Tuesday 30 December 2014

On reflektion

I had an unusual looking present to open this Christmas. It was a flattish hexagon of uneven length sides, about a foot long at its greatest diameter. I didn't have a clue what it could be and Mr SDS told me with a serious face that it was “a bugger to wrap up”.  What on earth comes in an irregular six-sided package?  Obviously I didn't think it was going to be a CD that I'd been mentioning in the last few weeks. But, tucked up inside two pieces of very weirdly shaped card....    yes...   a CD. Who'd have thought?!

Also, until recently, there's no way I would even have wanted a CD by this band. I've done this all the wrong way round. You're supposed to like a band when they're obscure, underground, for people with esoteric taste only, aren't you... then when, for some reason or other, they become superstars for the masses, that spells the end.  It happened to me with Adam & the Ants; the band I loved in '78 and '79 was really not the same as the one whose image was later to adorn pencil cases for pre-teens, and of course I could never feel the same love for Prince Charming as I had for, say, Deutscher Girls. Although I've liberated myself from the constraints of youthful cliqueiness (is that a word?) any time I get into a  band or artist there's still a little part of me that retains that secret, horribly snobbish dread that they'll desert our exclusive club and go all stadium instead.

Arcade Fire became superstars, didn't they? They never did anything for me, not even in the early days – I saw them on telly some years back and just thought, “There's too many of them” and I wasn't keen on what seemed to me to be too many instruments and not enough tune. Style over substance, I decided.  So from thereon I ended up sort of dismissing them, and when they became really big that seemed enough reason not to revisit.  Then I saw them on the Glastonbury footage this Summer and something inside me changed. Their performance of Rebellion (Lies) was something to behold and I couldn't take my eyes off them. The song kept going through my head and I realised with some surprise that I really liked it.  And that I liked them. Enough to want to hear some more...

I received Reflektor for Christmas and I love it. Who'd have thought?!

The video for the We Exist courted some controversy at the time and the band were criticised for not using a genuine transgender actor.  I know you  probably already know all that but I'm so late on parade...  I just love this track although it always ends up as 'Black Is Black' in my head.

16 comments:

  1. Like you C it was a televised Glastonbury performance albeit a couple of years earlier of Keep the Car Running which belatedly whetted my appetite

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    1. Good for Glastonbury! It's great in some ways when it happens belatedly, isn't it - providing a ready-made back catalogue to pick and choose from!

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  2. I'm a terrible one for slating a band before suddenly seeing the light and raving about them to all and sundry! I've put my foot in it many times over the years, but I think I'm finally learning not to rush into hasty judgement, particularly online, where it can come back to haunt me! That being said, I've been a fan of Arcade Fire since day one, but made my disappointment with 'Reflektor' known to friends when it was released. Of course, after a couple of months I really got into the LP and had to start digging myself out of another self-made hole - d'oh!
    Well played Mr SDS for choosing such a corking pressie!

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    1. It's funny isn't it about not liking bands and then feeling the opposite way - I wonder what changes, us or them?!
      Glad to know you like Reflektor too. I never thought I'd own an Arcade Fire album but you're right - corking!

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  3. That *thing* with music - you just never know when something is suddenly going to connect. I'm another who is far too often quick to dismiss an artist for all sorts of spurious reasons - I really like 'There's too many of them' - but it's good to reassess things and changing your mind is fine in my book. Still, you can't like everything and I *still* can't get into Arcade Fire, I'm afraid. What do I know? Have a fabulously happy new year.

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    1. That's so true, SB, it's good to reassess things every now and then. I also find that if the attraction isn't instant, it often lasts longer when it finally clicks. Sometimes I'm mad for something at the start and then it wears off really quickly... but changing our minds is all part of the fun. I completely understand that you still can't get into AF, as I was saying exactly the same earlier on this year.

      Have a fabulously happy new year yourself, Mr B!

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  4. Happy New Year to you and Mr SDS

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    1. Thank you CC - hope yours has started well too!

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  5. Rebellion (lies) is stunning- I saw it on the tv and was blown away. I loved their first album and have faded so fit in completely with your description.

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    1. I think I'll have to check out the first album - but I can't help wondering if Reflektor will be a bit of a one-off for me... we'll see!

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  6. They got in trouble for not using a real transgendered actor? What does that even mean? Same puritans...different concerns.

    The very best for you...you two...in the New Year.

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    1. I know, I know.. don't get it myself...

      You too!

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  7. Hiya. I've not listened to Reflektor but I will now - on your recommendation. I know that David Bowie is into Arcade Fire and he's always a good arbiter of taste.
    And I know what you mean about Adam And The Ants too. I saw them during their Dirk Wears White Sox period and they were brilliant; nothing like the Prince Charming Ants at all.
    I used to quite like a band called the Psychedelic Furs, particularly their first album. There was just something very special about them and they seemed to fit in with early Ants and even Crass. They totally lost it, however, when Pretty In Pink was turned into a film and they went all Americanized. I met one of them, actually, at a party once on a canal boat in Amsterdam and I'm afraid I was rather gushing towards him, saying how utterly special they were - up until them becoming a stadium-type band following Pretty In Pink. He then said that he wasn't actually with the band in their early days, that it was only following the success of Pretty In Pink that he had joined. I can laugh about it now but at the time it was a classic faux pas.
    And talking of transgenders, have you heard (and seen the video to) Pass It On by The Knife? If not, check it out on You Tube. You may like it.
    http://youtu.be/gKhjaGRhIYU

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    1. Hi John, I hope you will like Reflektor too - you can certainly hear shades of Bowie in it (he makes a guest appearance on the title track too) and I also thought of Suede and even Morrissey at times... I'm really enjoying it.

      I saw the Ants too - in the Spring of '79 - very good and very arty, so unlike what they became. I still have a soft spot for Adam, despite all that, as long as I put the later stuff out of my mind!

      And I used to like the early Psychedelic Furs too! I bought Talk Talk Talk at the time with Pretty In Pink on it, but nothing after that. I love your anecdote...!

      Thanks too for The Knife video - not a name I knew before - both song and film are very compelling.

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  8. Do people still buy CDs....only joking and it is pretty good too! You will be buying Dylan Cds next....start with Blonde on Blonde you won't be dissapointed

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    1. Never say never... but you may still have a long wait!

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