321. Lana Del Rey, "Norman Fucking Rockwell!"

 


Recency bias!  That's why the greatest album of all time was judged by NME readers to be The Smiths' 1986 album The Queen Is Dead when their list was published in 1988, but by 2003 it was the Stone Roses' self-titled debut.  I suspect recency bias is at work here, too, since this 2019 album is certainly worth listening to but is in no way the 321st best album of all time.

This is a Jack Antonoff-produced joint and man can't you tell.  Jack has this particular way of working with attractive white women and making albums that sound ethereal and cold and lonely.  He did it with  Taylor Swift and Lana, both of them multiple times.  I'm not saying they all sound exactly the same but my God they sure live in the same neighborhood.  He could probably take me into the studio and my record would sound like Lorde on a methadone bender.

Anyway, this album.  I don't know, it's fine.  Like I said, it's very cold and very sparse and there are a lot of slow songs one after the other and probably really resonates with teen girls, I'm just guessing.  When I was listening to it I often thought "I think there might be a good song here if she sped it up and sounded interested.  Like "The Next Best American Record" has a nice melody.  I would love to hear it fucking rocked out with electric guitars and shit instead of sounding like Xanax.  Same with "Mariners Apartment Complex."  I think it's a good song!  It's got a great melody and interesting lyrics but it sounds like every other song on this record.  

There is also a cover of Sublime's "Doin' Time," for some reason.

Does this album deserve to be in the Top 500? Uh, no.

Comments

  1. StephenJuly 26, 2021 at 5:48 PM

    This is one of the only records I've cared about in years. But even then, it's just mild happiness when it comes on while playing cards with friends.

    That may have more to do with my complete abdication of my role as music-listener than anything else.

    ReplyDelete

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