Lloyd Cole kicks off Standards with the album’s only cover, a
rock rendition of John Hartford’s “California Earthquake.” It’s interesting that someone who is known
these days for his acoustic performances would start an album with a rock version
of what is essentially a folk song. But it’s a really good rendition of a song
about the fault line in California. “Atlantis
will rise/Sunset Boulevard will fall/Where the beach used to be there will be
nothing at all.” I really love Lloyd Cole’s vocals. His voice is not a
typical rock voice, and so it really grabs you over that steady rock
rhythm. “They tell me the fault line runs
right through here/So that maybe, that maybe what’s going to happen is going to
happen to me/That’s the way it appears.”
He follows that with “Women’s
Studies,” one of my favorites. It reminds me a bit of Lou Reed, in the vocal
rhythm of the verses, plus the odd humor of lines like “Drinking tea and taking unpaid leave from my women’s studies.” The
chorus has the bright feel of the best of classic pop, the backing vocals
adding to that feel. But the lyrics are anything but usual (“To complete my education I had to wake up in
your bathtub”).
“Myrtle And Rose” is my
personal favorite track. It’s sweeter, mellower, with a passionate feel. It’s
gorgeous and sad, a product of seriously good songwriting. It feels like a
short story, the situation and characters so vividly portrayed. Check out these
lines: “And I would come to you but you'd
be nowhere to be found/So I would turn to her for she was always, always there/Lost
will be the souls of the wanton and the weak/And in the morning she'd be lying
next to me/And I would want for more/And she would give me more.” And I
love this line: “The longer you were gone,
the less the longing” – a line that bears repeating, and so he does repeat
it. This is such a fantastic and moving song, one of the best I’ve heard this
year.
“No Truck” is another
highlight, feeling more like a country folk tune of the sixties or seventies.
Here is a taste of the lyrics: “I have
seen the high road and the low/I found no satisfaction/I have seen the
mountains sweep down to the sea/I heard the music/It's not moving me.” I
also really like the guitar part during the brief instrumental section.
“Opposites Day” is a fun
rock/pop tune that has a playful sense, with lines like “I know you look a lot like me/We are/We really are a sight to see.”
Then after the lines, “Fall in love with
me/Fall in love with you,” he adds “Okay,”
and it’s that “Okay” that makes me
love this tune. And then the second time around, after those lines, it sounds
like he adds “Uh-oh.”
“Silver Lake” is a
delicious, mellow song with some excellent lyrics. Lloyd Cole can really create
a vivid portrait of a moment in a relationship. The song opens, “Put on some make up and dry your eyes/We'll
go to the racetrack and drink some wine/No, I don't love you the way that I
should/Baby, I can't leave you like this.” But the two lines that really
strike me are “I don’t have a second
heart to break” and “I can't stay/But
I can't leave you like this.” The songwriting on this album is truly remarkable.
These are songs that are going to stay with me, particularly this track and “Myrtle
And Rose.”
CD Track List
- California Earthquake
- Women’s Studies
- Period Piece
- Myrtle And Rose
- No Truck
- Blue Like Mars
- Opposites Day
- Silver Lake
- It’s Late
- Kids Today
- Diminished Ex
Standards was released on October 14, 2014 through Omnivore
Recordings.
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