Post by suicainekid on Jul 16, 2004 10:11:19 GMT -5
Paul has never made a concept album (as far as I know anyway) but some of his albums have very predominant themes threaded through the lyrics of their songs that help bring the records a nice coherence. The most obvious one for me has to be Eventually and the deep sense of things left unfulfilled that the album is shot through with. But thinking about it, Suicaine and Stereo in many ways mark the continuation of that story and the three albums taken together might be seen to form a trilogy of sorts (like Bowie's Berlin trilogy but more in the sense of the emotional narrative Eventually/Suicaine/Stereo gives rise to).
On Eventually, right from the start with 'These are the days' and the line 'I am the day no one needs, there'll never come another one like me' and the 'it ain't tomorrow, ain't it yesterday' this album is chock full of lost chances and 'never came to be's'. 'Love Untold' is ofcourse self explanatory. 'Mama Daddy Did' too. And then Time Flies Tomorrow which is a brilliant observation on the passing of wasted time and lost potential.
From there, its tempting too see Suicaine as the the arrival of a mid-life crisis. Having dwelled on things lost and never realised on Eventually, the protagonist falls into an even darker place. To be sure, some of the themes are direct continuations of Eventually - most obviously on 'Best Thing That Never Happened' which mirrors alot of 'These Are The Days' - but its stripped of the jokes and playfulness that shone a little light on Eventually and 'Final Hurrah; really sounds like a man who has had enough and can't even joke in the face of things anymore, like he once could.
And then to Stereo which is like acccepting that you're resigned to a life of emotional damage and embracing the fact. Someone commented on the happiest thread post that 'Bad Times Roll' has a strangely upbeat message - things suck but I'm gonna put up with it - and that observation makes alot of sense in the context of the record as a whole. Lines like 'In my veins I will search, Sure as the sun turns, the mud into dirt, I'm gonna hurt' are sure downbeat but the record has more of an air of resignation to the circumstances and deciding to just deal with the cards you've been given - kinda like, there's no point kicking against it anymore, this is who I am.
Ofcourse, Paul has always written from a very personal perspective so its not surprising that the evolution of his lyrical output should track developments in his own life. But this is the most linear and contiuous sequence of themes and pre-occupations in his output that I can think of. I also think its quite interesting (I may be alone!) in that it changes how I think about these albums a bit. I used to regard Eventually as the end of the first phase of his solo career, Suicaine (and the first Grandpaboy EP) as a transitional phase, and from Stereo/Mono to the present as the third phase. But thinking of Eventually/Suicaine/Stereo as one long emotional journey kinda changes that and makes everything seem more continuous (and means CFMT may have ushered in phase four).
(Disclaimer: Alternatively, maybe my brain is still fried from Wilco's mind blowing show in London show last night. I don't usually DO happy but when they finished with 'The Lonely One' I came as pretty damn close as I've ever been!!!)
On Eventually, right from the start with 'These are the days' and the line 'I am the day no one needs, there'll never come another one like me' and the 'it ain't tomorrow, ain't it yesterday' this album is chock full of lost chances and 'never came to be's'. 'Love Untold' is ofcourse self explanatory. 'Mama Daddy Did' too. And then Time Flies Tomorrow which is a brilliant observation on the passing of wasted time and lost potential.
From there, its tempting too see Suicaine as the the arrival of a mid-life crisis. Having dwelled on things lost and never realised on Eventually, the protagonist falls into an even darker place. To be sure, some of the themes are direct continuations of Eventually - most obviously on 'Best Thing That Never Happened' which mirrors alot of 'These Are The Days' - but its stripped of the jokes and playfulness that shone a little light on Eventually and 'Final Hurrah; really sounds like a man who has had enough and can't even joke in the face of things anymore, like he once could.
And then to Stereo which is like acccepting that you're resigned to a life of emotional damage and embracing the fact. Someone commented on the happiest thread post that 'Bad Times Roll' has a strangely upbeat message - things suck but I'm gonna put up with it - and that observation makes alot of sense in the context of the record as a whole. Lines like 'In my veins I will search, Sure as the sun turns, the mud into dirt, I'm gonna hurt' are sure downbeat but the record has more of an air of resignation to the circumstances and deciding to just deal with the cards you've been given - kinda like, there's no point kicking against it anymore, this is who I am.
Ofcourse, Paul has always written from a very personal perspective so its not surprising that the evolution of his lyrical output should track developments in his own life. But this is the most linear and contiuous sequence of themes and pre-occupations in his output that I can think of. I also think its quite interesting (I may be alone!) in that it changes how I think about these albums a bit. I used to regard Eventually as the end of the first phase of his solo career, Suicaine (and the first Grandpaboy EP) as a transitional phase, and from Stereo/Mono to the present as the third phase. But thinking of Eventually/Suicaine/Stereo as one long emotional journey kinda changes that and makes everything seem more continuous (and means CFMT may have ushered in phase four).
(Disclaimer: Alternatively, maybe my brain is still fried from Wilco's mind blowing show in London show last night. I don't usually DO happy but when they finished with 'The Lonely One' I came as pretty damn close as I've ever been!!!)