Sunday 28 August 2016

St. Vincent part 2 & The Rolling Stones Top 75 Countdown (#72-70)

Anne Clark (St. Vincent) spent much of her time in Seattle writing her third album, Strange Mercy. She described that time in these words: "I would just get up in the morning and caffeinate, and run, and go to the studio for 12 hours, come back, eat dinner alone with a book, have a glass of wine, and go to bed. And do it all over again."


Strange Mercy (2011) received widespread acclaim from music critics. The album was St. Vincent's highest-charting album yet, peaking at #19 on the US Billboard 200.

Chloe In The Afternoon, the album's opener, explores Clark's misgivings about monogamy, particularly the societal pressures on and assumptions about human relationships.


The second track in the album is Cruel, an ambitious song that gets its inspiration from various different genres. It describes the disconnect of fulfilling one’s duty whilst inhabiting the dreamlike reality of a life on Prozac.


Cruel is followed by Cheerleader, a song that reminds us more than a little of Kate Bush. In its lyrics she claims to have “seen America with no clothes on”, and doesn’t “want to be a cheerleader no more”.


Two soundtracks for The Twilight Saga have featured songs from her. The first, Roslyn, was in collaboration with Bon Iver and appeared on the 2009 soundtrack for New Moon; her second, The Antidote, was written for and appeared on 2012's Breaking Dawn – Part 2.

Here's Roslyn:


... And here's The Antidote:


In June 2012, Who, the first single from her collaboration with David Byrne, formerly of Talking Heads, was released. The single came from their album Love This Giant, an intriguing experiment with a very interesting use of horns, which was released in September 2012. Who is a dogged funk track with both parties imprinting their distinctive personalities without it turning into a push-me-pull-you power struggle.


From the same album, here's Weekend in the Dust:


On May 28, 2013, David Byrne and St. Vincent released Brass Tactics EP, which included their version of the Talking Heads' classic Road To Nowhere.


On November 19, 2013, Clark received the Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award for Performing Arts. A few weeks later, her fourth album, St. Vincent were released, alongside the first single, Birth in Reverse, a song released with the desire to make people dance and “blur the boundaries between a rock show and the theatre”.


The album has received universal critical acclaim, with a 89% Metacritic score. NME, The Guardian, musicOMH, Entertainment Weekly and Slant Magazine named it the best album of 2014.

The second single off this album was Digital Witness. Its lyrics deal with people's increasing dependence on social media. “If I can’t show it, if you can’t see me,” she sings, “What’s the point of doing anything?”


The album is St. Vincent most successful to date. It peaked at #12 in the US Album chart, #15 in Canada, #18 in Denmark, and #21 in the UK.

Another track off this album, Prince Johnny, deals with gender identity and defying traditional gender roles. What it means to be a 'real boy' or a 'real girl'. It’s an ambient and luxurious ballad, affectionate and gorgeously melodious.


On April 10, 2014, Clark fronted Nirvana performing lead vocals on Lithium at the 29th Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony.


A few months ago, St. Vincent covered the Rolling Stones' Emotional Rescue for the soundtrack of the Tilda Swinton / Ralph Fiennes film A Bigger Splash.


For the last year and a half, Annie has been dating mega-model turned actress Cara Delevingne.


A few words from Annie about her relationship: "Cara is an experientialist—more feet in the fire. I'm less so. If there's a dark room of the subconscious, I want to find it and walk around in it. Sometimes I feel very much in my head and slightly removed from the physical world. For example, I dance onstage, but I don't dance for pleasure offstage. I'll be privy to a dance club or something and just be essentially sober and watch things happen. More as a social observer, like an anthropologist. I'm not in the middle of the dance floor, you know?" She pauses. "That probably doesn't sound like a lot of fun. But I'm having a great time."

Since we've already mentioned the Rolling Stones today, here are three more entries in our countdown of their best songs.

At #72, we have Till the Next Goodbye. A traditional ballad from the Stones' middle period, with slight country music influences, it's found in the 1974 album It's Only Rock 'n Roll. The song has never been performed live by the Stones and is not included on any compilation albums. Yet, it's a great song:


At #71, we find Beast of Burden, from another strong album by the Stones, 1978's Some Girls. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked the song #435 on their list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Here's a live version:


... And here's Bette Midler's version:


Finally for today, at #70, here's the song for which Paul & John of the Beatles provide background vocals and percussion. We Love You was recorded during the sessions for Their Satanic Majesties Request in 1967. The song is a droning Moroccan influenced anthem of defiance. Outwardly, it was a message from the band to its fans, expressing appreciation for support in the wake of their recent drug busts. It was also an ironic, tongue in cheek slap in the faces of the police harassing them and the Stones' true feelings about it, putting on a cooperative and friendly face while inside they were seething with anger and indignation.

It was released as a single in the UK with Dandelion as the B-side. It peaked at #8, but only made it to #50 in the US, where Dandelion (which reached #14) was promoted as the A-side.



4 comments:

  1. Hello yianang! I hope this goes through as this site has taken a dislike to me and 3 days of posts were lost as soon as I hit publish. It also has kept me selecting various photos to prove I'm not a robot to the point where I just gave up.
    I like all the acts you've presented this week but I want to touch briefly on Sufjan Stevens as I bought the Illinois lp back in the day and absolutely adore it. He's not your typical pop (if you can label him thus) artist and you actually have to pay attention to his music. I love all your choices but this is one of my absolute favorites:
    53QdVDAuriQ.

    I'm also enjoying the Stones list though I'm surprised Beast Of Burden and We Love You are so low. My favorite Stones period is the 60s to early 70s so I'm looking forward to where those tunes place on your list.
    And I love Bette's version of BOB, maybe even more than the original!
    Ta ta.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's great to have you back RM! I was getting withdrawal syndrome from the lack of your comments. Honestly, they definitely do add to my enjoyment in producing this blog. If you have Snicks' contact address you can ask him for my email, that way, whenever there's a problem with the comments, I'll get to fix it.

      The Tallest Man, The Broadest Shoulders is a great song, of course. So is Casimir Pulaski Day, so is practically the whole album. 2005 was a very good year for music. We had I'm wide awake, it's morning by Bright Eyes, Want two by Rufus Wainwright, the self-titled album of his sister Martha, Devils & dust by Bruce Springsteen, Get behind me satan by the White Stripes, In between dreams by Jack Johnson, X & Y by Coldplay, Late registration by Kanye West, Elegy for Johnny Cash by Jackie Leven, The life pursuit by Belle & Sebastian, A river ain't too much to love by Smog, Notes on: love by Petra Jean Phillipson, Smile... It confuses people by Sandi Thom, Dreaming wide awake by Lizz Wright, Piece by Piece by Katie Melua and so many others, but I think that Sufjan's record was the best of the year.

      As for the Rolling Stones, if I were to grade today's songs they would be a 17 or an 18 out of 20 for me, which is great, but there are 69 songs that I like better. As we move on up the list, you will see some of the more popular hits in mid-chart positions or lower. My favorite period is also the 60s and the early 70s. In fact, the vast majority of the songs in my list belong to this period. Have a very happy Sunday!

      Delete
  2. Success! Yeah, I get your Stones Love, I love 'em, too. Just don't think I could come up with 75 songs. I think 50 would be more manageable for me. '66 - '72 holds the bulk of my interest. I don't make lists up that much because it's an act of agony more times than not. I do like seeing what others like and why so please, carry on!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. List-making is my cup of tea, RM. I've got all sorts of lists, about movies, songs, restaurants, etc. I like sorting things. I'm also tidy at home too. :)

      Delete

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.