tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2367859846495854541.post3646103450125333486..comments2008-01-21T23:45:40.685-05:00Inverarityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09838650110847975337noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2367859846495854541.post-62400684362883219332008-01-21T23:45:00.000-05:002008-01-21T23:45:00.000-05:00Have you heard the cover version by Penelope Houston (famously of The Avengers)? It's on her CD <I>The Pale Green Girl</I>. It is an exquisite version; while it trades off some of the intimacy of Cale's original, it has a piercing sense of pain in the vocal, offset by the magical arrangement. <BR/><BR/>I would say that the lyrics also speak to the concept of enclosure, which is a long-standing motif in English history. As is using the Army to transfer wealth from the inhabitants to the plutocracy. There's a reason why the key line in the bridge opens with "then soldiers came..."johnny marimbanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2367859846495854541.post-16009394163468646362007-08-04T20:12:00.000-04:002007-08-04T20:12:00.000-04:00Cale calls the song a "European version of the Old West." I seem to recall that he was shooting for an Aaron Copland feel to the song; he felt that Copland's best music captured the vastness of the great plains in a way that few others could.<BR/><BR/>I love the choir and the strings. They effectively amplify the expansiveness of the song, evoking endless blue, cloud-spotted Great Plains skies. The strings on the middle eight are composed brilliantly, avoiding cliche but tugging on the heartstrings. <BR/><BR/>The piano is miked amazingly, too, and there's just enough reverb to change the sound without sounding silly. And do you hear the metallic hissing in the background of each verse? It's terribly subtle, but once you hear it you can't miss it - it makes me think of railyards and steam locomotives.<BR/><BR/>The only sin of the studio version is Cale's pinched-sounding vocal on the first verse - but the first verse on the Fragments version is a little clunky too. So it goes. I think the studio version is the more definitive.<BR/><BR/>The version on Circus Live, with electronic percussion and floaty guitar, is interesting, but doesn't work for me. There's no piano; the song doesn't work without it. The acoustic guitar is barely audible and there's no interesting rhythm. It's overlong and too solo-heavy, too.<BR/><BR/>P.S. The length distribution is once again illustrative:<BR/>Fear: 3 minutes 29 seconds<BR/>Fragments: 2 min 47 s<BR/>Circus Live: 4 min 7 sInverarityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09838650110847975337noreply@blogger.com