Adolescent Sex album- re-appraisal

Official releases, promos, bootlegs and memorabilia.

Postby Melaszka on Sat Feb 23, 2008 4:46 pm

Posted by libertyboy
Yes i get where you're coming from. I think possibly the song from Camphor sung in Hindi was possibly a bit heavy handed. But still forgivable. And he never descends to the preachyness of say George Harrison a la my sweet lord. Unlike the latter's self conscious pushing of his religion I can understand how hinduism takes it's natural place in the overall scheme of DS's dream.


I actually love the song from Camphor and don't find it obtrusively religious, partly because I have no idea what he's singing about! You're right, he's never crassly heavy-handed. I think lyrically, though, I prefer "Every Colour You Are" (which has lyrics that I think anyone who's ever believed in any religious faith can relate to) or the songs from GTE (which he deliberately wrote ambiguously, so they can be taken as secular love songs, instead of hymns) to, say, "Blue-Skinned God", "Krishna Blue", "Cover Me With Flowers" (although musically I do love all those songs, very much), which can really only be interpreted one way.

I guess i know what you mean about Morrissey, his lyrics are engaging although at the same time i have to say I think he's an overated lyricist. I mean I'm told there's all sorts going on such as self caricaturing and so on but I've never managed to appreciate it in general. And in some of his songs the lyrics seem detached from the tunes. I think that's to do with someone else writing the music that at times lends the impression that lyrics and tune were the result of separate processes.


Very astute points. I agree he's not as clever as he thinks he is. I'll always have a soft spot for him, though, because he's one of only two artists who has ever replied personally to my fan letters (not that I've written any for a number of years, I hasten to add - this was about 25 years ago)

Astronaut wrote:I know some fans who have changed their dietary habits because of David, just as I knew quite a few people who became vegetarians because of "Meat-is-murder" Morrissey back in the mid-80's. :roll:


:lol: I was actually really annoyed when I found out David was vegan (about 2 years after I'd become one), as I was sure some people would think I only turned vegan in emulation of my "hero."
Melaszka
Everything & Nothing
Everything & Nothing
 
Posts: 336
Joined: Fri Mar 16, 2007 2:05 pm
Location: Somerset, UK

Postby liberty boy on Sat Feb 23, 2008 6:22 pm

A vegan lol and he's going to take his turn to fight the bullfight.

Yes I like the singing in the so-called song that gives the key to perfection but my step mother in an unexpected burst of emotion lol made me smile when she said it was pretentious. But I think the virtue of singing in Hindu is that we're to listen to the voice as a pure instrument.
liberty boy
Regular
Regular
 
Posts: 46
Joined: Tue Feb 12, 2008 1:26 am

Postby Melaszka on Sat Feb 23, 2008 6:55 pm

liberty boy wrote:A vegan lol and he's going to take his turn to fight the bullfight.


:lol: But I suppose that's no more illogical than "a drowning man" having "embers". I so want to explain to David what a mixed metaphor is.

Yes I like the singing in the so-called song that gives the key to perfection but my step mother in an unexpected burst of emotion lol made me smile when she said it was pretentious. But I think the virtue of singing in Hindu is that we're to listen to the voice as a pure instrument


Excellent point. As someone who gets hot under the collar about English language imperialism, I'm thrilled when any British or American artist bothers to sing in a foreign language.
Melaszka
Everything & Nothing
Everything & Nothing
 
Posts: 336
Joined: Fri Mar 16, 2007 2:05 pm
Location: Somerset, UK

Postby liberty boy on Sun Feb 24, 2008 5:56 am

Yes I think the fascination with bullfighting metaphors has been the one dodgy element in his lyrics. Whenever I think of bullfights I think of the unecessary inflicting of pain rather than any imagery to exalt. It was said of secrets of the beehive that the album was a paen to "the end of pain in the world". Can anyone elaborate on this?

Oh I'm glad you got a letter from Morrissey by the way. That must have been an interesting experience because he must get so much mail.
liberty boy
Regular
Regular
 
Posts: 46
Joined: Tue Feb 12, 2008 1:26 am

Postby Melaszka on Sun Feb 24, 2008 11:28 am

liberty boy wrote:Yes I think the fascination with bullfighting metaphors has been the one dodgy element in his lyrics. Whenever I think of bullfights I think of the unecessary inflicting of pain rather than any imagery to exalt.


Good point. I'd never thought about this before. Having said that, the line about "like the blades of a knife through my heart" suggests to me that DS identifies himself with the bull, not the toreador, in the image.

It was said of secrets of the beehive that the album was a paen to "the end of pain in the world". Can anyone elaborate on this?


I ahdn't heard this, but it's a good quotation.

Oh I'm glad you got a letter from Morrissey by the way. That must have been an interesting experience because he must get so much mail


Much as I'd like to say that it was the brilliance of my prose style and the cogency of the points I made that enticed him to write back, alas, at that time he made it a point of pride to reply to every single letter he got (he possibly still does, I don't know, I haven't written to him in a long, long time).
Melaszka
Everything & Nothing
Everything & Nothing
 
Posts: 336
Joined: Fri Mar 16, 2007 2:05 pm
Location: Somerset, UK

Postby liberty boy on Mon Feb 25, 2008 4:48 pm

Astronaut wrote:
Japan were not just a 'white British' group, and if the BNP had their way MK and RB would not be able to have any career, in musicianship or refuse collecting - and, for that matter, neither would I.
... and neither would I Natasha! In fact if that lot had their way I'd probably never have been allowed into the UK in the first place! Nor, indeed, would most of my friends.

yes quite true, and most definitely any DS fan would accept that racism and intolerance is unacceptable. The only thing I would say in terms of pit falls for musical icons getting involved in gritty politics and making a general denouncement of a specific political group is to emphasize the word "gritty" in that I associate the BNP with the localised situation in places like Bradford where the respective communities are polarising somewhat. And I think to pronounce on the matter it would be best to be there and to know the situation on the ground in which it was arrising.
liberty boy
Regular
Regular
 
Posts: 46
Joined: Tue Feb 12, 2008 1:26 am

Postby anortherncod on Mon Feb 25, 2008 5:53 pm

liberty boy wrote:The only thing I would say in terms of pit falls for musical icons getting involved in gritty politics and making a general denouncement of a specific political group is to emphasize the word "gritty" in that I associate the BNP with the localised situation in places like Bradford where the respective communities are polarising somewhat. And I think to pronounce on the matter it would be best to be there and to know the situation on the ground in which it was arrising.


Getting a little off-topic but... I don't know where you live (and this isn't an invitation to tell me!). However, I live in a town in Greater Manchester not associated with riots (ie, not Oldham) and the BNP put up a candidate here last year. So - without wanting to cause any offence - the thought that the BNP are only strong in places like Bradford or Oldham may be a little naive. Unfortunately, they're everywhere, just waiting for the 'right' opportunity to pounce, imo.

Natasha
"Without music, life would be a mistake."
Friedrich Nietzsche
User avatar
anortherncod
Everything & Nothing
Everything & Nothing
 
Posts: 775
Joined: Sun Dec 16, 2007 5:05 am
Location: London, UK

Postby liberty boy on Tue Feb 26, 2008 4:34 pm

Well I'm In Sheffield, the front page of the Yorkshire Post yesterday was given over to the developing gulf in Bradford between the white community and the Asian community. In essence there was a retreat of both communities into mutual distrust. Whilst the BNp was growing on one side of the divide so was fundamentalist Islam on the other. And in a sense they were a reaction ot each other. I'm sure David sylvian would eb the first to say that you should question everything, and that any sort of fundamentalism in which no notion of doubt or uncertainty was permitted was a dangerous development and that warmth and openness was the only way for humans to live their lives.
liberty boy
Regular
Regular
 
Posts: 46
Joined: Tue Feb 12, 2008 1:26 am

Postby anortherncod on Tue Feb 26, 2008 6:30 pm

liberty boy wrote:Well I'm In Sheffield, the front page of the Yorkshire Post yesterday was given over to the developing gulf in Bradford between the white community and the Asian community. In essence there was a retreat of both communities into mutual distrust. Whilst the BNp was growing on one side of the divide so was fundamentalist Islam on the other. And in a sense they were a reaction ot each other. I'm sure David sylvian would eb the first to say that you should question everything, and that any sort of fundamentalism in which no notion of doubt or uncertainty was permitted was a dangerous development and that warmth and openness was the only way for humans to live their lives.


One reason why I could never be a politician is that I find it impossible to be rational about the BNP. I believe that their roots are not part of a post 9/11 moral panic, but straightforward ugly racism which came about after Britain invited Commonwealth citizens to the UK to do the jobs white people didn't want to do. Of course, we all know about immigration in the 1960s, and I don't want to go on about things which people already know, because that would be patronising; but the things I would do to a BNP member if I met them - and could get away with it - are unprintable here.

I'm sure you're right about DS questioning everything. I do too. In my case I questioned the racist abuse I received in the 1970s and 1980s, and that's why I can't believe the BNP are 'just' a reaction to fundamentalists. Who's a fundamentalist anyway? I'm not Muslim, so I've not got a clue; maybe the Yorkshire Post is labelling Muslims who go to a particular mosque or dress in a particular way as fundamentalists. They might not be.

Natasha
"Without music, life would be a mistake."
Friedrich Nietzsche
User avatar
anortherncod
Everything & Nothing
Everything & Nothing
 
Posts: 775
Joined: Sun Dec 16, 2007 5:05 am
Location: London, UK

Postby Melaszka on Wed Feb 27, 2008 5:09 am

My own view is that British foreign policy, inflammatory statements by politicians about things like headscarves, and hysterical media coverage about Muslims over the last few years is creating a "them" and "us" mentality, and that both Muslim extremist fringe groups and the BNP are playing on this to drum up support for their hateful ideology.

I've never lived somewhere like Bradford with such a big Muslim population, so I'm in no position to look down on white residents who feel threatened by what they see as their own way of life being completely eradicated. (Although I have lived as an ex-pat in Eastern Europe for a number of years, and, judging by some of my colleagues, I can tell you that no-one is as reluctant to integrate and as contemptuous of the culture of the country they have chosen to live in than the average Brit abroad. We can't p**s on other people's traditions and then expect them to observe ours.). I personally have never had a problem with multiculturalism or immigration but I can see that perhaps there is a place for rational debate about these issues. However, the BNP (who don't deal in rationality, they just deal in moronic generalisations and hate) is not the answer.

libertyboy, forgive me, but isn't there some inconsistency in your attitude? You seem to be defending the right of the BNP to free speech, while arguing that artists should not have free speech to promote (or even state) their own political views in songs.
Melaszka
Everything & Nothing
Everything & Nothing
 
Posts: 336
Joined: Fri Mar 16, 2007 2:05 pm
Location: Somerset, UK

Postby anortherncod on Fri Feb 29, 2008 8:37 am

Does anyone remember back in ye ancient history when this thread was actually about Adolescent Sex?

Purely by coincidence I happened to be in the car yesterday and Wednesday for the start of Scott Mills' show on Radio 1, at 4 o'clock; and the music they were using as the 'bed' had exactly the same bassline as AS.

I think it was remixed by someone in the recent past as a kind of club track, wasn't it? Could it be that?

Natasha
"Without music, life would be a mistake."
Friedrich Nietzsche
User avatar
anortherncod
Everything & Nothing
Everything & Nothing
 
Posts: 775
Joined: Sun Dec 16, 2007 5:05 am
Location: London, UK

Re: Adolescent Sex album- re-appraisal

Postby suzannahsylvian on Mon Apr 20, 2009 11:24 am

As a new Japan fan (from July '08) I must say that I really enjoy AS and class it as a very good album. Yeah, maybe the lyrics aren't amazing but I think it's amazing how his voice and the actual music sounds so fresh. The bassline in the songs aswell, it's really good. It's not my favourite album, but it's definatley one of them. It kind of dissapoints me that people don't like it much. Including Sylvian himself?

The only album I haven't managed to get ahold of yet is OA. Which I am dying to hear. & I hope I enjoy it ;) x
User avatar
suzannahsylvian
Fanatic
Fanatic
 
Posts: 83
Joined: Mon Mar 23, 2009 12:47 pm

Re:

Postby becky on Mon Aug 31, 2009 2:32 am

anortherncod wrote:
liberty boy wrote:You know i thought they were singing "well you must notice something cos we're dying our hair for action" lol. Japan are particularly one of those groups where you think you hear one thing and the actual lyric was something different. Some songs like parts of don't rain on my parade and parts of the song adolescent sex were undicipherable to me till i saw them written.


OK. Well, I now admit to anyone who belongs to this forum that until VERY recently I thought the refrain in Adolescent Sex was "You're not, you're not, you're not taking my child" instead of "Get up, get up, get up, take it much higher".

:oops:

Natasha


:lol: Mine is EVEN more embarrassing than that - I thought they were singing 'Get it up, get it up, get it up take in the child' :shock: :smt018 I thought a while ago - blimey, you wouldn't be able to get away with dubious lyrics like that these days. I was quite relieved (if very embarrassed when I found out I'd got it completely wrong! :smt043
becky
Obsessed
Obsessed
 
Posts: 145
Joined: Wed Jun 25, 2008 5:06 am
Location: London

Re:

Postby mynewcareer on Wed Aug 03, 2011 3:24 pm

Astronaut wrote:LOL :lol: Here's one of my own misheard clangers ... On 'Life In Tokyo' instead of " ... another vehicle heads for sunset", I really couldn't make out what on earth one word was, and it always sounded like: " .. another pickle heads for sunset" Obviously this was seriously incorrect! Heh-heh-heh! :lol: :lol: :lol:


I used to think it was "another bigot heads for something". I may have got that from the lyrics sheet on a Japanese import. :lol:

anortherncod wrote:OK. Well, I now admit to anyone who belongs to this forum that until VERY recently I thought the refrain in Adolescent Sex was "You're not, you're not, you're not taking my child" instead of "Get up, get up, get up, take it much higher".

:oops:

Natasha


Me too. Me too!
Why, boy, they're playing our song
User avatar
mynewcareer
Regular
Regular
 
Posts: 20
Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2011 8:27 am

Re: Re:

Postby anortherncod on Thu Aug 04, 2011 1:45 pm

mynewcareer wrote:
anortherncod wrote:OK. Well, I now admit to anyone who belongs to this forum that until VERY recently I thought the refrain in Adolescent Sex was "You're not, you're not, you're not taking my child" instead of "Get up, get up, get up, take it much higher".

:oops:

Natasha


Me too. Me too!


Wow, an old thread, this is a nice memory :D Just to prove that I still exist I thought I'd reply to it and say that at least I wasn't the only one!!!
"Without music, life would be a mistake."
Friedrich Nietzsche
User avatar
anortherncod
Everything & Nothing
Everything & Nothing
 
Posts: 775
Joined: Sun Dec 16, 2007 5:05 am
Location: London, UK

Previous

Return to Music, Video, Memorabilia

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 12 guests

cron