something of a delayed write up for another album release, then. i just get a bit busy, look you see. one might think that a bit of a delay gives me more time to play a new tape (disc) and consider my thoughts a bit more better before writing. half of that is (roughly) true.
as the title of this gives you every indication (unless you googled with intent for something else and ended here in error), the album i speak of is Death Song Book, ostensibly credited to an outfit called the Paraorchestra, but featuring a certain Brett Anderson doing vocals. yes, that Brett Anderson. chances of me giving anything but a poor review are slim (to none), then. but this is no "oh Brett is brilliant this is ace" scenario, it's all by itself a brilliant record.
the title of the album mostly tells you what to expect. all of the press, advertising and what have you spoke (or wrote) of how it's a collection of songs which pertain to if not death then loss. for the most part this is true, but at least one (1) song here would not seem to fit the agenda. if the rather excellent cover of Enjoy The Silence is included because the Paraorchestra and/or Brett have somehow interpreted the song to be about death, well, then i have been hearing the song all wrong for considerably north of 30 (!!) years. closer to 35 (!!!) i believe.
whilst, despite the above, there's no question of a lack of quality in the songs chosen, to sort of semi continue with "negatives", i am thinking there are a good deal more better songs what they could have done as part of this venture. perhaps the two most obvious songs not done for this project, Bright Eyes and/or Suicide Is Painless, got knocked back as Brett's mates the Manics have done rather well known (and exceptional) covers. still, it feels strange (weird) that the Depeche Mode not obviously concerning death is here (and i am glad it is) rather than, say, something from REM's Automatic For The People, or Running To Stand Still or One Tree Hill off of U2's The Joshua Tree. for a final sort of why didn't they do that one comment, i get the Bowie reference by including an exceptional performance of My Death, but this coming together of artists doing an orchestral take on Time by Bowie himself would have been amazing. or maybe even the original variation of Tonight.
let me try and act as if this were some sort of "proper" review, and not simply ponder on what might have been on it. what is here is, as indicated, brilliant. the performances of the songs, be they covers or ones composed for this, are outstanding. i really, really regret not making plans to go and see this live a little while ago. or during April 2024 for those reading far into the future. should you be reading it at some point in the past, bravo.
highlights? well, Brett brought to the table a distinct highlight from the most recent Suede album in the form of She Still Leads Me On, the beautiful tribute to his mother. it's an incredible, energetic and defiant tour de force when performed by Suede, here the emotion of the song seeps through like it did not before. for the covers, the previously mentioned Enjoy The Silence is outstanding, as too are the takes on Wonderful Life and The Killing Moon. for the latter i was never in any way, shape or form at all ar$ed about Echo & The Bunnymen; the version of their song here is almost enough to tempt me to re-evaluate that band.
it remains that the best ever description i have heard of Brett Anderson is that time Morrissey said he was "a man forever angry at God for not making him Angie Bowie". quite sure that the Moz meant it or intended it as a dig, but it's beautiful. to this end i was curious as to how the cover of My Death would go. well, interpretation if not cover. quite well, really. again. Bowie's Time for all sorts of reasons may have been the wiser approach, but here we are.
my expectation is that this tape (disc) shall not be far from my stereo for quite some time. it is highly likely to end up being my favourite, or "best", of the year. quite frustrating to see, if i have checked properly, that it hasn't made the top one hundred of the official UK album chart. not sure if this is better or worse or unrelatable to how it went with James and Yummy. that record went in at number one, fell to the lower seventies (!!) week two and then by week three not in the chart at all. such is the world we have invented. or watched fall apart around us.
your life will be better for owning and (frequently) playing the album Death Song Book. stop messing around on the internet and go get it, except for instances where you would need to order your copy off of the internet.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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