Lana Del Rey - Honeymoon (2015)

I think I may have mentioned it once before, but I plan on revisiting a few super old posts from over a year ago when I was just making posts that consisted of a sentence or two and ending with a remark as to why you should own something on vinyl.  Fast forward to now where I have the same thing with videos and sound clips and about 10 paragraphs ending quite the same way.  (Perhaps I should consider a format change soon?)  Regardless, one of those old posts was Lana Del Rey's  (LDR) Ultraviolence from last year.  The reason that I need to revisit that post and others is, that I have a lot more to say about it that I just couldn't condense into a few sentences.  That said, here we are a year later with another album from LDR, that for different reasons is just as good as, if not better than Ultraviolence.  

At some point LDR figured that she was done with making new music and we almost never saw Ultraviolence.  At the time, given the experimental psychedelic indie rock I'm sure a lot of people felt the same way.  It would have been a career highlight that's for sure.  How was anyone to know that just a few months after the release of Ultraviolence that she would begin work on her 4th studio album, today's pick, Honeymoon.  I made mention of how good this album might be when the video for Honeymoon was released.  

Honeymoon

So here's where things get awesome.  This woman is downright sultry.  She may have the oldest soul of any 30 year old around.  There's a haunting mystique behind everything she does.  Whether it's a short film not to dissimilar from above or her music.  It's almost like she sings as if she were an art noir piece.  Kind of like music you would see in a fine art museum as it were.  There aren't too many mainstream artists in the world that can make even the most downright bizarre lyrics sound like a story you want to hear.  I'll even go a step farther, she has always had a way of making the most vulgar lyrics sound NPR ready, turns out they're good too.

High By The Beach

High By The Beach was the first official video/single released in August from this album, and it's easy to figure why.  It's got a very generic beat, and "fuck the norm" lyrics, that combined made for a very marketable single.  It was also about as close anything from Ultraviolence, her biggest selling album,  as you're going to hear.  

Music To Watch Boys To

The 2nd single, Music To Watch Boys To, sounds like something that that a self aware teenager would write about in her journal.  Somehow, you might feel a little dirty listening in on it.  Nothing wrong with that ,as a matter of fact, I'm going to be bold and suggest that LDR has succeeded in making pop music for adults.  How awesome would it be if there were a mainstream movement in where more artists did just that.  Drown out the repetitive candy pop that lever so popular now?  Sure it exists in spades, bot not everyone is fortunate enough to live in a major city where live music venues cater to that regularly.  You shouldn't have to live in LA, NY, Seattle or Boston to hear great music.  (Clearly a lot of you don't cause you're listening to it here, shout out to the fans in Russia!)

This album released in September, debuted at #2 on the charts.  Once again, LDR partnered with Urban Outfitters for a "limited" edition vinyl version of this album which looks great, and sounds really good for colored vinyl.  Both records are candy red translucent and it includes a 16 page picture book inside of that huge gate fold.  It felt great to open, but I didn't get it from Urban Outfitters.  A reader of this blog sent it to me, and for that I thank you kind stranger.  (Hey, my Discogs want list is right up top, just sayin...)    I will never advocate Urban Outfitters as a destination for your vinyl needs, however, I'm not going to stop you either.  Vinyl is vinyl, and I say if you can stomach Urban Outfitters Hipster chic, go for it.  You can alternatively find the regular release of this album, but it's a bit more difficult as it wasn't given a proper North American release, any standard vinyl release will be an import for now. 

Next week, it's all about the throw back, classic 80's cheese. {Giggles}