent with society (“The Hungry Ghost”), obsession (“The Only One”), and living in the moment (“This, Here and Now. With You”). Some songs are crazy fun (“Freakshow”) or just crazy (“Sleep When I’m Dead”). I enjoyed the album more with repeated listening. I keep finding new things such as profound lyrics and musical arrangement. If anything, the album is not shallow.
The Cure have released their previous four albums in years that included or preceded major changes in my life. “Wish” came out the year I finished high school. “Wild Mood Swings” came out the year I graduated college. “Bloodflowers” came out the year before I changed jobs and moved to the San Fernando Valley. “The Cure” came out the year before I left SFV and got married. I don’t know exactly what changes will occur this year or next. The past four years have included so many changes already. Life is a “Freakshow” to satisfy “The Hungry Ghost” and we don’t know “The Reasons Why”. But at least we have “This Here and Now. With You”.
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