| Author | Message | ||
     david pestorius Member Username: David_pestorius Post Number: 24 Registered: 08-2005 |
Can I recommend RF's lengthy review (it must be in the order of 1,000 words), of The Rolling Stones' latest album, which has just been published in the November 2006 issue of The Monthly:— www.themonthly.com.au I'm not sure whether you can access it on-line, but to me it reads both like a kind of cautionary autobiographical parable and a thinly disguised manifesto. Certainly you get a very clear sense of the things that matter to RF when it comes to songwriting, recording and the collaborative dynamic. | ||
| Peter Azzopardi Member Username: Pete Post Number: 124 Registered: 09-2004 |
I recommend it too, simply for the fact that it is the best thing Forster has written for the Monthly so far. Some of his comments about the new Stones' album are spot on: a friend put about half of it on a tape that I've been listening to in the car lately and it certainly seems a front-loaded album with, indeed, some very "misognyistic crap" Jagger tries to pass off as song lyrics. I didn't notice that Richards' lyric pleading a woman to "bare her breasts" and make him "feel at home" until Forster's review; he's right in suggesting it to be the funniest lyric this year (and the song, "Empty Without You", is not intended to be funny). I told my friend about this review and he got quite defensive, saying that Forster can't speak about throwaway lyrics having woken up with Triple-R (Melbourne community radio-station) playing "Lavender" on his alarm-clock every morning for two-weeks. I don't agree with him, by the way...about "Lavender" that is. I totally agree with Forster about the Stones. | ||
| Todd Slater Member Username: Todd_slater Post Number: 18 Registered: 01-2005 |
The Monthly should be congratulated for getting Robert F on board. His reviews are always interesting and always have a lovely strain of that dark caustic humour. The piece on Nana Maskourri (?) was illuminating as was the Frank Black review (with the bbq & beer refrences) I also enjoyed a couple of pieces he wrote for the now defunct H.Q magazine a couple of years ago, including a great article on Guy Clark, that in turn made me go out & buy the record 'old no 1' which i have enjoyed immensely. | ||
| julia motzko Member Username: Julia Post Number: 9 Registered: 05-2005 |
Forster's reviews are not accessible online - would anyone care to put it online here, that would be so nice! You made me really eager to read the article... so Robert criticizes the Stones' misogynistic lyrics? and funnily enough, Peter just mentions the one song that I don't like on the new album because it contains, let's put it cautiously, "not-women-friendly" writing in my opinion. I don't know if the woman in Lavender should be seen as a metaphor for Tasmania or not, and if that would make it any better, but I just hate the objectification of the female in that song. The first line of "Lavender" is also the song's worst line, and I can't listen to it anymore after that (it also bores me to death, it's way too slow!!) : "Everybody says that she’s good in bed". Who is "everybody"? So basically, that line indicates that people are trashing about her, spreading rumours about her promiscousness, committing character assassination, presenting her as a slut. The second line, about her alleged literacy, can't undoe the damage. wow, so she's supposedly good in bed AND well read? perfect combination for Mister "I have known a hundred women", a line, btw, that can be sung without ever so much a wink of the eye. The famous double standard. ah well. I guess I'm doing Mr. Forster wrong here, who certainly is no misogynist and who has proven his progressiveness in other lyrics (perhaps under Lindy's influence? ;), but again, "Lavender" smells to me like the typical "man in his best age" is doing something about "younger girl" thing. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 87 Registered: 03-2005 |
Julia, I've always understood "Lavender" to be about a woman who was misunderstood and who had to flee the scene. The first line in the song fits perfectly with that. Robert isn't joining in on the "gang bang;" he's reporting it. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 67 Registered: 05-2005 |
Empty Without You is about how Richards feels now that his children have all left home. The "bare her breats" exhortation is to his wife and, artless though it may be, is heartfelt and honest. I find Julia's discourse on Lavender to be extraordinarily wrongheaded. Top marks for completely misunderstanding a lyric. | ||
| Michelle M Member Username: Michelle Post Number: 5 Registered: 09-2004 |
I agree with you Julia. I skip it too. Also the words and images of Locust Girls grate. I have had this discussion with Rebecca off the board after she brought it up in the Lyric discussion section. I will email my comments to you. | ||
| Peter Azzopardi Member Username: Pete Post Number: 125 Registered: 09-2004 |
Well, Padraig, that's what you get for listening to music in the car: I completely missed that about Empty Without You. I must pay more attention. As for this "Lavender" debate, I think I'll just duck out early by saying that, er...I agree with Randy. | ||
| julia motzko Member Username: Julia Post Number: 10 Registered: 05-2005 |
I looked at the lyrics again, trying to see them the way Randy suggested -- I can see it, but for me the lines still have a different ring. It's definitely no Sleater-Kinney text. ;) the whole combination of a nice smell and a woman is so cliché-ridden, like women should smell nicely only to be attractive to men --> "hmmm, lavender, it's her scent", as if he is sniffing at her right at that moment... sorry, it's just not up my alley! But for a further discussion we should move to the lyrics section. and thank you Pádraig for your top marks... perhaps there really is a gender difference sometimes in how we perceive s.th., but that would be too sad to believe for me! it is telling that female Gobs fans prefer to share their views and interpretations off-board...and yes, Michelle, I completely agree with you about what you wrote on "Locust Girls", it makes so much sense! | ||
| B. Rider Member Username: Boundary_rider Post Number: 15 Registered: 05-2005 |
Speaking as a bloke, certain scents do recall past girlfriends; walk down the street, catch a whiff of perfume an ex wore, and it brings it all back (Isn't that what Proust is all about?) I thought the song was about that, but then I'm notoriously bad at interpreting song lyrics. | ||
| Craig Beaumont Member Username: Pat_garrett Post Number: 4 Registered: 04-2005 |
Would any of you Aussies be able to scan these RF reviews for the rest of us? I'd love to read them if anyone would be so generous... |