A Vs B: Part 3 - Kanye West vs Jay-Z

These comparisons won’t always involve great expertise or indeed superfandom. Neither is hip-hop my natural milieu nor am I completely familiar with all of Kanye or Jay-Z’s back catalogue.

But I’ve listened to both quite a lot, and I like both quite a lot, and I think their friendship/rivalry is pretty interesting. I was also amused to discover that both share birthdays with close relatives of mine, so I looked up to see if I also shared a birthday with a titan of rap. I found Coolio. Oh well …

They are the only two rappers to have headlined Glastonbury, Jay-Z in 2008 and West in 2015. How the two sets went down is instructive. Probably there was more pressure on Jay-Z, being the first and with more consistent luddite outcry, but his set was a triumph. He got the crowd onboard with his covers (inc Wonderwall and Rehab) and converted many new fans. At that point (pre ‘Empire State of Mind’) he didn’t actually have that many massive UK hits (not including Crazy in Love and Umbrella, on which he was very much in a supporting role. )

Whereas people somewhat assumed Kanye West would be a triumph. 2015 was pretty much peak “Kanye is a genius” … not only was he an acclaimed artist, he also had an awful lot of well-known bangers he could call on. Yet his set was odd, and in the end, a disappointment. He read the crowd wrong, basically. It’s not that the songs weren’t good, he just didn’t really provide a great show, chose the wrong guest (Bon Iver, big in indie but not Glastonbury-headline exciting) and the wrong cover (Bohemian Rhapsody, dreadful). His judgement was poor. It was weird. He didn’t control the narrative.

A pretty simplistic comparison is that Jay-Z is like the hip-hop Rolling Stones and Kanye West thinks he’s the hip-hop Beatles, but he’s more like …hmm … I don’t think ELO is quite right, maybe … Queen – maybe he thinks that himself actually, maybe that’s what Bohemian Rhapsody was all about (though of course Queen famously seized their big gig). He is capable of brilliance, but there is so much excess, all his albums have induced boredom and the skip button in me at some point.

Whereas I’d say Jay-Z is generally compelling, concise, funny, clear-headed. When I listen to Kanye West there are a lot of attention-seeking phrases which turn out to be not much more than self-serving wordplay gibberish. I think the thread, the point of Jay-Z songs is nearly always clear.

You know, these kind of things by and large come down to “whose voice do you prefer”, “whose rhymes do you prefer”, “who’s done more great songs” but I do think, with major hip-hop artists more than in other genres, staying congruent and steering clear of being ludicrous is pretty important. Kanye West has seriously damaged the acclaim in which he might be held, and I think that infects his music.

What else? Kanye West’s music is exhausting. Even his best albums are exhausting. At his best, there’s a punkish, claustrophobic questioning brilliance to what he does with both music and words, but you can never just settle into it. And too often, when it challenges you, you don’t end up going “god, that’s something I hadn’t considered before” but “you know, that’s just silly”.

At his worst, Jay Z is still pretty decent, whereas Kanye West, at his worst, is dreadful. Honestly, I think I started out thinking it was quite close between them, but the more I listen to them, it’s really not close.

A vs B: Part 2 - Blue vs Court and Spark

And for my next trick …

Sometimes, I’ll pit two entities against each other which both have strong arguments and weigh those up, but here, you know, this isn’t terribly close, and isn’t generally thought to be.

There’s nothing controversial or interesting about saying I like Joni Mitchell’s ‘Blue’ better than her ‘Court and Spark’. ‘Blue’ is pretty universally agreed to be Mitchell’s masterpiece. It’s either, at any given time, my favourite, second favourite or third album in the world.

Firstly, I should say I have a pretty weird internal thing going on where comparing Joni Mitchell to Bob Dylan has been, over the last few years, my personal testing ground for whether I’m utterly in thrall to the patriarchal received truth of things.

Quite a lot of intelligent voices (not just David Crosby) have said in recent times that Mitchell should not just be seen as the great female songwriter but the great songwriter full stop, whose musicality and originality place her above Dylan. A little challenged by this, I have tried to give the same amount of time and effort to listening to and reading about Joni as I used to with Bob.

Well, I think, after all that, I’m still in thrall to the patriarchy, sadly, but I do think I should stop comparing Mitchell to Dylan and instead compare her to herself.

So … Bob Dylan was inspired by ‘Blue’ to write ‘Tangled Up in Blue’ whereas he fell asleep in a playback of ‘Court and Spark’ …. ha, no that’s all …

Firstly, it’s not entirely “apples and pears” to compare them. ‘Court and Spark’ was Mitchell’s most commercially successful album at the time and is still highly acclaimed, usually, I’d say the second of her albums in all-time lists.

‘Blue’ and ‘Court and Spark’ are 2 ½ years apart, but it sounds longer. ‘Court and Spark’ marks a “progression” – vocally, in arrangements, in maturity of the subject matter. But … it’s all a bit boring.

Compared to ‘Blue’, there’s so little jeopardy. Maybe it’s about the men (jeezus, no …). But the subjects of the ‘Blue’ heartache were songwriters like James Taylor, Graham Nash and Leonard Cohen. ‘Court and Spark’ is about Hollywood lotharios like Warren Beatty. Much duller.

And she is involved but also amused and distant. ‘Help Me’’s first lines are “Help me, I think I’m falling in love again”. Imagine those lines on ‘Blue’ the potential power and desperation they might possess.

Whereas here, they’re just a gentle sigh. Silly me, she says. She doesn’t actually need any help.

Don’t get me wrong, ‘Help Me’ is a great song, one of the best on the album. It’s her most successful pop song, and it’s a great tune.

In fact, the album starts brilliantly. I love the title track – it hints and intrigues, it takes its time and solves the mystery of the album’s slightly odd title.

After those two, it’s ‘Free Man in Paris’ – again, considered something of a classic – and sure, it’s a good song, but, you know, I always feel the chorus doesn’t scan that well, does it … “I felt unfettered and alive … “ “stoking the starmaker machinery behind the popular song …”. It’s all a bit Manics-y, no? And, you know, who cares that much how tough things are for billionaire music executives?

Still, strong start … but then … honestly, the album gradually loses me every time. It’s like ‘Swingers’ or something, just an indistinct blur of barely intriguing playboys and parties, of the geography of LA and somewhat involved observations.

‘Blue’ cuts with every word, every chord, yet is still fun, funny, cool. And of course, she shouldn’t have to play the victim every time, and being the amused observer-participant is great, but I think she’d go on to do it in a much more interesting, bold way elsewhere – on ‘The Hissing of Summer Lawns’ and particularly ‘Hejira’ which I think is streets ahead of ‘Court and Spark’.

An … ‘Raised on Robbery’ is pretty dreadful, and ‘Twisted’ is even worse.

Quite a common take is that Mitchell’s golden period from ‘Blue’ through to ‘Hejira’ is one of the greatest runs in the history of pop music, and I actually agree, but I think it’s first and last are its greatest, and its middle its weakest.

I would score them

Blue 10

For the Roses 8 ½

Court and Spark 7

The Hissing of Summer Lawns 8 ½

Hejira 9

So there …. This is fun.

An ongoing series ... A vs B: Part 1 - A Design for Life Vs Common People

On my sport blog, I recently did a few “Who/what’s better – A or B” posts. It was fun – it’s obviously reductive and far more subjective when it comes to music than sport, but I thought it would be nice to do a series of these, not least because it starts as a way to write the following post in a simple way.

Oddly, I’ve been trying to write this post for about four years – it’s literally just a comparison of two pop songs, but each time I’ve tried I’ve found myself going down so many blind alleys, torturing myself with how to say a simple thing correctly.

So, the simple thing is, I prefer ‘A Design for Life’ by The Manic Street Preachers to ‘Common People’ by Pulp.

These are the two great class-based indie anthems of the mid-90s, one a Number 2 in spring 95, one a Number 2 in spring 96.

What I instinctively felt about ‘Common People’ I still feel now. It’s wrong. It doesn’t earn the right to be anthemic.

This is an oddly delicate point for me to make, which necessarily leads me to being open to accusations of entitlement and privilege. Weird, isn’t it?

Jarvis Cocker tells a story (of doubtful truth) of a certain kind of rich/posh person who wants to slum it for a while with the “common people” Of course, these people do exist, but, you know what, not that many of them.

Not enough for the song to then become a universal anthem, which people claimed told a timeless truth about the British class system. That, above all, was what bothered me. The song was catchy and witty sure, but it was disingenuous and over-inflated.

Here’s a caveat for my overthought views. I never felt I was a Pulp person. I saw Pulp people around, and they were skinnier than me, had better hair, and were the kind of people who sneered at you for liking sport, I thought. Pulp sang for the mis-shapes but I felt they had to be a certain shape of mis-shape.

Whereas the Manics … they did songs about communism, despair, death penalty, art movements, bulimia, sure…. but they also did songs about Matthew Maynard and Steve Ovett. They were beautifully different but also beautifully mundane. I had no problem being a Manics fan, because I didn’t feel the Manics had “typical” fans.

So I was never on board with Pulp.

The target of ‘Common People’ is, if you will, the “good posh”. Not the indifferent, heartless ones, but the ones who at least show a movement towards empathy and understanding the world. And the lyric to ‘Common People’ picks on the kind who play lip service but are really just engaging in class tourism.

But my genuine experience is that that’s a vastly overstated group. Actually overwhelmingly the good posh aren’t trying to fuck about and they end up living a life – early signs of empathy, even crassly expressed, are likely going to lead to a life with some element of value and of consideration.

These people are not the problem, not really. It’s the ones who have absolutely no fucking interest what the “common people” are doing who are the problem.

If ‘Common People’ had been a little story-song, I’d be fine with it, but I hate its expansion, its epic quality. It’s a con. It’s a clever trick by a clever writer.

I will say that a) Jarvis Cocker has written some beautiful poignant songs and b) he’s written one brilliant, simple, universal anthem, ‘Running the World’, which is every kind of unquestionable, fiery truth that ‘Common People’ is not.

As is ‘A Design for Life’, which I love more every year. I love its sound, I suppose I think if you’re going to go big, go all out. I love its proud, redemptive place in the lifeline of the band, I love its defiance, its positivity, its fury, its simplicity, I love its target – the universal subjugation of and careless condescension to the British working-class. It rings true. The Manics are a true British liberal’s ideal (probably something they’d despise) – the childhood oddball friends who went on to be the smartest, the most humane, the longest-lasting and the most popular.

They deserve every accolade. Sure, Jarvis Cocker and others write archer, wittier lyrics (which scan better sometimes …) but there’s a truth and beauty to this band which you rarely find. Certainly not in ‘Common People’.

Right, done. That’s the short, unwhiny version …

100 Nick Cave Songs

Here are my 100 favourite Nick Cave songs, in order. They're by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds unless otherwise stated.

1. People Ain’t No Good
2. Girl in Amber
3. There She Goes, My Beautiful World
4. The Ship Song
5. Into My Arms
6. The Mercy Seat
7. Darker with the Day
8. The Sorrowful Wife
9. Stagger Lee
10. The Weeping Song
11. Skeleton Tree
12. Jubilee Street
13. Love Letter
14. Straight to You
15. Higgs Boson Blues
16. No Pussy Blues - Grinderman
17. Distant Sky
18. Babe, I’m on Fire 
19. Brompton Oratory
20. Oh My Lord
21. Far from Me 
22. Push the Sky Away
23. No More Shall We Part
24. We Know Who U R
25. God is in the House
26. Nobody’s Baby Now
27. Nature Boy
28. Lime Tree Arbour
29. Where do We Go Now But Nowhere
30. Where the Wild Roses Grow (with Kylie Minogue)
31. Are You the One That I've Been Waiting For?
32. Still in Love with You
33. Hallelujah
34. Jesus Alone
35. Henry Lee (with PJ Harvey)
36. Bring It On (with Chris Bailey)
37. I Need You
38. We Call Upon the Author 
39. West Country Girl
40. Red Right Hand
41. Idiot Prayer
42. From Her to Eternity
43. Tupelo
44. As I Sat Sadly By Her Side
45. There is a Kingdom  
46. He Wants You
47. Get Ready for Love
48. Palaces of Montezuma - Grinderman
49. Right Out of Your Hand
50. Magneto
51. Hide it All Away
52. Papa Won't Leave You Henry?
53. Get it On - Grinderman
54. Death is Not the End (cover, with various)
55. Release the Bats - The Birthday Party
56. Gates to the Garden
57. Breathless
58. Black Hair
59. Stranger Than Kindness
60. Rings of Saturn
61. More News From Nowhere
62. Do You Love Me?
63. Everything Must Converge
64. Mermaids
65. Sweetheart Come
66. The Carny
67. Anthrocene
68. Babe You Turn Me On
69. O Children
70. Up Jumped the Devil
71. Wonderful Life 
72. Finishing Jubilee Street
73. 15 Feet of Pure White Snow
74. Shoot Me Down
75. The Lyre of Orpheus
76. Wide Lovely Eyes
77. We Came Along this Road
78. Heathen Child - Grinderman
79. Lay Me Low
80. I Let Love In
81. Dig Lazarus Dig
82. Water's Edge
83. Lament
84. Messiah Ward
85. Easy Money
86. O'Malley's Bar
87. Worm Tamer - Grinderman
88. Jennifer's Veil - The Birthday Party
89. Jesus of the Moon
90. King Ink - The Birthday Party
91. Come Into My Sleep
92. City of Refuge
93. Today's Lesson
94. Song of Joy
95. Nick the Stripper - The Birthday Party
96. The Hammer Song
97. The Singer
98. Sad Waters
99. Junkyard - The Birthday Party
100. Green Eyes

UNDIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY

Wrote this a while back. Doesn't stop being relevant. This guy ... the king of nothing matters ...

UNDIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY

This will all end happily,

As everything has done for me

From birth to school to public life

This world’s the butter -  I’m the knife.

This will all go swimmingly

Like everything involved with me

The dirt flows off, to god knows where,

I’ve never been inclined to care.

Indulgence brought impunity –

Each crime an opportunity

To line my stomach, free from shame,

Play dumb, accept no crumb of blame.

The hubris of a flattered child

Will not allow that I’m reviled –

My self-regard survives, unharmed,

I feel charming, I am charmed.

For I have set the people free

From red tape and bureaucracy

And still, the ingrates chirp and chide –

Their dull despair my point of pride.

In time, those left in the lurch will

Grasp that I’m their circus Churchill -

All my shames and falls and slips

By rote-learnt rhetoric eclipsed.

I’ve dodged or charged from post to post

Pursued, not caught, by bitter ghosts,

Of love and war and money lost,

For mine to spend is theirs to cost.

There is an alternative draft –

I made a joke and no one laughed

I owned up when the fault was mine

I had the honour to resign.

My face was gaunt and stained with shame,

I realised this was not my game

but people’s lives and nation’s fate

I realised it a day too late.

I took that draft, made sure it burned,

At once, my ripened hue returned.

For I have set the people free

From ever being rid of me.