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| yes, that is me with The Longest Johns. yes, I'm still freaking out about it. |
An' it's my apologies to ye, but ye still don' get to hear about Rome. (Wait! Don't leave! Today's post is still going to be fun! Maybe I shouldn't have started like that...) But! Rome next week I promise! Once I've not been travelling quite so much. Three weeks of travel is a lot. And lemme tell you, it's a lot to write blog posts in advance for, too, good grief. So don't give me any guff.
So instead of Rome, and because when I was writing this post my brain was fried (weeks of school and only a few hours before one has to leave for London and from there to Rome will do that to you) I'm going to talk to you about the Best (and Last) Thing I Did Before I Left.
Which was...
(drumroll please)
I WENT TO SEE THE LONGEST JOHNS IN CONCERT!
I know I haven't talked a whole lot on here about my love for TLJ (which, for the record, was very much sparked by The Grim Writer, long may she reign, and then nurtured by my siblings, long may they reign, and I'm hoping they don't kill me for getting to see TLJ without them) but I hope I've mentioned them (or at least their songs) enough that this isn't a bolt from the blue?
Anyway. I actually hadn't known that they were a UK-based band, which feels, in retrospect, like a massive facepalm, but I figured it out pretty quickly when I was headed over here and learned that they were doing a massive tour that, incidentally, would come to Sheffield. Tickets, my friends, were bought in a hurry.
And GOOD GRACIOUS the concert did not disappoint. I went to said concert on the last day before I left for Rome, and I'm writing this post in the wee hours of the morning before my departure, so apologies if there are any parts of it that are slightly incoherent but asldfkadnasdk;aksldj;akljs;afsld THEY ARE SO GOOD IN CONCERT.
Like. The energy. Was insane. They were literally bouncing all over the stage, joking, doing ridiculous things, and having an amazing time, but at the same time, you could tell that each of the guys in the band was showing his own personality in his stage presence and not pushing himself to be someone he wasn't.
Also, the lighting was out of this world insane.
(It was also very, very loud, but I somehow loved that about it? It was like a whole body sound immersion thingy.)
PLUS.
GOOD GRIEF was the show list chosen well. They just released a new album, Voyage, so obviously there were a whole bunch of Voyage songs in the set, but they also mixed in older ones from multiple of their albums (possibly all of them?), and I think they did songs in Sheffield that they didn't do other places in reference to the fact that Sheffield is a steel town. There were definitely references to that.
Like. They care about a sense of place. How cool is that?
Also, they didn't just do serious songs? They did some of their goofy songs like "Hoist Up The Thing", and "Moby Duck".
AND. Y'ALL. THEY DID "OAK & ASH & THORN". I squealed. Out loud. (There WILL be a nerdy "Oak & Ash & Thorn" post at some point, that much I promise you.)
Also, their ending songs (which are important to get right) were spot on perfect (THEY DID WILD MOUNTAIN THYME), and they did not one but two encores. I knew I liked these people.
(And! And! It was as really small venue, although well-attended, so I got to meet them afterwards?? And take a picture with them? Hence the quite blurred picture from the post graphic, as I still have a no-face-on-the-internet policy for myself.)
Okay now that I'm done freaking out about this (except I'm not, but y'know. moot point.) we'll get to the actual point of this post which is that because I'm in a freaking-out-about-TLJ mood, I'm going to review their new album!
I have Grim to thank for this, too, actually, because she was like "SAM IF YOU'RE GOING TO SEE THEM LIVE YOU HAVE TO BE FAMILIAR WITH THEIR NEW ALBUM" and she was absolutely right, and now I love it, so there you are. This isn't going to be nearly as nerdy as a Grim post, but my plan is to go through and talk just a bit about each song (mostly what I think of it), give it a rating, and then give the album an overall rating. Savvy? I've never done one of these before, so I hope it's fun. I'm having fun, that's for sure.
When I say it's not going to be as nerdy as a Grim post, what I really mean is "some of these songs are TLJ originals, and some of them are actually really old folk songs, and while I did read up on that while writing this post, that's not what the point of the post is, so if you want to know, you can go look it up yourself on The Longest Song." ;)
(The ones that they did live I'm going to mark with an asterisk, just for fun and stuff. :P)
we'll all be well tonight/we'll all be well tonight/'cause there's money in our pockets and the Llandoger's in sight
This is the song that TLJ started the concert with, which is absolutely perfect, because it starts with "good evening, aren't we lucky to be here right now?". And I may or may not have almost started crying. But gosh, this song is definitely one of my favourites on this album. It just covers all the bases. It starts with gratitude to be where the narrator is, has a rollicking middle, references Stevenson and Defoe, and then has a quieter bit at the ending...the soft, lilting repetition of "we'll all be well tonight" gets me every dang time.
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whisky, whisky, whisky-o/up aloft this yard must go
This was another one that TLJ did live, and while it's not one of my favourites, I still enjoy the slightly dark shanty vibes (it's a legit Halyard Shanty from the 19th century). Rising her up from down below and all that. Plus, as my friends will tell you (partially in jest), I do like my whiskey...
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big wheel keep on turnin'/Proud Mary keep on burnin'/and we're rollin', rollin'/rollin' on the river
It always makes me laugh when TLJ does songs that are clearly from/for the US, because, as I learned, they're a UK group, but songs like this faked me out! This isn't one of the flashiest songs on the album, but it's solid. It's got a good, rolling beat, and is a lot of fun to sing along to.
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it's not the leaving of Liverpool that grieves me/but my darling, when I think of thee
The cheerfullest departure song ever, and it was perfect as one of the last songs in the set that TLJ did. It's definitely their vibe, and I'm not joking when I say it's the cheerfullest departure song ever--the narrator's singing about all these places he's going to go and incidentally being like "yeah, nope, not sad to leave, but kinda sad to leave you! but y'know, I think it's gonna be a while before I get back! see ya!" XD It's a fun one, albeit not one of my absolute favourites.
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mutiny, mutiny, chaos in spades/mutiny, mutiny, every few days
This is, no surprise, Eomer's favourite song on this new album. Honestly, though, I don't blame him, because it's a lot of fun to sing along, especially the yelling "mutiny!" part. Also, it reminds me of "Hoist Up The Thing", in terms of the whole 'inept captain/seafarer' goofy song vibe. And it actually made me think seriously about the whole 'you've been freed/do you know how hard it is to lead?' thing from Hamilton.
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I thought I heard the old man say/John Barleycorn will soon lie in his grave
Okay, this song took a while to grow on me, but GOOD GRIEF once I listened to the lyrics a couple of times, it's not only a super good rhythmic work song/slightly dark shanty (as TLJ does so well) it incorporates a whole bunch of harvest lore from England/Scandinavia that I know about because I am a NERD. Like, the John Barleycorn thing? John Barleycorn is the traditional personification of the harvest, and (I think) associated with some of the harvest traditions, like the making of the last sheaf into a specific shape, and then having the young men chase one of the girls with it, or something like that. And the "One for the rook, one for the crow, one will wither and one will grow" thing? Farmers would actually plant four grains in each hole for this very reason. Nerdy appreciation.
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"oh, what will you do there?" said Milder to Maulder/"oh we may not tell you" said Festle to Foes/"we'll hunt the Cutty Wren" said John the Red Nose
This is another one that took time to grow on me (songs often do) but once it did...the lilt of the song, and the question-and-answer nature of it (so classic of folk songs), and the strangely mythical hunting of the Cutty Wren! (Which is apparently associated with the 14th century peasant rebellion, and druidic practices, so...fascinating stuff right there.) I also feel like it reminds me of another folk song of a similar formulaic style that I really like, but I can't think of it off the top of my head. Also, the shift into the higher register later in the song? HECK YEAH.
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for Greenland is a hell of a place/it's a place that's never green
The chorus of this song always makes me chuckle--finally, someone's calling Greenland out, as it deserves! It doesn't stand out to me in terms of story or music, but I will say that singing "where there's ice and there's snow and the whale fishes blow" is a lot of fun.
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will they ever know of our last goodbye?/in the cold and dark of the crushing night
This song has a really fascinating sound to it, almost cold and clear like the White Frontier. Gotta respect a piece of art that's thematically cohesive, amiright? While I'm not a huge fan of most frontier stories (which apparently includes music as well because I'm LAME) I do enjoy listening to this one in a general way. :) Also, bonus points for excellent use of the word "charnel".
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one hundred feet from shore/we will hear their voice no more/though I'd swear I heard them calling on the wind
THIS SONG. I'm definitely a big fan of tragedy songs, partially because sad things are touching, and partly because sad songs often have that lilting sound that I love so much. This song, written by one of the band members about a disaster just off a small British island, delivers on both counts, and I love it for it. (And honestly don't have a lot of words for it? Just. It's. So. Good.)
⭐⭐⭐⭐
they were going to the church to be married/he was pressed and sent to sea
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there's a wicked captain/by the name of Maggie Gray
Gonna be honest, not as much a fan of this one. It's somewhat fun to listen to, but I feel like it's kinda depressing and repetitive. I just generally don't like songs about captains who mistreat their crew? I don't know what that says about me, and if it's a good thing or a bad thing. XD
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and it's hard on the beech oar/she moves too slow
THIS song, however, I like a great deal. The beat? The chorus? The simplicity but un-repetitiveness of the lyrics? Sign. Me. Up. I need to find someone to sing this one with, because I have a feeling it'd be really fun to sing with other people and/or in a group. (Also, brownie points for Shawneetown being in Illinois. ;))
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take off your dungaree jackets/and give yourselves a rest/and think of them cold nor'westers/we had in Paddy West
I could take or leave the story of this one (about sailors faking their way onto a ship by saying things that are technically true), but I love the lilting rhythm of it, and I especially love the chorus. Even though I know it's a going-to-sea song, it also feels like a coming home song, and I'm a fan.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Well, it appears to be...
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GRRRRRRRR
ReplyDeleteIn defense of Maggie's Ship: It's NOT depressed crew members complaining about how sad they are, it's like a bunch of coworkers mock-whining about their boss and how hard their lives are. If you look at it like that, it's light-hearted!
Other ratings are fine.
Eomer
I'm going to take the overall tone of this comment as a result of your jet lag... ;)
DeleteI can see that as a possible interpretation, but I still don't like it! The bits where Maggie's talking don't help with her horrible-person image...