Lana Del Rey – Blue Banisters + Watercolor Eyes

oh wig.

 

Whoever is on the back of the booklet (with the overalls and stuffed animal) looks like Ariana.

 

The album's pretty good - more of the same, like always, but if you're into everything post-Norman Fucking Rockwell! and her music more generally speaking then it is for you. You'll know what to expect so there's not much to say.

"Black Bathing Suit" seems to be the unreleased song "Geraldine Quarantine/If This Is The End - I Want A Boyfriend" that we hadn't heard, or probably lifts heavily from it at least given the lyrics. "Nectar Of The Gods" is indeed what we knew as "Wild On You". With the inclusion of "Dealer", "Thunder", "Living Legend" and "Cherry Blossom" as well it feels like this is partly her response to fans begging for an unreleased collection - but in typical Lana fashion it seems to be on her terms rather than caving to demands of releasing things like "Driving In Cars With Boys" and "Go Go Dancer" officially.

 

I believe that's Chuck, her sister.

 

The first woman being at #17 is so “authentic music lovers” it disgusts me. But at least they were correct with what are her best albums.

 

Oh absolutely. And even if you're only into "serious music" – this list spans 25 years, there's no excuse for three of the top ten albums being Radiohead records.

Spoiler

For what it's worth:
17. Norman Fucking Rockwell!
20. Melodrama
36. Lemonade
46. Back To Black
50. The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill
101. Beyoncé
106. Pop 2
121. Born To Die
137. Anti
153. Ultraviolence
176. (!) Ray Of Light

On another note: Black Bathing Suit is absolutely stunning. Easily my favourite on the new album for now.

 

Today I read about the leak here, found a link to a leak group on Telegram on Twitter, joined, listened, now the group is gone.

I felt so young and modern doing all this. Grandpa still has it.

 

People saying Lana is the equivalent to musical Ambien, but I don’t know any other girls inserting a verse like:

You name your babe Lilac Heaven
After your iPhone 11
“Crypto forever!” screams your stupid boyfriend
Fuck you, Kevin

into a moving ballad about her sister ddddd.

 

This is excellent. One of her best for sure. Definitely bolstered by the fact the back half is largely comprised of some of my favorite unreleased songs of hers.

 

I knew the songs she did with The Last Shadow Puppets were in the album but I was still unprepared for these vocals in Dealer (both hers and Miles Kane's) after 8 piano ballads in a row ddd.

Also why is she suddenly averse to crediting features in her last two albums

 

I think I'm going to wait to listen, mainly because I can't be bothered to look for it right now dd, but I'm excited reading the reactions.

 

I haven't listened but is this better than Chemtrails gaybees?

 

I'd say it is more spacious than Chemtrails. The title track and Arcadia already showed the direction of her giving songs more space to breathe and evolve.

Although many would possibly say most songs are on their last breath because #wherearethebops.

Too early to say how this will fare in her discography overall because I really feel many songs are potential growers more than early showers. More Honeymoon (the song) than Diet Mountain Dew. Make of that what you will.

Blue Banisters turned out to possibly be my favourite Lana song ever.

 

The leak has definitely been messed with, songs just sound off to me in terms of compression and equalization. I'll wait another week until I can hear the proper version.

 

Yeah this is a weird album to do some early evaluation of, especially since the songs she released before the album also took some time to grow on me. I was also not impressed with Arcadia in the first few listens but now I love how it sounds like a song the main character in a musical would sing when they are at crossroads

 

Dealer's chorus, holy shit! And then that outro where she's just having fun with it. "Our circuits are busy, goodbye. Our circuits are busy, you're high" I'm obsessed.

 

Jack Antonoff being banished to the nether was an excellent move.

 

My main complain about the album is that it sounds... just empty sometimes, and even nice melodies can't work their way trough it. She used to have grandiose and lush instrumentals, whereas here I'm kinda sick of her being by the piano. This album is an addition to her discography, but nowhere near the career highs that she used to have.

I hope she can take some time off and try something different.

 

She's trying the get out off her contract isn't she?

 

Kill 'em with faint praise!