quote:

Originally posted by Mr. Sadly:
I'm actually a bit worried about that! I am very much partial to the hard-punchin' 9:30 club version - that's how they played it at the Fillmore in SF. I hope that's the route they take!

The biggest thing for me on this song was always, I hope they can capture that energy and crunch to it. So delightful. What a strong song.

I completely agree. I hope they sped it up just a bit, too. Not so fast that Neil couldn't get the verses out...just a little faster than they usually played it.

I'm thinking less ballad, more midtempo rocker.

mattl

quote:

Originally posted by mattl:
I completely agree. I hope they sped it up just a bit, too. Not so fast that Neil couldn't get the verses out...just a little faster than they usually played it.

I'm thinking less ballad, more midtempo rocker.

mattl

Yes! We don't need another ballad in the world, when it works so much better with a rock approach. What would that stinging, singing RIFF even do to explain itself, in a ballad?

quote:

Originally posted by BART:
Q/ I wonder what Neil has done with the 'Lucky Lola' verse part - used as part of Archer's Arrows or Saturday Sun?

I was thinking along those lines! But then, I feel like he might have mentioned that in the interview? "And then that verse part, we took it and it grew into a whole new song of its own!"

EDIT: If it did turn into its own new song, it should be called "SAID SO!"

quote:

Originally posted by JamieB...:
Without wanting to trawl through this thread - and apologies if its posted- but I am assuming this has been read:

http://www.performing-musician...rticles/neilfinn.htm

Say Jamie, thanks again for pointing this out! Amazing it was published in November and I think everybody missed that mention somehow!

I'm really disappointed to lose the second version of "Lucky," which was easily my favorite of the new songs that I've heard. I hope it resurfaces some time soon.

No worries Mr Sadly - Have to say, I liked the new version and am now intigued at what that will finally end up as, however give or take a few Babes and Honeys, I am very glad they went back to the original! Totally agree with the comment about the speed of the song though - saw it twice in Dublin, once high tempo and once slowed down and the high tempo wins for me every time!

quote:

Originally posted by lavar78:
I'm really disappointed to lose the second version of "Lucky," which was easily my favorite of the new songs that I've heard. I hope it resurfaces some time soon.

Just had another listen to The Lucky Lola version and I actually really like it. But I also like the original version. The original is probably a more accessible pop song whilst the latter version is a nice more complex song for the musos (myself included).

I'm coming around more and more to the second version - which if sods law is anything to go by means they probably scrapped it. It's a beautiful verse. Would be nice to have the two versions on record. Ultimately I am sure we all trust Neil's judgement to do what is right for the song.

Betcha the verse that used to be LuckyLo is bow that launches "Archer's Arrows"!



EDIT: I have no information to that effect. I'm just hearing it in my head. With a words as arrows metaphor, the word you pull from your quiver to hit the target can go piercingly astray, and before you know it a heart has been run through with a straight line of steel-tipped wood! Just goes to show you got to watch what you

"SAID SO"

EDIT2: Actually I retract all that. What a trite metaphor - unworthy of Neil!!

Mr. S, I'm literally LOL.

I haven't listened to any of these songs yet, but I'm loving all the wild speculation. You can bet I'll be revisiting this thread after I get my hands on the album.

quote:

Originally posted by VocalicPage:
Mr. S, I'm literally LOL.

I haven't listened to any of these songs yet, but I'm loving all the wild speculation. You can bet I'll be revisiting this thread after I get my hands on the album.

I'm sure I'll be eating PLENTY of crow!

However it all turns out though, like you, I love wild speculation! Some fans think wild speculation is beneath them, I think. But I find that for me at least, it's right about eye-level.

Twice If You're Lucky mystery solved:

"...Some of these 11 songs were first played at a little gig north of Auckland The Leigh Sawmill back in Feb 2008. They have been worked over on
the road and transformed a few times, some all the way back to square one, it’s a good place to return, from time to time.

That was the case with the song Twice If You’re Lucky, we played an alternative version, more complex and mysterious on tour then deconstructed back to original simple form in the last week of recording. I am inclined to circle the songs, looking for any bit of advantage I can find, a verse, a chord or a word to change. It's sometimes unsettling for the band but it’s my way and I’m sticking to it."

http://www.mcd.ie/home/fn.php?...crowdedhouse&cat=all

The other interesting Twice If You're Lucky-related tidbit from the link you posted, DUB, is that Jon Brion guests on it with "layers of sampled voice and mashed guitar." I'd *like* to think that means they have opted for a faster, noisier arrangement, one closer to the version they performed at the 9:30 club in 2008. No balladry here, I suspect! But those layers of sampled voice also mean we're in for some more changes to the song as we thought we knew it. Can't wait.

I'm liking how you're thinking, Watney S! It's hard to interpret it any other way.

Sounds like they reduced it back down to its irreducible core, then built it back up into a BEAST!! Can't wait to hear how it all comes together.

Could the "layers of sampled voices" be a choral introduction?! Say, similar to the time they played it where they "poured out" of the audiences choral held C chord?!

quote:

Originally posted by Mitchell Laney:
Could the "layers of sampled voices" be a choral introduction?! Say, similar to the time they played it where they "poured out" of the audiences choral held C chord?!

I was actually just thinking this. It's likely that they recorded most or all of their 2008 shows, so might those samples actually be of those fans at the shows who sang that C note for the intro? Might some of us hear ourselves on the new album?

really looking forward to hearing the 'finished' (if it really ever is) version of this song. the solo acoustic version played last night at Bush Hall will take some beating

Wow!

It's always kind of strange to hear a song stripped back to just piano and vocal. Does that automatically make a song sound more sad or what?

The lyrics are very different, and the structure - we'll have to wait for the full-band arrangement, of course, but while it does seem to be closer to the first, less-intricate version, it's also quite different. The part that was originally the verse is here serving a pre-chorus function (similar to how it did in "Lucky Lola") - it picks the song up, as it did in version two. But the song's essential simplicity that I loved in version one is still there (in this stripped-down arrangement at least). Man I can't wait to hear it on the album!

Thanks for the link, BART! I can't wait to hear how it sounds with the full band.

I can't make out what he's singing on the bridge.

You know, I love Neil's glimmeringly abstract lyrical shimmer as much as anyone - as much as anyone here. No one else has that, no other songwriter has anything quite like what Neil does so effortlessly, so habitually. Yet every now and then, he will come shooting out straight, with something more plainspoken, heart-on-sleeve. It's a bit of a shock when he does! It's something I associate more with his big brother Tim.

It's good for a songwriter to stretch a bit from what they can do comfortably and easily all day long. I need to sink into this new one a bit, let it change shape in my mind yet again. Less the shape of the song, I guess, and more the shape of the meaning, which seems very different now (though he kept a few of the babes & honeys! ). I do miss a few of the more evocative lines, but of course he's got to go with the words that say what he wants to say. Not necessarily what the scent and the chemistry say (oh! I miss that line!!! If that even was the line: D).

Ha, I find I'm unable to help but hallucinate the drums, layered guitar and layered vocals that were alluded to! And in this version, I am ECSTATIC to hear that post-bridge piano breakdown come in - which is clearly the original kick-ass riff transposed!

I doubt that the album version is a piano ballad...

Are you going to abstain from 'Elephants' or have you already heard it?

quote:

Originally posted by Noel Crombie's Hair:
Are you going to abstain from 'Elephants' or have you already heard it?

I've heard it a number of times, but I kind of want to let it hit me full force, now. I listened to it about 6 or 10 times in a row and then said: let me hold off on that one.

It's very pretty to say the least! But I've a feeling it can be a lot more than that.

I want to hear Bart's song, Twice If You're Lucy. That sounds VERY intriguing