Collection Update 12/19

Did some shopping recently. In the last few weeks, I've acquired the two-disc version of the Beach Boys' SMiLE Sessions, U2's 2008 War reissue, and (what I hope to be) an incredibly rare Smashing Pumpkins bootleg, Pumpkin Seeds. I think I might be missing something else, but I doubt it.

"F--k You!"- An Ode to the Listener (A Lyrical Analysis)

Good news: I finally found a version of "F--k You!" I can enjoy.


It's the one by the clucking chickens in The Muppets.

Seriously though, I can just tell that song is going to be one of  those songs that stays in the back of everybody's minds, though strictly based on what I consider its memetic potential.

I really can't understand how Cee Lo Green has a career; then again, as this post's title may suggest, I'm a Smashing Pumpkins fan, so I suppose I don't have a lot of room to complain about other signers' voices (but I will anyway). Admittedly, his singing has gotten slightly less annoying to me lately; it's gone from "unbearable" to "ignorable," mostly thanks to the rise of the far more annoying Adele (who sings every note like she's drowning, but I digress).
His voice aside, the fact that it is a neo-funk song that charted as high as it did (#2 on the Hot 100) is impressive in its own right; I for one haven't heard about any other hit songs in that style in the year-plus since its debut. Once I was able to listen to it beyond Cee Lo's voice, I was able to appreciate how unique it was/is for its time.

That being said, the lyrics are absolutely nothing special, and if it had just been titled and written as "Forget You" or "Screw You" (or anything else non-profane, for that matter), I highly doubt it would've been considered for a single release. It's a break-up song, pure and simple (and poorly-written).

I see you driving ’round town
With the girl I love and I’m like,
F--k you!
I guess the change in my pocket
Wasn’t enough, I’m like,
F--k you!

The singer's ex is apparently a gold digger, leaving him because didn't have enough moolah to fulfill her whims. That, or they've been living together for a while, he's been out of work for some time, too lazy or otherwise unable to find a job, and she couldn't take it anymore. There's no context given for the situation, so it could be shallow or it could be completely justified; so far, I don't have a reason to care.

I said, if I was richer, I’d still be with ya
Ha, now ain’t that some s--t? (ain’t that some s--t?)
And although there’s pain in my chest
I still wish you the best with a…
F--k you!

Again, on the surface, it looks like the woman's just being shallow, but without context, who's to say?
One point that people often cite when I ask about the appeal of this song is the sarcasm; the line "I still wish you the best with a f--k you!" is the only part I can find that uses legitimate sarcasm, through the verbal irony of claiming to "wish [her] the best" with an obscene tell-off.

Yeah I’m sorry I can’t afford a Ferrari,
But that don’t mean I can’t get you there.
I guess he’s an Xbox and I’m more Atari,
But the way you play your game ain’t fair.

 This is definitely the cleverest stanza, the Xbox/Atari comparison specifically. The plea of the first couplet is honest and touching -- assuming, of course, that the speaker has a good personality that he feels should overrule his empty pockets.

I pity the fool that falls in love with you
(Oh s--t she’s a gold digger)
Well
(Just thought you should know ni--a)

The first line implies that the singer feels that the woman had taken advantage of him during their time together, emphasized by the background line "she's a gold digger". The second background line seems to be addressing the woman's new lover, flippantly warning him about her ways.

I’ve got some news for you
Yeah go run and tell your little boyfriend

The second line is obviously directed at the woman, but it's unknown what she is supposed or going to tell her boyfriend. The first line is unclear about who it's directed to, or what exactly the "news" is; it could be telling the man that the woman is a leech, but then the second line and its sudden shift in direction are made even more confusing.

I see you driving ’round town
With the girl I love and I’m like,
F--k you!
I guess the change in my pocket
Wasn’t enough, I’m like,
F--k you!
I said, if I was richer, I’d still be with ya
Ha, now ain’t that some s--t? (ain’t that some s--t?)
And although there’s pain in my chest
I still wish you the best with a…
F--k you!

Back to the chorus, and another shift of direction. It would be forgivable if, at some point, the speaker dedicated a verse to his disdain for the man (hereby referred to as "Joe", to avoid potentially confusing pronouns), but they all focus on his ex, while every "f--k you" is directed at Joe, aside from the occasional "And f--k her too." What does he have against Joe himself? Is he just jealous that Joe can afford to be with the woman? Did the woman specifically leave the speaker because she knew that Joe actually had money? Why are all the verses focusing on why he hates the woman, if most of his anger in the choruses is directed at Joe? Why does the speaker care that she left him anyway, if he knows that she's a gold digger? When OK Go wrote a guy who was unfazed by his constantly cheating woman, at least he offered the excuse that she was "so damn hot"; Cee Lo's character doesn't even give a reason why he's superficially attracted to the woman. If he's so quick to accuse her of being a gold digger and send her off in the way he does, why does he still claim to "love" her?

Now I know, that I had to borrow;
Beg and steal and lie and cheat
Trying to keep ya, trying to please ya.
'Cause being in love with yo' ass ain't cheap.

And this has to do with... what? He never mentions any consequences for these actions or regret for committing them. Granted, they tell the listener how far he went to keep the woman happy and imply how much it took to make her happy, but with all the time he spends singing about how she sucked him dry, he never once stops to think, "Wait a second... I don't need to borrow, beg, steal, lie and cheat anymore! I never have to spend a cent on her again!"

I pity the fool that falls in love with you
(oh s--t she’s a gold digger)
Well
(just thought you should know ni--a)
Ooooooh
I’ve got some news for you
I really hate yo' ass right now

The repetition of this stanza adds nothing (save clarification of what the "news" is); the same can be said for the chorus.

Now baby, baby, baby, why d'you wanna wanna hurt me so bad?
(So bad, so bad, so bad)
I tried to tell my mamma but she told me
"This is one for your dad"
(your dad, your dad, your dad)
Uh! Why? Uh! Why? Uh!
Why lady? Oh! I love you oh!
I still love you. Oooh!

"Why?" That's what I've wanted to know for the last three minutes. Why do you keep insisting you love her? Why exactly did she leave you? Why do you constantly switch from speaking to her to speaking to Joe? Why did you think for a second that briefly mentioning what your mother had to say about the situation would add anything to the song? Why hasn't this song faded away from mainstream attention yet?


OK, so I'm slightly overreacting; it's not like the song is still sitting in the Top 40 or something. But still, the only reason I can imagine that this song became as massive as it did is that the American listening public largely found the idea of an obscenely-titled break-up song to have some legitimate value (artistic or camp, I'm not sure, though I fall into the latter). Certainly not helping matters was the cover version by Gwenyth Paltrow on Glee (and the less I say about that show, the better) and her duet with Green at the 2010 Grammys, both of which helped propel the clean version into the Top 10, meaning that song had found success without glaring empty spaces where the obscenity normally lay. Because, of course, nothing should keep this absolute gem from the airwaves.

Coldplay: Mylo Xyloto (Track-by-Track Review)

Staking the Claim
Quick: you're one of the biggest bands in the world; you've garnered success over the last decade by writing sincere lyrics and making subtle changes to your soft-rock sound so that every album is noticeably different, but still unmistakably you; your last album was a major shift in sound and style that included vivid lyrics and instruments foreign to Western pop music, leaving some to marvel at your brilliance and others to wonder what they just wasted 45 minutes on; what are you going to do next?


Why, a paper-thin concept album influenced by electro-pop, of course! Coldplay's fifth album, Mylo Xyloto, is apparently the story of people (specifically two lovers) trying to survive in a hostile world (a completely original concept, of course), but good luck trying to glean that from the lyrics. The Dickens-inspired imagery from Viva La Vida is nowhere to be found on Mylo Xyloto; generic characters with no clear motivations abound, and the state of their world is never outlined, leaving the listeners who care to wonder why they should. In another jarring move, the uncommon instruments (and most of the interesting guitar work, for that matter) have been replaced by too much of producer Brian Eno's "enoxification" (an almost clever term, rendered unnecessary with the realization that Genesis coined one eerily similar nearly forty years ago).


Start Panning
Mylo Xyloto- A pointless, forgettable collection of pretty sounds. The only reason it was separated from the second track is because bands today think people would flip out at having to listen to an intro section that runs longer than ten seconds. 6/10 
Hurts Like Heaven- This is Coldplay as produced by Owl City: obnoxiously poppy with nothing substantive to say. Lyrics that might've potentially carried some meaning or poignancy are lost in the lack of subtlety that would've made them work on an earlier album, not to mention that Chris Martin's voice can barely be made out under the instruments, and the fact of the song's tempo (around 176, with the melody in the verses being mostly 16th notes) doesn't help any. At a normal four-minute length, it blazes by before it can become memorable. 6/10 
Paradise- Few things ruin a concept album for me like repeated themes and lyrics being revealed by the release of the first single (which I know this is not, but it uses the lyric "Every tear, a waterfall," which is an obvious reference to the lead single); it happened last year with A Thousand Suns, and it's happening here. It's like starting a Sherlock Holmes story with the arrest of the bad guy, it takes the fun out of finding these things for myself. The song tries to introduce one of the characters in its love story, but it does a pretty poor job of giving me any reason to connect with her. Who exactly is she? Why did she "expect the world"? I don't know, and apparently all Coldplay thinks I need to know is that she wants 'MORE!'. And here, we've officially hit Disney-knockoff territory. The string-based hook is great, and the melody is nice, but it gets buried in the choruses, which are otherwise the most enjoyable sections. 6/10 
Charlie Brown- .... Seriously? What assumptions am I supposed to make about that? Does the song have anything to do with Charlie Brown, or Peanuts in general? Is it supposed to suggest that the character is wishy-washy, or that he has a beagle who thinks he's a WWI flying ace? Here again, nothing concrete is offered about the character; vague, generic lyrics about wanting to stand out from an unspecified crowd. An unfortunately poor choice for the first track with music I legitimately enjoyed. Ignoring some Chipmunk background vocals at the beginning and bridge, the music is quite pretty; the guitar hook borders on anthemic, and almost makes up for the lyrics. 7/10
Us Against the World- Finally, a chance to sit back and breathe. Mainly an acoustic-guitar-and-vocals song, some organs are brought in near the end and gently swell, and drop out to let Martin finish what he started. It has the least memorable melody so far, but it stands out with Martin mostly singing in his lower register, lending the song a mellow atmosphere. The lyrics are unclear (though, by this point I've come to expect it) and don't really feel like they move the story forward or say anything significant about the characters, but for once the fact is forgivable. 6/10 
M.M.I.X.- Even more unnecessary than the opening track. Without anything remotely melodic to save it, it's just an uninteresting collage of windy sounds, until the last six seconds when it starts building up to the intro of "Teardrop". 3/10 
Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall- If the previous songs had been more like this, I would've enjoyed them a lot more. The echoing instrumentation creates a great atmosphere, the lyrics finally offer some kind of characterization, and both elements work with the melody and drumming to make the song sound as passionate and grand as its metaphoric title. 9/10 
Major Minus- The sporadic grungy guitar riffs feel like a missed opportunity; they hint at the possibility of an actually hard-rocking song, but instead shift back into the expected atmospheric territory. This one appears to be at least partly from the perspective of a villain, but it's as vague and cliche as any of the other tracks. The band feels the need evoke thoughts of Captain Hook in the lyric "Hear the crocodiles tickin' round the world"; are they saying that the villains are pirates, or is it just a general metaphor with no clear explanation? I'm beginning to think that writing in character isn't Martin's strong suit. 6/10 
UFO- Follows the pattern of "Us Against the World" by being nothing but acoustic guitars and singing until the middle, when this time strings are brought in. I would've thought that having some acoustic tracks would be a good break between sets of over-"enoxified" tracks, but it's actually annoying having to switch like this, especially when the acoustic tracks are as forgettable and out-of-place as these two. Thankfully, "UFO" is both short and lyrically spare, so the vague sentimentality here actually works, unlike longer songs that don't further the story or provide insight to the world or characters. 6/10 
Princess of China- I'm not crazy about Rihanna's songs, but she is definitely one of my favorite voices in pop music today. Unfortunately, she doesn't really get a chance to show off in this song; the one element Coldplay chooses to hold back on, and it's what would've been one of the best things about the album. The song goes through several sections that range from "loud, fuzzy and annoying" to stripped-down and pretty, and everything in between. It's a course of ideas that don't really work for me as a whole. 5/10 
Up In Flames- Any drama this song might've had is completely undermined by the unnecessary drumming; having such a basic beat looped in the background ruins the effect of just the piano and vocals. The only time it works is after the strings and guitar are brought in, but everything before that point would've been better off without it. 5/10 
A Hopeful Transmission- Reminds me of one of the instrumentals on I-Empire. It's pretty, and this time actually works really well as a transition into the next track. 7/10 
Don't Let It Break Your Heart- The melody is buried under the instrumentation (and the lyrics can barely be made out), there's no hook I can remember after listening to it five times in a row, and it's way too loud; I'm sure it's a crowd-pleaser when played live, but this isn't live. 5/10 
Up With the Birds- This is another that I wish the rest of the album had been more like; it opens with piano and vocals over a single held synth note that eventually fades out, and is replaced with a swell of synth and organ work that surrounds the vocals in a way reminiscent of "The Escapist" from Viva La Vida. From that point, guitars are brought in, and finish the second half of the song with a tenderness that was even missing from the acoustic numbers. 8/10


The Daily Haul
Partly influenced by graffiti, Mylo Xyloto is a colorful collage of experiences; unfortunately, Coldplay apparently forgot that pop music is not a visual medium. Mylo Xyloto fails as a concept album because nothing about its world is established concretely, the characters are barely half-baked, and the supposed story is almost non-existent (something that can be explained away, though not forgiven in my book, by the little fact that the album was intended to be a soundtrack). Musically, the band swaps their trademark drama and subtlety, which might've saved several of these songs, for over-produced atmospheres and unearned sentimentality. 
OVERALL RATING: 61%

Song Review: "Pumped Up Kicks"

Another collection update

Got my Blink-182 CD in the mail today! Neighborhoods deluxe edition, with four bonus tracks, a Neighborhoods t-shirt, and a glow-in-the-dark bunny!

I might try to do a Prospector review of it, but I don't have the time at the moment; I'm already working on a review of the Seinfeld finale, and I've got a lot on my plate in terms of college assignments, but I'll do what I can.

Collection Update

G.L.O.W.- Single- Smashing Pumpkins
Who's Next (Deluxe)- The Who

Current project 9/12

Along with the album reviews I'll be doing on Blip, I'll also be making updates about my "List" there, one artist at a time, starting with Radiohead. I'll only be doing this with artists whose main discographies I own fully or near-fully (barring a few reasonable exceptions, of course). In some cases where a band's discography is fairly short and I've heard the album that's missing from my collection, I'll go ahead and comment as well as I can.

Something I should mention is that these aren't going to be in-depth reviews of each album; just my rating, possibly the rating of each song as well, and a few comments on the album overall.