Tag: Composing Song Lyrics

Is Here Now

A lyrical analysis of Oasis’ Be Here Now, originally written in 2019

Oasis released their third album, Be Here Now, on 21 August 1997. It was met with significant widespread anticipation, and went on to become the UK’s best-selling album of 1997[1] as well as its fastest-selling album of all time[2] – internationally, it also proved a sizeable hit. It was initially given an enthusiastic critical response, with several reviews consisting of unanimous praise. Over time, however, Be Here Now’s sales and supporters dwindled and it has been retrospectively seen as excessively ambitious, too long and overproduced. In 2018, NME described it as “a rock folly, a coke-fuelled monument to ‘90s excess.”[3]  It is cited as the album that prompted the decline of the wider Britpop scene, but it still produced three UK hit singles in ‘D’You Know What I Mean?’, ‘Stand By Me’ and ‘All Around the World’. The latter remains the longest track ever to reach number one on the UK Singles Chart, indicating both the scale of the music on Be Here Now and Oasis’s colossal commercial appeal.

Noel Gallagher – the group’s main songwriter – had been inspired to create songs that “escaped the strictures of orthodox rock composition”[4] and were “Bigger, Louder and Longer”[5]. In addition, the success Oasis had achieved by the time Be Here Now was written and recorded meant that they were virtually entirely unrestricted by deadlines or budgets. The decadence evident during the album’s production may have influenced its lyrics, although they largely display the same typical Oasis elements of arrogance, relentless optimism and melancholy.

Be Here Now was released following Labour’s landslide victory at the 1997 general election, and this developed a feeling of positivity that had existed for some time beforehand, fostered by events such as the aforementioned political changes as well as cultural landmarks including “Euro 96 and Britpop in general.”[6] ‘D’You Know What I Mean?’, Be Here Now’s opening track, has been described as “more rally than song”[7], and is an example of how many lyrics exist “to propose ideas about life and the world.”[8] It progresses with an authority and forcefulness that is difficult to deny, conveying this most notably in the chorus; “all my people, right here, right now/d’you know what I mean?/yeah, yeah.”[9] The first part seems to cultivate a sensation of togetherness and unity among band and audience; in addition, it reinforces the reputation of Oasis as a working-class band of the people, since Liam is singing to “my people”. The listener is thus part of the story, allowing the band’s message to gain momentum. In the rest of the song, this is used to encourage the listener to brush off life’s setbacks and approach everything with confidence. Through lines such as “get up off the floor and believe in life/no-one’s ever gonna ever ask you twice”[10], they are subjected to a degree of ethos in the lyrics, since the narrator is evidently attempting to convince the listener of their own personal strength and inspire faith in their message. It has been noted that the song’s chorus provided a particularly apparent “note of hubristic confidence”[11], linking back to the aforementioned arrogance that featured in Oasis’s earlier lyrics. Looking deeper at the words themselves, we can establish that there is use of both perfect rhymes and family rhymes. In parts of the song, they almost seem to alternate; for example, “step off the train all alone at dawn/back into the hole where I was born”[12] is swiftly followed by “the blood on the tracks, and they must be mine/the fool on the hill, and I feel fine”[13]. These lines, varying in their rhyme style, are separated by standalone ones – in this case, “the sun in the sky never raised an eye to me”[14], which helps to establish a pattern running through the rest of the song. This format, along with the repetitive nature of the chorus and the steady AABCCB rhyme scheme in the verses (the pre-chorus is ABBCC), can potentially make the song easier for a listener to memorise, thereby increasing the effectiveness of its message. The video develops this, showing Oasis performing the song in an apparently post-apocalyptic world while helicopters fly overhead and a crowd gathers. Smoke grenades are thrown, adding colour and chaos to a grey setting and bearing a resemblance to the uprising and sense of fearlessness encouraged by the lyrics.

‘Don’t Go Away’, on the other hand, is much more personal and introspective in nature. Its lyrics take the form of a plea to a loved one not to abandon the narrator. It opens with “a cold and frosty morning/there’s not a lot to say/about the things caught in my mind”[15], immediately setting a solemn scene, establishing a clear sense of pathos, and succinctly illustrating the narrator’s frustration at being unable to properly express their inner feelings. Its production was supposedly an emotional experience; Liam claims to have cried while recording his vocal, saying that “I had to go away and sort myself out”[16]. The emotional angle is reiterated notably in the lines that lead up to the chorus – “and I want to be there when you’re coming down/and I want to be there when you hit the ground.”[17] When the chorus begins, the aforementioned plea fully manifests itself; “don’t go away/say what you say/say that you’ll stay/forever and a day.”[18] As well as desperation, a sense of loss is also apparent: “me and you, what’s going on? All we seem to know is how to show/the feelings that are wrong.”[19] Such lines suggest an emotional vulnerability that is at odds with the resilience and defiance evident in other Oasis songs; on Be Here Now alone, ‘Don’t Go Away’ is preceded by ‘My Big Mouth’ (“I’ll put on my shoes while I’m walking slowly down the hall of fame”[20]) and ‘I Hope, I Think, I Know’ (“’cause baby, after all/you’ll never forget my name”[21]). In rhyming terms, the lyrics employ more examples of perfect rhymes, and more evenly so than ‘D’You Know What I Mean?’. The scheme can be established an ABABCDD, at least in the first two verses; “damn my situation and the games I have to play/with all the things caught in my mind/damn my education, I can’t find the words to say/all the things caught in my mind.”[22] At the end of these, the words “coming down”[23] are sung after a pause, separating them on their own line and disrupting the flow of the pattern, although much like ‘D’You Know What I Mean?’, the consistency of this method can again allow the song to stay in the listener’s mind.

The video matches the melancholy theme of the song, while also using more surreal elements. It depicts Liam singing in a house and caught in moments of deep reflection while the rest of the band appear around him, and an orchestra play in a desolate and blue landscape. The visuals are likely to attract attention, but they all seemingly serve to isolate Liam and what he is singing, which can in turn provoke thought and reflection among listeners.

‘All Around the World’, however, is inherently optimistic and the album’s most blatant display of grandiosity. This orchestra uses strings and horns to create a juggernaut of positivity and convince the listener that everything will be right in their world; “all around the world/you’ve got to spread the word/tell ‘em what you’ve heard/we’re going to make a better day.”[24] Such a message can be interpreted as another attempt to inspire more confidence in the listener, albeit in a manner that displays less attitude than ‘D’You Know What I Mean?’. Its lyrics are even more consistent than those of the aforementioned two songs; certain sections are repeated numerous times (“yeah, I know what I know/it’s gonna be okay”[25]), and the verses contain a series of identical perfect rhymes in an AAAA pattern, followed by AAAABB in the pre-chorus sections. In addition, “please don’t cry, never say die”[26] features an additional rhyme, with an internal one occurring on the same line.

The music video for the song emphasises its positivity – Oasis are shown performing the song in a yellow spaceship while travelling through a surreal fantasy world, apparently inspired by The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine film. The jovial tone and bright colours of the video effectively compliment the lyrics, placing Liam firmly at the centre – he and the rest of the band are dressed in white suits, thereby rejecting darker attire, and he and Noel exchange light-hearted glances, abandoning their usual seriousness and revelling in their spectacular surroundings.

The relative extravagance of Be Here Now’s music and videos extended to its promotional materials. The album’s cover featured Oasis standing around a swimming pool at Stocks House, Hertfordshire, surrounded by various props; the pool had a Rolls-Royce lowered into it, and the items included a calendar displaying the album’s release date. It is believed that this was included to equate buying a copy on release day to participating in “some kind of historical event”[27] – the album’s title may convey a similar idea. Indeed, customers who purchased it at HMV stores were given a certificate confirming they had “been there then”[28], emphasising the perceived magnitude of the occasion. On the album’s supporting tour, the stage set replicated some of the cover artwork items. A Rolls-Royce grille was used as Alan White’s drum riser, and the band entered through a red telephone box, preceded by a ringmaster who walked the stage to enliven the audience.[29] Despite such ostentatiousness, the band themselves often donned more casual attire in keeping with their working-class reputation, remaining a degree of relatability to the audience despite the nature of Be Here Now’s music and retaining the image for which they are best known to the public.

Mason

Bibliography

The Official Charts Company. ‘End of Year Album Chart Top 100 – 1997’. Accessed 6 November 2019. https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/end-of-year-artist-albums-chart/19970105/37502/

BBC Newsbeat. ‘Sorry Adele, Oasis are still the album chart record breakers’. Accessed 6 November 2019. http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/34919975/sorry-adele-oasis-are-still-the-album-chart-record-breakers

NME. ‘Oasis’ ‘Be Here Now’ – Was It Really That Bad?’. Accessed 6 November 2019. https://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/oasis-be-here-now-at-15-was-it-really-that-bad-770068

Harris, John. The Last Party: Britpop, Blair and the Demise of English Rock. London: Fourth Estate, 2003.

Dorian Lynskey, ‘’Flattened by the cocaine panzers’ – the toxic legacy of Oasis’s Be Here Now’, The Guardian, 6 October 2016. Accessed 6 November 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/oct/06/flattened-by-the-cocaine-panzers-the-toxic-legacy-of-oasiss-be-here-now

Eckstein, Lars. Reading Song Lyrics. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2010.

Oasis, ‘D’You Know What I Mean?’, from Be Here Now, Creation Records, 1997.

Oasis, ‘Don’t Go Away’, from Be Here Now, Creation Records, 1997.

MTV. ‘MTV Oasis Uncut Documentary’. YouTube. 24:35. Posted by Whenallwozkool, 4 August 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evCXwh0vcNM

Oasis, ‘My Big Mouth’, from Be Here Now, Creation Records, 1997.

Oasis, ‘I Hope, I Think, I Know’, from Be Here Now, Creation Records, 1997.

Oasis, ‘All Around the World’, from Be Here Now, Creation Records, 1997.

Loud and Quiet. ‘Don’t just blame the cocaine for Oasis’ Be Here Now – it was kinda Richard Ashcroft’s fault’. Accessed 6 November 2019. https://www.loudandquiet.com/short/dont-just-blame-cocaine-oasis-now-kinda-richard-ashcrofts-fault/

Oasis. ‘Oasis – G Mex Arena Manchester Full Concert December 1997’. YouTube. 1:49:35. Posted by headshrinker666, 18 July 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8N-ylUkGV2Y&t=168s

[1]‘End of Year Album Chart Top 100 – 1997’, accessed 6 November 2019. https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/end-of-year-artist-albums-chart/19970105/37502/

[2] ‘Sorry Adele, Oasis are still the album chart record breakers’, accessed 6 November 2019. http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/34919975/sorry-adele-oasis-are-still-the-album-chart-record-breakers

[3] ‘Oasis’ ‘Be Here Now’ – Was It Really That Bad?’, accessed 6 November 2019. https://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/oasis-be-here-now-at-15-was-it-really-that-bad-770068

[4] John Harris, The Last Party: Britpop, Blair and the Demise of English Rock (London: Fourth Estate, 2003), 334.

[5] Harris, The Last Party, 334.

[6] Dorian Lynskey, ‘’Flattened by the cocaine panzers’ – the toxic legacy of Oasis’s Be Here Now’, The Guardian, 6 October 2016. Accessed 6 November 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/oct/06/flattened-by-the-cocaine-panzers-the-toxic-legacy-of-oasiss-be-here-now

[7] Lynskey, ‘’Flattened by the cocaine panzers’.

[8] Lars Eckstein, Reading Song Lyrics (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2010), 10.

[9] Oasis, ‘D’You Know What I Mean?’, from Be Here Now, Creation Records, 1997.

[10] Oasis, ‘D’You Know What I Mean?’, from Be Here Now, Creation Records, 1997.

[11] Harris, The Last Party, 338.

[12] Oasis, ‘D’You Know What I Mean?’, from Be Here Now, Creation Records, 1997.

[13] Oasis, ‘D’You Know What I Mean?’, from Be Here Now, Creation Records, 1997.

[14] Oasis, ‘D’You Know What I Mean?’, from Be Here Now, Creation Records, 1997.

[15] Oasis, ‘Don’t Go Away’, from Be Here Now, Creation Records, 1997.

[16] ‘MTV Oasis Uncut Documentary’, YouTube, 24:35, posted by Whenallwozkool, 4 August 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evCXwh0vcNM

[17] Oasis, ‘Don’t Go Away’, from Be Here Now, Creation Records, 1997.

[18] Oasis, ‘Don’t Go Away’, from Be Here Now, Creation Records, 1997.

[19] Oasis, ‘Don’t Go Away’, from Be Here Now, Creation Records, 1997.

[20] Oasis, ‘My Big Mouth’, from Be Here Now, Creation Records, 1997.

[21] Oasis, ‘I Hope, I Think, I Know’, from Be Here Now, Creation Records, 1997.

[22] Oasis, ‘Don’t Go Away’, from Be Here Now, Creation Records, 1997.

[23] Oasis, ‘Don’t Go Away’, from Be Here Now, Creation Records, 1997.

[24] Oasis, ‘All Around the World’, from Be Here Now, Creation Records, 1997.

[25] Oasis, ‘All Around the World’, from Be Here Now, Creation Records, 1997.

[26] Oasis, ‘All Around the World’, from Be Here Now, Creation Records, 1997.

[27] Harris, The Last Party, 341.

[28] ‘Don’t just blame the cocaine for Oasis’ ‘Be Here Now – it was kinda Richard Ashcroft’s fault’, accessed 6 November 2019, https://www.loudandquiet.com/short/dont-just-blame-cocaine-oasis-now-kinda-richard-ashcrofts-fault/

[29] Oasis, ‘Oasis – Live G Mex Arena Manchester Full Concert December 1997’, YouTube, 1:49:35, posted by headshrinker666, 18 July 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8N-ylUkGV2Y&t=168s

Mosaic

So, we’re now onto the last of the songs from my module that I’m going to show you. It’s a version of Blur’s ‘On Your Own’ – or part of it – entitled ‘Mosaic’, although ‘Collage’ might have been a better name. It’s a mish-mash (and that’s a technical term) of phrases and images with no meaning whatsoever. I’d put some degree of thought into each of the preceding three songs, so I wanted to close my assignment with one that made absolutely no sense. Having a completely blank canvas was slightly daunting, as is always the case, but I was looking forward to seeing how absurd my imagery could get and what the limits of my imagination were. These verses are therefore pretty weird, since I wasn’t taking them seriously, but I hope you don’t either. Enjoy!

(Verse 1)

All the lemons stowed away in their chip paper

Embraced by the flowing summer sun

Oh, it’s all in the past, no-one cares now

Little amethyst assassins on the run

Now you’re on the telephone

But you’re talking static

As the big glass door slides shut automatic

And did I leave the gas on in the attic?

Lose myself in the dense yellow mist

Floating on away

 

(Chorus 1)

And now the flies

Keeping a surprise

It’s in their feet

And it’s in their eyes

Just hibernation

Resting at the station

Galactic sleeper

But no Grim Reaper

I’ll ride on home, inflate a dome

Light the stars in airplane fuel

We’ll be starting a blaze in the head

 

It’s food for the soul

For the soul

 

(Verse 2)

And the sky is raining rods in shades of emerald

The grass is growing high around the hogs

Sniffing hungry round the eyeballs

Of a kitty

And eating the bread the man’s thrown onto the lawn

On the emerald lawn

 

Mason

 

 

Stay Tuned To Find Out

Before Christmas, I shared my altered version of Coldplay’s ‘In My Place’, which I called ‘Endless Miles’. It accompanied three other songs as part of a submission for my Composing Song Lyrics module, which I handed in just last week – I therefore feel that now is a good time to show you the second of my songs, ‘Stay Tuned To Find Out’. This is an adaptation of Jamiroquai’s single ‘Automaton’, from their 2017 album of the same name, and it was included in my collection because I needed a song with attitude, something that contrasted with ‘Endless Miles’ to provide variety in my lyrics. The title came first, during a seminar, and I then had the idea of writing something about a person’s past sins coming back to haunt them – the words you are about to see reflect that. As with the last song, you can listen to the original and see how well you think they fit. There is a full rap verse in the Jamiroquai version, which I’ve attempted to start here as I was running short on the overall line count, but I wasn’t confident and I decided to stop before I made a fool of myself:

(Verse 1)

Up or down?

Now stay tuned to find out

Coming round

As all hope just bleeds out

Feel his heat

Breath burning your back

Avoidance of doubt

(avoidance of doubt)

Turn it on and up you get

 

(Chorus 1)

He’s not turned your corner yet

Blood-boiling, sizzling walk of sin

No matter where you check, you cannot run, no you cannot hide

From the march of fate

Out of the dark, into the light

Oh, when the judgement day is done

You’ll have your mind and soul destroyed

Stay tuned to find out

 

(Verse 2)

Out of luck?

Thirty second head start

He’s on his way

Hears the beat of your heart

It’s on the wind

Now pray for mercy

Oh, you can lie and you can cry, the end is nigh

(just stay tuned to find out)

Revenge is coming for you

 

(Chorus 2)

He’s standing right on your doorstep now

Eager to stare you in the face

Sets things the way they’re meant to be

And puts you in your place

Now come outside, time to pay your debt

Will he forgive all that you’ve done?

You’re past the point of no return

Stay tuned to find out

 

(Verse 3 – beginning of rap verse)

Now he’s got you pinned to the ground

Tied up hard howling like a hound

Will he leave you there just starved and bound?

Time to find out…

 

Mason

Endless Miles

I’m writing this sat alone in the Learning Cafe, having just finished tinkering with one of my essays, due on Friday. There is almost total silence, save for the background hum of a generator an annoying high-pitched whine I can’t quite trace the source of. Despite my solitude, I am happy, since I have a Christmas meal at Lara’s flat with all of the gang to look forward to tomorrow, and I’ve just listened to the new Coldplay album, Everyday Life, which is simply brilliant. Once I’d taken my headphones off at the end, I started thinking about my own adapted set of Coldplay lyrics, which I’m working on for Composing Song Lyrics.  I had to take them into class earlier this week so they could be critiqued by everyone, which is always a nerve-wracking experience. Even though I know it’s highly unlikely, I always expect everything I write to be completely torn to shreds, so you can imagine my relief when the lyrics came back with only a few notes for improvement at this stage.

My version of ‘In My Place’, entitled ‘Endless Miles’, is an intentionally cliched love song. Since I greatly admire the original, I was worried about accidentally making a mockery of it with my own words, but I knew I wanted to include it in my portfolio – and that any other lyrics I wrote for it would probably be no better. We are, of course, discouraged from including cliches unintentionally, but as long as you can justify your use of them, anything goes. Cliches can help to make a song more relatable or accessible to a listener, and as you might expect, they can be beneficial when you want to parody something. I wasn’t trying to do that, but I still found some of my lyrical choices laughably cringeworthy! I include ‘Endless Miles’ here for what I hope will be your enjoyment – although I haven’t made any of the changes that have been suggested just yet. Listen to the original track as you read these lyrics, and decide for yourself how well they fit:

(Verse 1)

Endless miles, endless miles

I’ve driven looking for you

Following your trail

But in the end, in the end

I rounded the final bend

And I saw no more

 

(Chorus 1)

There, the last call to let you go

There, no footprints left in the snow

There, the curtain to end the show

I go

 

(Verse 2)

Coming home, coming home

No-one and nowhere to roam

No-one on the phone

Is this love? Is this love?

You’re dropping me down from above

Down into the rain

 

(Chorus 2)

Here, the next chapter of my life

Here, when will I be free of strife?

Here, you cut me just like a knife

A knife

 

Darling

Why? Why? Why?

Why did you have to go?

No, no

Why don’t you say you’ll stay?

Now, now

Come on and talk to me

Please, please

I’m here at home

 

(Verse 3)

Endless miles, endless miles

I’ve driven looking for you

Now we’ve reached the end

The end.

 

Mason

 

Outer Space, Outer Space

I’ve recently started a new project, creating the 120-150 lines of song I need for my next Composing Song Lyrics assignment. Unlike others in my class, I don’t sing or play, so I’ve taken what is supposedly the easiest option by choosing to rewrite existing songs instead. The first step in all of that is choosing the tracks I want to work on, and as I write this, that’s still very much a work in progress. I do have one song set in stone, which I rediscovered my love for a few weeks ago thanks to Spotify’s random choices – Coldplay’s ‘In My Place’ (song titles go in single inverted commas, apparently). However, the only issue with being able to choose songs you enjoy is that you risk butchering musical masterpieces with your own mediocre words, and that was definitely at the front of my mind as I started to think about mine.

We’ve been doing various writing exercises in seminars over the last few weeks that we hope will get our creative juices flowing. Many of them have involved writing about different unrelated emotions or scenarios in prose or loose verse, so that we can pluck certain words and phrases for later use. In my case at least, some exercises have been more fruitful than others, but a few words, lines and images have helped me to get started. Last night, I went to the library to begin my new version of ‘In My Place’, and because the song has a relatively simple syllabic structure and rhyme scheme, I had written a draft I was satisfied with in around half an hour – giving me 39 lines of lyrics. A blank sheet of paper is daunting for any writer, so I initially focused only on getting started and committing to an opening line. What I came up with was “outer space, outer space”, which mirrors the repetition of the title in Coldplay’s original, since I felt a degree of pressure at first to be faithful to it. It had the effect of evoking something better, though, so I soon replaced it with something else. From there, the rest of the piece seemed to flow nicely, and my portfolio was officially underway.

Because I’m rewriting something existing, it is imperative that the new song exactly matches the syllabic count of the original. In some cases, there may be an opportunity for an extra syllable in a line where one has been stretched by the singer – but I have to try and remember not to get greedy. I have a feeling that whatever the next four songs are, their new words won’t come quite as easily as the first set did, and I’ll have a lot more to consider before I can make them work. Each submission has to be accompanied by a 30-second recording explaining what you were trying to achieve with it, so there are both technical and emotional aspects to think about. Even so, I’m finding the study of lyrics less highbrow and much more accessible than I did traditional poetry last year. I can only conclude that that must be because of the nature of popular music as something which is designed to be cherry-picked and enjoyed by anyone, regardless of age, experience or background.

Mason

 

Bum Notes

Ahead of starting my new “Composing Song Lyrics” module next semester, I wanted to do something different here and review the next album I listened to for the first time. That way, I’d have something to go with my review of the film Whiplash, which I posted here at the end of June. It was my birthday on Sunday, and at my request, Louis gave me one of the albums that I needed to plug a conspicuous hole in my vinyl collection – I was missing the final three Oasis records, of which Dig Out Your Soul is the last. Released in 2008, this seventh studio effort was also the seventh consecutive album by the Manchester icons to go to number one in the UK, and their last hurrah before their abrupt split in August 2009. As we have now arrived at the tenth anniversary of the event, it seems apt for me to tackle their last offering now, even if this did come about entirely by coincidence. Louis tells me that he chose Dig Out Your Soul because out of all my missing Oasis albums, “it had the prettiest cover”.

Dad plugged my record player back in – after it had spent the last couple of months in the garage following my return from university – and I listened to the album from start to finish with my notebook to hand. I tried to write something about every song, even if it was just a few words or a single sentence. For the opening track, “Bag It Up”, I wrote “raw, repetitive, lumbering juggernaut of a riff begins the album. Liam’s vocals are crisp but full of attitude.” As I soon discovered, those words presented me with a considerable problem – namely that I could pretty much say the same for every song. I’m not saying that that’s necessarily a bad thing, but as I got further into the album, I struggled to muster anything more adventurous, to the point where it felt like I was scraping the bottom of the barrel out of desperation at times.

I can see the decline in the notes I made. Of “The Turning”, the album’s second song, I was able to say that its opening was “soft and more subdued, with gentle drums and keyboards.” From this point, though, I can tell that I was gradually running out of any kind of valuable insight. All I could offer on “Waiting For The Rapture” was that it was “stylistically similar to the opening track”, and a throwaway reference to the fact that Noel Gallagher apparently wrote it about meeting his wife. It got even worse by the time of “Ain’t Got Nothin'”, another song full of attitude that only received a response of “typical Liam!” from me. I did redeem myself to some extent with certain judgements. I managed to specify that “The Shock of the Lightning” was “a great, unashamedly rock and roll anthem that would have been great to hear live”, and “I’m Outta Time” was a song that seemed to “unknowingly foreshadow” the fate of Oasis itself. Overall, though, my attempt to thoroughly review Dig Out Your Soul fell flat on its face – there were several songs about which I could say nothing at all.

I don’t think that’s a reflection on the quality of the album at all. There are only a select few records I’ve ever heard that I’ve categorically disliked. It’s more a reflection on my own reviewing abilities, and the fact that no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get the depth I was looking for. I didn’t feel confident enough to try using any musical terminology either, and the end result was a set of notes that couldn’t have looked less knowledgeable if they’d tried. They’ve given me a reason to go back to the drawing board, but I’m going to look at that as a positive thing. Maybe my upcoming module will give me the insight into the songwriting process that I need to confidently discuss how music is made. At the very least, it’ll allow me to think about adding another string to my writing bow, and including more reviews here. Mum has told me they’d be well worth doing more often, so maybe – for once – I should take her advice on board!

Mason