Kat: Last month I did two reviews "Simple Minds, Donna Summer, Barbra Streisand, Billy Joel, Frank Sinatra and Joss Stone'' and ''Robbie Williams' XXV." Before the Robbie Williams review, I'd mentioned at my site that I had one more album I wanted to review in 2022. And people mistakenly believe it was Robbie. And I was okay with that because, hey, I'm Kat, I'm lazy. I don't pretend otherwise.
But I wasn't talking about Robbie. I learned of his new album days before I reviewed it when I was e-mailing with Polly (who does the community newsletter POLLY'S BREW).
Now I could keep my secret and no one would know except Polly. My need to confess? Not a thing to do with guilt, not a damn thing. Trust me, I could keep this secret and never break a sweat.
But this other album? I can't stop listening to it. And if you haven't started already, you really should.
The band is 1975 and the album is BEING FUNNY IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE which came out at the end of October.
We were at a book signing -- for Beth Stephens and Annie Sprinkles' ASSUMING THE ECOSEXUAL POSITION: THE EARTH AS LOVER. Dak-Ho, Maggie, Toni and I had gone to Adobe Books for this and it reminded me of all the bookstores that have closed in our city.
One of which led me to 1975, the band's debut album. I had liked it when it was playing at a book store and purchased it on CD. Dak-Ho was convinced it was Tower Records but Tower closed long before 2013. Borders, Toni piped up. No, too late for Borders as well. Bibliohead Bookstore, she volunteered next. Still not it. Stacey's Bookstore, A Different Light, the list seemed endless and only depressed me.
Depressed as well tht I never reviewed the debut album or this album or that album . . .
So much has been lost in the last years and maybe that's why the new album by 1975 matters so much? It's a celebration of what we've been through.
I'm sorry about my twenties, I was learnin' the ropes
I had a tendency of thinking 'bout it after I spoke
We're experiencin' life through the postmodern lens
Oh, call it like it is
You're makin' an aesthetic out of not doing well
And minin' all the bits of you you think you can sell
Whilst the fans are on
Whimsical, political
Liberal, with young people as collateral
You see, I can't sleep 'cause the American Dream
Has been buyin' up all of my self-esteem
While QAnon created a legitimate scene
But it was just some bloke in the Philippines
Is it possible to be blank and still with that music percolating? Does it not lift you and send you flying?
It took me forever to listen to the album because of "The 1975." I kept playing just that one song over and over for days. I still love it. But I've also learned to love the other ten tracks that make up the album.
That includes "Part of the Band" which came out this summer.
Sorry, missed it in real time. Wasn't the only one, made the 'rock and alternative' BILLBOARD chart, at number 29. But it's a winner on the album.
Yeah, I love it so much I have to include it twice.
1975 makes you want to dance, makes you want to get up and face the day with this album. BEING FUNNY IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE is everything music is supposed to be.
asfd
