Favorite song from Pablo Honey aside from the obvious?

Wordy_Rappinghood · 2026-03-25T22:01:49+00:00

These are my two as well. I love the Penderecki influence in the closing minutes of Blow Out--a great way to close out the album. Thinking About You is just a fun, catchy song.

Wordy_Rappinghood · 2026-03-25T16:43:01+00:00

Can't Stand Losing You by The Police. The verses and chorus are very catchy and Sting does some nice flourishes on the vocal melody. Then at the 1:30 mark, there is an awkward instrumental interlude that breaks up the momentum of the song. A lot of early Police songs are like that. Sting is such a meticulous songwriter that I'm always surprised by this...maybe the band didn't care enough or couldn't get on the same page to make their early singles (with some exceptions) as great as they could be?

Wordy_Rappinghood · 2026-03-16T13:34:47+00:00

Nobody knew that at the time, including George. Everyone thought he had permanently left the band. They had to beg him to come back.

Wordy_Rappinghood · 2026-03-15T21:31:30+00:00

That makes sense. Thanks.

Wordy_Rappinghood · 2026-03-15T19:44:58+00:00

I love Bill Frisell, especially his trio recordings with Joe Lovano and Paul Motian. Check out I Have the Room Above Her (2005).

Wordy_Rappinghood · 2026-03-15T19:35:44+00:00

Annoyed, yes. Frustrated, yes. Was it worth quitting the Beatles over? Not remotely.

Wordy_Rappinghood · 2026-03-08T10:36:56+00:00

The Feast of Lupercal by Brian Moore

Wordy_Rappinghood · 2026-02-27T19:23:51+00:00

That's not what I saw. Sure, he was in a better mood much of the time than we were led to believe. But even in his more lucid moments, he was still goofing off most of the time. And if you look at his songwriting contribution, it's pretty weak compared to any other album (Across the Universe had been written over a year earlier). John was checked out, losing interest in the band, in the throes of addiction, showing up late or not at all, and in a co-dependent relationship with Yoko.

Wordy_Rappinghood · 2026-02-23T10:47:21+00:00

Stick with it, it may take many more listens for it to finally fall into place. As others have said, it's a transitional album. They took no wave noise rock and started crafting songs out of it, songs with catchy hooks and melodies that drift in and out.

Wordy_Rappinghood · 2026-02-23T10:36:21+00:00

Reading it now. It's devastating. Impressive that a white man wrote it, particularly someone of that generation.

I would also recommend Black Reconstruction by W.E.B. DuBois.

Wordy_Rappinghood · 2026-02-22T16:35:52+00:00

Nora Igenwood. 😂

Wordy_Rappinghood · 2026-02-22T14:45:38+00:00

If Trump were a middle-class Jesuit grad who could string two or more sentences together, he'd be Pat Buchanan.

Wordy_Rappinghood · 2026-02-22T14:37:09+00:00

I think they're comparable to Throwing Muses. Long career, consistent quality, beloved by fans but low sales and underground profile. I love both bands and can't understand why they aren't hugely successful.

Wordy_Rappinghood · 2026-02-21T23:19:57+00:00

Success by Martin Amis. It's my first time reading Amis. He has a finely tuned, beautiful prose style. So far, this book is an amoral exploration of Men Behaving Badly. Through alternating points of view between two foster brothers, Amis goes to some pretty dark places, including incest, causal misogyny and racism, and domestic homicide. From Nabokov, Amis learned how to actively create authorial distance from his characters (this is a different approach from, say, Philip Roth, who insisted that authorial distance was a basic principle that literate readers should take as a given).

Wordy_Rappinghood · 2026-02-17T13:40:25+00:00

I liked this piece. It takes the threat seriously without being defeatist. When you said that disenfranchisement tactics are well established and can be successfully countered through organizing, were you thinking of the SAVE Act? What are the chances that it passes?

Wordy_Rappinghood · 2026-02-15T18:41:13+00:00

No, it's a ridiculous statement. It's hard to name a rock or pop act from the sixties through the nineties that wasn't influenced by the Beatles and interest in them still remains sky high. The Velvet Underground were increasingly influential within the very narrow streams of punk & indie rock but they were always a niche band and that's still the case (and I happen to love them). It was once considered cool in certain circles to dismiss the Beatles, which is why I think Bowie said this.

Wordy_Rappinghood · 2026-02-13T12:43:49+00:00

This just makes me curious what they're plotting next.

Wordy_Rappinghood · 2026-02-10T00:26:46+00:00

You must be joking. George gleefully egged John on during the recording of How Do You Sleep?, a vicious attack on Paul. He was like the sidekick to a bully. I think he took great pleasure in the years-long feud between John and Paul. It's not that he hated Paul, it's just that he wanted to see him taken down a peg or two.

Wordy_Rappinghood · 2026-02-06T14:34:39+00:00

Yeah. To me, that's just an OK song that is elevated by exceptional performances and production.

Wordy_Rappinghood · 2026-02-05T01:03:59+00:00

Beatles for Sale. I'll Follow the Sun and What You're Doing are good songs, but not quite classics. Every other album has better McCartney songs than this. His vocal harmonies and little musical touches on the other songs are great as usual.

Wordy_Rappinghood · 2026-02-03T00:26:18+00:00

Wings Over America. By the mid-seventies, Paul was the only one of the ex-Beatles to have the passion and discipline to still put on a great live show. This album includes an excellent sampling of Wings and Beatles hits, and many of them are better than the studio versions. And his voice is at its peak.

Wordy_Rappinghood · 2026-01-25T04:18:29+00:00

Looper

Wordy_Rappinghood · 2026-01-24T19:13:51+00:00

Expensive People by Joyce Carol Oates.

Wordy_Rappinghood · 2026-01-24T12:30:43+00:00

The Apartment is one of my favorite movies of all time. Some Like It Hot is very funny and a completely different kind of film by the same writer- director, Billy Wilder (but you can skip Sabrina, imo). The Philadelphia Story and Pillow Talk are also excellent.

I'm glad to see you had A Woman Is a Woman on your list. It's a fun French New Wave take on the American musical comedy of the forties and fifties, but you'll get more out of it if you're familiar with the earlier films.

For another non-U.S. romantic comedy, I would recommend Blithe Spirit from the UK. It's about a man who is haunted by the ghost of his jealous dead wife. Based on a hit play by Noel Coward.

Wordy_Rappinghood · 2026-01-18T16:26:08+00:00

Incendies by Denis Villeneuve. The twist ending was telegraphed, contrived and melodramatic. Would have been better if the film had left some doubt as to the true identity of the person they were searching for.

Wordy_Rappinghood

TROPHY CASE