sick sick sick, plus new Bowie album

[solipsistnation]

Since Sunday night, even. Monday I went to work and had the feeling that it would be the last they saw of me for a while. Tuesday I could barely breathe or move in the morning. Wednesday I slept all day, got up and played video games until I got tired again, and slept again. Today I got up and decided it was time to go to work, went off, sat in my chair feeling dizzy and being unpleasant at the helpdesk people (for good reasons, but less pleasant than maybe I should have been), started getting major chills, and decided it was time to go home again.

Now I'm sitting here shivering (although it's 70ish in here) waiting for lunch to get cool enough that I can eat it. My hands are shaking and my legs feel weak. Unlike jehanna, I haven't had the phlegm nightmare experience, but I've certainly been more congested than usual. I don't know what the hell this is-- probably some kind of flu-like doom virus. I just feel like crap. Weak and shivery and shaky.

This makes two useless weeks in a row now. I cancelled all my happy plans last week because the mail server blew up. I've been cancelling all my happy plans this week because I'm too sick to do anything. I want a week of all my good stuff, sometime soon. Otherwise I will probably blow up.

Oh, and I'm pretty disappointed in the new Bowie album. It doesn't even have that "will probably grow on me" feeling-- it's just kinda there. "Never Grow Old" is an okay song, but there are no real single-sounding tracks, either. "Try Some, Buy Some" sounds like a muddled outtake from 'hours...'.

I think Bowie is slipping back into one of his bad habits from the 80's. Most of his hits from the 80's (aside from the Tin Machine stuff) were pretty much long outros without a song in front of them. Listen to, say, "Modern Love" and think of it as a really long fadeout. It's got all the hallmarks-- repeated chorus things, repeated hooks, slight variations each time, and no real structure besides "A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-etc." If it had an actual song in front of it, and if it were shorter than three or four minutes long, it'd be a great outro. As it is, it's a repetetive song with no real structure. A few of the tracks on Reality sound like he's doing that again.

Also, he's throwing in Americanisms that don't really fit with his voice-- the chorusy "Lookin' lookin'" parts in "Looking For Water," for example, and, really, the whole of "Pablo Picasso."

I dunno. Maybe next week I'll be raving about it, but for now I'm sort of vaguely disappointed. I haven't listened to the bonus disc yet, either, so maybe that'll have something redeeming on it. For now, I'm going to go listen to the last half of Heathen again (mostly for "5:15 The Angels Have Gone", but also for the beautifully cynical "Everyone Says 'Hi'"), and maybe 'hours...', which has become one of my favorite of his albums.

I've also got the new Killing Joke CD, which enough people have recommended that I'm taking the chance, especially after the horrible horrible utterly rotten Democracy, which would have ended the careers of any band with less momentum behind them. Have to see how this one does... For the sake of this, I present once again my Jaz Coleman Memorial User Icon.

Oh, and this article on The Onion made me laugh my sorry ass off, and then suddenly stop and think, "heeey....."

Comments

[usagijer.livejournal.com]

"Pablo Picasso."
is this a cover of Jonathan Richman's "Pablo Picasso"?

Some people try to pick up girls, and get called an asshole
This never happened to Pablo Picasso
Why, he could walk down the streets, and girls could not resist his stare.
Pablo Picasso was never called an Asshole.

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

Yep, sure is.

And Bowie's delivery doesn't do it much justice, I'm afraid. It really needs an American to sing it.

[dariusk.livejournal.com]

Okay, so your reference to "Everyone Says Hi" just makes me want to destroy that bongo track (the only track on Amplitude on Insane mode that I can't consistently beat).

And as for that Onion article... when the guy says, "The city of Boston is about more than just Mission Of Burma..." he is flat out wrong. Sorry, but Boston is only about Mission of Burma.

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

Heh. I haven't played it enough to get to Insane yet, but considering who's saying so, I'll certainly take your word for it.

Have you heard the original? It's much mellower.

And NO! Boston is about THINK TREE!

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

No, Boston is about Orangutang.

That is all.

[mindways]

Sorry you're feeling cruddy. Have you heard about the giant piggies?

[z-gryphon.livejournal.com]

Mother of God!

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

Dude. I want one.

To ride.

"Hi-ho Squeaky, AWAAAAAY!"

[greyarea.livejournal.com]

From one sick puppy to another:

Get well soon.

[trystero.livejournal.com]

I'm a little startled that you think "Everyone Says 'Hi'" is cynical... I think that song is about as close to sincerity as Mr. B has ever danced. Bittersweet, yes: cynical, though, I don't think I'd agree with.

I have the new album now, but haven't bothered listening to it yet: I'm waiting for the mood to strike...

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

Mm. I thought it was an examination of insincere people.

For sincere, I think you have to turn to 'hours...', which I think is about as sincere as he's ever gotten. Maybe he's just such a great showman that he fooled me, though.

[trystero.livejournal.com]

I think "Everyone Says 'Hi'" is about death... specifically, death as viewed by a child. It's a sad song in the form of a happy little love letter to someone who's gone away, written by someone who hasn't been told the truth ("they said you moved away...") and who consequently doesn't understand that there's no returning from this particular "big trip".

Bowie's said in some interviews (including this one) that the song was prompted by the feelings he had when his father died. But even before I'd read that comment, I felt that it had something to do with loss: it hit upon some of the feelings I had about my own father's death.

It's a terribly bittersweet song, and still my favourite track from Heathen, beating out even "5.15 The Angels Have Gone"...

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

Hm, okay. I hadn't read any interviews, so I didn't know that. That's interesting, and gives it a new light. I thought the "they said you sailed a big ship" was an Eno reference, too, heh.

"5.15" is still my favorite... Beautiful and sparse. I'm a sucker for train imagery, though. "Just last night, I found myself lost in the station called King's Cross..."