Album 8: Lake Street Dive, Free Yourself Up
I was asked the other day to create a playlist for a wedding celebration for two amazing friends, Karen and Alice. I was both completely flattered and utterly anxious since, despite being friends, I did feel like I might lack the deep knowledge of some of their other friends of their tastes and loves. I did my best to find songs that both expressed love, commitment, and what I believed to be their musical interests. It's a really good playlist with everything from Lauryn Hill to Darlingside to the Muppets. But since Alice was a long time contributor to Discography over at Scudder's blog, I knew I also had to find some specific pieces from there. That lead me to this week's review:
Lake Street Dive
Free Yourself Up
2018
Some of my fellow discography bloggers over at Scudder's place have chosen tracks from this album to discuss over the years but that is really the only familiarity I have with this band. Still, I did have some idea what I was in for and I was not disappointed. Let's start at the beginning because, frankly, it is a very good place to start. After the election of Papaya Pinochet, one of the recurring "lemons into lemonade" takes was to proclaim that the art in this era was going to be amazing. Cold comfort to all the artists being targeted by the administration's policies, to be sure. But Lake Street Dive surely took the challenge to (he)art and this is an album dedicated to attacking the current powers that be. In fact, the first lyrics, after just a three note guitar riff, are "Hard times, hard times/When I really need somebody to hold me tight/and tell me that I'm strong", clearly speaking to some of us and our inability to deal with the current cruelty of our nation. And that is soon followed by 'An old man, an old man/ has got his little hands on the button/ feels like there is nothing anyone can do." Not terribly subtle. But Baby Don't Leave Me Alone With My Thoughts is one of those rare tracks from a female fronted band with the message: "Let's just screw so I can forget about how bad everything is but I really don't love you. You cool with that?" Rachael Price absolutely sells it. I just can't see anybody, man or woman, saying no to her request. And, frankly, I am totally here for the basic sentiment that whatever you need to get through these days is a-okay.
You sort of have to love that the very next track is Good Kisser, a lament to an ex to at least validate her carnal skills to all her ex's friends even after a breakup. And again, this is where Rachael's vocals really shine as she belts out the line "Tell 'em I'm a good kisser/Tell 'em I'm a good kisser." The wonderful existential longing and anger make the delivery pretty perfect.
There is a lot of good material on this ten track album. I like Doesn't Even Matter Now, an ode to regretting falling for the "tall drink of gin" who has absolutely no substance behind him, You Are Free, which has a surprisingly catchy chorus and a dirty bass line, but mostly I love Red Light Kisses, a celebration of stolen moments of love. It's good on its own but it gets transcendent when it flips the traditional script of pop songs and the powerful lead female vocalist is back by the male background singers. For too long, soulful, often black, women carried the hits of white male bands. Red Light Kisses does a wonderful job of turning that on its head. And with such a wonderful message: "When you give me those red light/kisses/It's a sure sign/ you love your mister or missus."
Finally, I do have to address one line in the song Dude, an ode to being the woman that the man is happy to bed but no longer wants to engage in any other meaningful way. Rachael sings "Allow me to introduce myself/ I am a hottie you roll with at night/ I am a body, a soul, and a mind/ Lately, you left me behind/ Now we don't seem to talk anymore / We used to kick it like Joe and Obama"... so that last bit has me worried, very worried. (My conservative friends, if you are still here, can probably ignore the rest of this.) There is this assumption, in certain liberal circles, that the current POTUS is some anomaly, and that we can just return to the relative normalcy of a time when Joe and Obama being friends was all that mattered in politics. This vastly undersells the evil and complicity of Mitch McConnell and the rest of the GOP who have decided to abandon all principle for power, money, and lifetime court appointments. Please don't fall for this, my fellow liberals. The current admin is not an anomaly but the obvious conclusion of years of insular thinking on the part of the GOP fed by a propaganda outfit dedicated to their own set of facts. We can't just go back to enjoying brunch.
But, yes, the art is pretty good.
Some of my fellow discography bloggers over at Scudder's place have chosen tracks from this album to discuss over the years but that is really the only familiarity I have with this band. Still, I did have some idea what I was in for and I was not disappointed. Let's start at the beginning because, frankly, it is a very good place to start. After the election of Papaya Pinochet, one of the recurring "lemons into lemonade" takes was to proclaim that the art in this era was going to be amazing. Cold comfort to all the artists being targeted by the administration's policies, to be sure. But Lake Street Dive surely took the challenge to (he)art and this is an album dedicated to attacking the current powers that be. In fact, the first lyrics, after just a three note guitar riff, are "Hard times, hard times/When I really need somebody to hold me tight/and tell me that I'm strong", clearly speaking to some of us and our inability to deal with the current cruelty of our nation. And that is soon followed by 'An old man, an old man/ has got his little hands on the button/ feels like there is nothing anyone can do." Not terribly subtle. But Baby Don't Leave Me Alone With My Thoughts is one of those rare tracks from a female fronted band with the message: "Let's just screw so I can forget about how bad everything is but I really don't love you. You cool with that?" Rachael Price absolutely sells it. I just can't see anybody, man or woman, saying no to her request. And, frankly, I am totally here for the basic sentiment that whatever you need to get through these days is a-okay.
You sort of have to love that the very next track is Good Kisser, a lament to an ex to at least validate her carnal skills to all her ex's friends even after a breakup. And again, this is where Rachael's vocals really shine as she belts out the line "Tell 'em I'm a good kisser/Tell 'em I'm a good kisser." The wonderful existential longing and anger make the delivery pretty perfect.
There is a lot of good material on this ten track album. I like Doesn't Even Matter Now, an ode to regretting falling for the "tall drink of gin" who has absolutely no substance behind him, You Are Free, which has a surprisingly catchy chorus and a dirty bass line, but mostly I love Red Light Kisses, a celebration of stolen moments of love. It's good on its own but it gets transcendent when it flips the traditional script of pop songs and the powerful lead female vocalist is back by the male background singers. For too long, soulful, often black, women carried the hits of white male bands. Red Light Kisses does a wonderful job of turning that on its head. And with such a wonderful message: "When you give me those red light/kisses/It's a sure sign/ you love your mister or missus."
Finally, I do have to address one line in the song Dude, an ode to being the woman that the man is happy to bed but no longer wants to engage in any other meaningful way. Rachael sings "Allow me to introduce myself/ I am a hottie you roll with at night/ I am a body, a soul, and a mind/ Lately, you left me behind/ Now we don't seem to talk anymore / We used to kick it like Joe and Obama"... so that last bit has me worried, very worried. (My conservative friends, if you are still here, can probably ignore the rest of this.) There is this assumption, in certain liberal circles, that the current POTUS is some anomaly, and that we can just return to the relative normalcy of a time when Joe and Obama being friends was all that mattered in politics. This vastly undersells the evil and complicity of Mitch McConnell and the rest of the GOP who have decided to abandon all principle for power, money, and lifetime court appointments. Please don't fall for this, my fellow liberals. The current admin is not an anomaly but the obvious conclusion of years of insular thinking on the part of the GOP fed by a propaganda outfit dedicated to their own set of facts. We can't just go back to enjoying brunch.
But, yes, the art is pretty good.
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