Thankfully, the older we get, the greater the impulse towards conceding the blunt truth that rebellion is useless. Wars waged and won by the armies of youth turn out, ultimately,  to be skirmishes prosecuted by the blind, tactically maintained and finally abandoned as unimportant by those made wily by experience and fear. Which is no bad thing; mere casual observation of the Jeremy Kyle show reveals an upwelling of crass, bellicose posturing on the part of the guests. Even, the most moronic of whom must be aware of the twisting of their intestines as they screech and bluster in the face of the blindingly apparent.

We all must one day abandon ourselves to the essential ridiculousness of our own personae or risk appearing all the more absurd in our efforts to cling to the pitching deck. There comes a time when all that remains is to walk out into the wilderness, free from the fetters of libido and the dictats of propriety and 'cool' to be devoured by wolves and returned to the earth.

Tender is the night.

All this brings me, circuitously but relatively neatly, to the point. One of the things that I aggressively turned my head from as a young man was Romantic poetry, which was taught as part of the English A-Level course at the time.  Despite exhortation by a phalanx of earnest and erudite masters, I would have nothing of Keats. Which goes to show how much of an asshole I was, because reading 'Ode to a Nightingale' the other day I was struck by its beauty and its relevance to anyone who has lived long enough to understand that, for the most part, Mankind is banging his head against one of any number of brick walls.

Bäst gillar jag dialogen, som här:
"Little lady, do you think you could live on five thousand a year?", he asked benevolently. (...)
"I could, but I don't want to."
"Then why did you kiss me?"
"I had never kissed a man with a moustache before."

Allt som allt är det en helt underbar bok. Jag tycker också om det där galet excentriska som mycket rika kunde ägna sig åt i mellankrigstiden; dueller, spektakulära mord på järnvägsperronger, magnifika fyllor. Kommentarer om "Negroes" och "homosexuals" får man försöka blunda för, det var en annan tid.

Det ska bli spännande att läsa Zeldas version.

Frode Grytten - Sommaren är inte att lita på (hajpad av en av Johannorna på bokhora)

Dennis Lehane - Patient 67 (Jag måste vara sist om att läsa honom, va?)

Barbara Voors - Islossning (Såg den i en bokhylla och lånade)

P J Tracy - Levande bete (För att jag gillade deras första och deckare passar på sommaren)

Sarah Langan - The Missing (Omskriven av Helena på bokhora)

Zelda Fitzgerald - Save Me the Waltz

och F Scott Fitzgerald - Tender is the Night

De sista två ska bli mycket spännande. Han höll på i flera år med sin, hon skrev sin på några veckor och hann ge ut den före. Båda handlar om deras äktenskap . Han var alkoholiserad och hon schizofren. De hade det kanske inte så lätt, med andra ord. Frågan är vilken jag ska börja med? Svårt, svårt.

My bank holiday went two ways: friday and saturday I did cool things, wandered about places, saw baby fuzzy duckies, met randoms, played Rock Band, half poisoned my significant other but made it up to him with phenomenal *** (who knew I was shy). Sunday and Monday I felt like I was being invaded by disease and refused to go outside where there was angry weather. This was boring.

I did finish Tender was the Night though, and decided that it was rather good as depressofests go. Although i have to admit that if I was Zelda I'd be pretty pissed off by the implication that I had an unhealthy love for my father. I've now started her Save me the Waltz, so we'll see what she has to say on the matter. I wish I was a faster reader. Admittedly it would have been more useful when I was at uni but I'd still like it now. I have so many books to read. sadface.

Anyway, short post as I actually have work to be working on.

PS: Have ordered new cds for the first time this year. woot.

The Packard hurtled down Hollywood Boulevard. Ace was the wheelman, his eyes darting about nervously for traffic cops as he upped the acceleration.

"The argument here," Wolfe said from his perch in the front passenger seat, "is that we don't have access to a goddamn rocket launcher, Brent. For chrissakes, it's just one guy we haveta take down."

"A nice cranium blow with a machete oughta bring 'im down," Ace grumbled. "But I forgot to tell ya guys the weird part."

"There's a weird part?" Brent laughed and lit a Pall Mall.

Ace hung a left on Highland, nearly trading paint with a bulky red Buick. "The call came in from this funeral director in Culver City, see? Says the corpse just stood up and walked away from the table like nobody's business. Then, like I told ya earlier, he attacks and eats the brains outta the skull of some poor schmo working a Christmas tree lot on Culver."

"Tis the season," Wolfe cracked.

"So I asks the funeral home director fella, I asks him 'Who is this guy? We gotta know his name in case we gotta call out to him to, you know, get his attention. Zombies ain't so attentive, 'cept when they're looking for victims, right?' So the guy tells me -- get this -- the guy tells me that it's this famous fella, see, a writer type named Fitzgerald. Goddamn Mick name, if ya ask me."

Brent leaned forward in the back seat. "Scott Fitzgerald? Jesus Christ. Yeah, he died yesterday. Heart attack, I think they said on the radio."

"You know the guy?" Ace forced the Packard into a hard right turn at Wilshire.

"Personally, no. But I read some of his stuff. Back when he was somebody. He ain't done much lately."

"Except eat the brains of some poor bastard working a Christmas tree lot. A Christmas tree lot, for God's sake. You're right, Ace, only a fuckin' Mick zombie would do something that uncouth. I'm gonna enjoy killing this sonofabitch."

~~~

After a whirlwind of success (approximately 805,503 in single sales), Yuna Ito released her first studio album, HEART. It (obviously) did very well, but is the music any good? If you like my opinions, read on!

~~~

WORKAHOLIC
4:19

Immediately, Yuna starts off the album with a jumpin', up-tempo track full of unclouded thoughts. A 60s vibe carries the insanely catchy and fun melody line with finesse. The bridge features a great booming bassline and cool remix-like features. Violins give us a more contemporary feel. The song is pretty self-explanatory. She works really hard, and she has over the last year. Excellent opening!

ENDLESS STORY
5:03

'ENDLESS STORY', arguably her most popular song, is an interesing transition but gives the audience what they were looking for in the second track: something familiar. It serves to pull the listener into a bit of nostalgia and hook them for the next few songs.

losin'
4:09

Here, 'losin'' is used to guide us into a happier song. The transition for these three tracks (ENDLESS STORY, losin', and Know-how) are excellent.

Know-how
5:21

With a quiet keyboard, and tropical drumming, we float into 'Know-how', a summery number with a pointed Hawai'ian feel. The melody and Yuna's voice are perfect for each other. It shows off her range in an up-tempo number. A backup choir adds harmony during the chorus and the tropical beat doesn't let up. The bridge is an intrumental, choir-fed, ad. lib. session of Yuna and she does a great job. The song is highlight for this album.

Precious
5:45

'Precious' is inserted here to transition into a the slower middle tracks of HEART. This album suffers without the B-sides from this single.

Tender is the Night
4:17

With a strong early-90s feel, a tenor saxophone brings into a throw-back track where Yuna Ito's vocals are outstanding but the song is cheesy. The chorus isn't very memorable and the lyrics are worse. The best part is Yuna falsetto which is shown off in the verses. The rest of the song is a throw-away.

Fragile
3:27

Quick violin trillings opens into a steady beat and another cheesy song. Funk guitars are used along with the violin trillings from the opening. The harmonies become pretty on occasion, but the song is rather annoying at times. The chorus is almost non-existant and that really detracts from the song.

Nobody Knows
5:20

This song borders on okay. The synthpad and keyboarding are used for the most part for the background. The melody is a bit better and the lyrics feel less cheesy. The chorus is better with a good hook. I like the distorted voice in the background and that really is the highpoint in the song. It fades into...

Faith
4:43

This song may be found at its single review, Faith / Pureyes. I wish they had put 'Pureyes' on this.

Stay for Love
4:20

You can find this B-side at its single review Truth.Of all the B-sides of all her single, this is the song they put on HEART? Bad descision I say.

Truth
5:38

This single ballad can be found at Truth. This single track goes here as it is the last chance for a ballad, NOT!

Perfume
4:57

A very slow, thoughtful song, 'Perfume' gives us yet another ballad. I think I hear chirping in the background. Its very long and boring. It's pretty though, but at this point, I'm in ballad fatigue which is bad because guess what's next?

Precious -wedding extended ver.-
6:02

In Yuna's attempt to replicate Namie Amuro's CAN YOU CELEBRATE? we get the seventh ballad on this album. A Japanese gospel choir opens and then a lone violin plays with Yuna as she sings 'Precious'. A harp and a piano join at the pre-chorus. Cymbals and wedding bells add themselves at the chorus and swell to the end. She performs well and the song is very sweet. Its a good ending to HEART.

~~~

So, if you were wondering, you can put too many ballads on an album. You can be too cheesy. Yuna's vocal were top-notch and the songs were okay for the most part. This album really suffered without all the great B-sides from her singles. And why not put 'stuck on you' on here? I'm not sure it deserves the grade it got. When I first listened to this album I was appalled at its mediocrity. It seemed so stupidly cheesy and juevenile. On the second listen-through, I found it bit better. The only thing that this album truly boasted was the first track and a few great singles.

B
85%