From: owner-oppositeview-digest@smoe.org (oppositeview-digest) To: oppositeview-digest@smoe.org Subject: oppositeview-digest V2 #162 Reply-To: oppositeview@smoe.org Sender: owner-oppositeview-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-oppositeview-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk oppositeview-digest Saturday, November 18 2000 Volume 02 : Number 162 Today's Subjects: ----------------- OV: My review of Waking Hours Then and Now ["Chris Fleming" ] Re: OV: Waking Hours Then and Now ["Susan & C. Reid Gardner" Subject: OV: My review of Waking Hours Then and Now Hello all, To get this discussion going I will attempt to discuss "Waking Hours". From the first listen point of view and the 11 years on point of view. I purchased WH on the strength of a single that I had heard playing on the radio, called "Kiss This Thing Goodbye". Track 1: Kiss This Thing Goodbye. 1989-Rocking song when I first heard it from the "a 1-2-3-boom, boom" through the steady bass line and clever guitar bits and excellent lyrics. This was an instant Favourite. 2000-How can this song get any better, Still fresh 11 years on and a definite live fav. Track 2: Opposite view 1989-When I first heard this song I thought initially "album filler", however again lyrically this was brilliant. 2000-Listening now it is not one of my fav Del tracks but "get wet with you" remains a classic line. I feel that it does sound a bit dated. Track 3- Jimmy Blue. 1989-A beautiful song. On first listening 2000- Remains a personal Fav still sounds quite fresh, however this song comes to even better life live!!. Track 4- Stone Cold Sober 1989-steady song with some nice guitar bits. 2000-another song I feel sounds a bit dated, and I a song that 1 week I will adore then another week not be keen on. A personal live favourite of someone on the list!!!!(in-joke). Track 5 You're Gone. 1989- wasn't too keen on first listen, had some good lyrics but not a stand out. 2000- sounds very dated to me know, however it was a big live fav of mine a way back in the early 90's. So that was side A of the tape I had recently purchased for £4.99p. Now the weird bit. I can still distinctly remember turning the tape over and pressing play and.... 1989 Well from Track 1 side B "when I want you" through to "Nothing Ever Happens" Track 5 side B, I couldn't believe what I had just heard. This was a totally awesome side of the album. I even stopped This side of the morning at the end of the first listen and rewound the tape to listen to it again. And that clinched it for me for the dels they were awesome, and so began an 11 year support. 2000. Tracks 6-Track 10 I think it still sounds fresh and new as the first time I heard it. It contains the totally awesome track"This side of the Morning". I will admit that "empty" may sound a bit dated but to me it is an essential part of that side of the album. Its almost conceptual in the songs running order. And to finish with the timeless classic Nothing Ever Happens. So their you have it a long rant but hopefully it will be nice when I return from holiday to read other fans insight in to the albums Chris Keep on Smiling ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Nov 2000 08:49:37 -0600 From: Leah D Schenkenberg Subject: Re: OV: Waking Hours Then and Now I've only been a DA fan for 2 years now (but I went from casual to hardcore in about 3 weeks), and I've had Waking Hours for maybe a year...probably a little less though. I knew the singles from Hatful of Rain, and I received Waking Hours and SOSP at the same time. I immediately was drawn to SOSP...it was more first time listener friendly than Waking Hours, but of course now I like Waking Hours much more than SOSP. So the singles "then" will be from hearing them off hatful about 2 years ago, the others from hearing them the first time off this album. > Track 1: Kiss This Thing Goodbye. I was always kind of indifferent. I didn't really love this song until they did this as their last song (or was it their encore? With be my downfall?) at the Basilica a year and a half ago. Since then, I've really loved it > Track 2: Opposite view It was "ok" when I first heard it. It's still "ok". Nothing I skip to on purpose. > Track 3- Jimmy Blue. The one song that I feel everyone really loves except for me. I knew it from Hatful, and I was surprised to hear it in concert. I had just assumed it wasn't as well loved as it seems to be. I still don't care for the chorus really, but isolated lines (a struck match faded like a nervous laugh...that's imagery my english prof. would love) and the vocal arrangement (especially on "in a town full of nothing to do") are wonderful. > Track 4- Stone Cold Sober I did not like this song. I really really really did not like this song. I remember one of the first things I picked up on when I joined this list was that someone really hated it as well...you were all discussing it, how they do it in concert, and how "you can't rhyme time with time". Slowly, this song as really grown on me, especially realizing how I identify with it. My generation doesn't just think they're pop stars, it seems that they are. I'd really like to see people on the radio who aren't younger than me (and being 19, I feel like that shouldn't be impossible to ask). > Track 5 You're Gone. Love it Love it Love it. I think the first time I casually heard it, there wasn't much for me. But the first time I really paid attention to the lyrics, and ever since, it's been one of the most lyrically beautiful songs I've ever heard. I still can't get over They say that it's better to have loved and lost Than never to have loved at all But if you sit down and count the cost of All those losses There's no profit at all and One day you wake up And all the pain you've given out gets returned But I'm not sorry now I've payed for what I've learned managing to be in the same song. The vocals on this are so wonderful...For friends of mine that have not yet been delamitrized, I make 2 mix tapes. The first is "the Essential Del Amitri" and the second is "all the Del Amitri you'll ever need". You're Gone always makes it on one of them. I love how it feels like a layered song...Almost as if the imagery is one song, and the thoughts about love and the beautifully simple line of "and you're gone" are another and they are layed over each other. I love the effect it has on me. When I want you: I really loved this when I first heard it...I'm not as enthusiastic about it now, but it's still one I like (despite not having a clue as to how to interpret it) This Side of the Morning: I don't think anything can be said about this. Absolute perfection...#2 on my "all time favorite Del Amitri songs". My best friend here at school can sing the entire "so I put down the bottle" verse verbatim, despite never hearing the album, I sing it so often. I think my favorite part of this song is the repeating of the first line of every verse. Nobody's perfect, and that's something that I'm sure she'll know -and- Nobody's helpless, although I've never felt this helpless before I remember still thinking about the truth of the very first line...I could spend 20 minutes reflecting on that before moving to the rest of the song. this has got to be #1 on the "why isn't justin currie collectively worshipped as a lyrical god?" list. > Empty: a very "ok" song the first time I heard it. hate the chorus, love the verses. One of my favorites to hear a very pure sound of justin's voice. I love how he says "bevy". Hatful of Rain: I remember this was just amazing to see in concert...a very good poppy singable song, always has been to me. Nothing Ever Happens: My immediate favorite from the first time I heard it on Hatful, the reigning favorite to this day. I sang this *a lot* scanning groceries back in the day...sometimes continuously for the entire shift. Set aside the whole point of the song...the things he noticed and stuck in amaze me. My favorite lines in that song (this week) are Angry from Manchester (I just see a Dear Abby column in my head when I hear that line), Closed circuit cameras and the stars of these films, and as well as the doped white mice in the college lab. Way up there on the "songs I wish I had the insight to write" list. Yee haw. That was fun! thanks for bringing it up Chris...I need to go pop it in now. And it's FRIDAY! Leah ====== In America, anyone can be president. It's one of the risks you take. ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Nov 2000 08:58:12 -0600 From: Kelly Doudna Subject: OV: when/why/what Hello all, Good question Chris. I shall answer only about Waking Hours because that's the one that got it all started for me. I had been fairly familiar with Stone Cold Sober from the radio. Up to as long as two years after, I was browsing the cut-out bin of cassette tapes and saw WH for some outrageously low price, like $1.99. I thought, hmm, I liked that song well enough, it's cheap, what the heck. I listened to it once or twice but wasn't blown away by it, and so it began collecting dust. When I started hearing the Change Everything songs and liking them, I remembered that I had the tape. I listened to it again and had the epiphany--I couldn't believe I hadn't been totally amazed by it originally and instantly turned into the rabid fan I am today. And today I still think WH is a masterpiece. Kelly Minneapolis ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Nov 2000 16:49:58 -0500 From: "Susan & C. Reid Gardner" Subject: Re: OV: Waking Hours Then and Now Leah D Schenkenberg wrote: > When I want you: > > I really loved this when I first heard it...I'm not as enthusiastic about > it now, but it's still one I like (despite not having a clue as to how to > interpret it) It's simply a bouncy, peppy, catchy ditty about paranoia, revenge, murderous urges and true love on the train. Del Amitri at their eccentric lyrical best, in my humble 'pin-yun. And that bit about taking a spoon to the swimming pool is absolutely brilliant. There's a painting there, I think! > Nothing Ever Happens: > My immediate favorite from the first time I heard it on Hatful, the > reigning favorite to this day.... My favorite lines in that song (this > week) are Angry from Manchester > (I just see a Dear Abby column in my head when I hear that line)... Leah, you can imagine how ridiculous I got when I visited England & landed at the Manchester airport... 9 hour flight, jet lag out the wazoo, and so deliriously thrilled to be walking on English soil that I could hardly contain myself. So on the drive to our friends home in Mansfield I was hearing that line in my head & grinning like the Cheshire cat when we saw ~ chuckle ~ bridges painted blue!! ('Surface of the Moon') I suppose I blew any chance of being thought of as a proper Southern Lady when I clapped my hands & bounced up and down in the back seat like a kid.... I can't stand it, I'm going to go put some Dels on the cd player... TTFN Susan ------------------------------ End of oppositeview-digest V2 #162 **********************************