A New Voyage for Jenny Lewis
Indie-rock/alt-country singer/songwriter, Jenny Lewis recently appeared on Austin City Limits, where she performed tracks from The Voyager, such as its first single, “Just One of the Guys.” She sported shall we say, a colorful suit, as if it galloped out of a “My Little Pony” cartoon, yet Lewis—and her lyrics—are anything but juvenile or imaginary. The melody line in the verses takes on a smooth Sheryl Crow aura (think “If It Makes You Happy”), and as those verses transition to the choruses, the melody changes to an even sunnier sound.
Yet behind that bright rainbow lies darker lyrics of the struggle to stay true to self, as well as the emotional—and physical—ramifications of wanting to treat relationships like “one of the guys” and the results that come from not doing so, because “that’s not what ladies do.” As listener, the head might be bopping along with a smile on the face, but by the end of the bridge, the smile retracts, as the song conveys the sense of lack that can oddly come from doing what one feels and knows is right… for you (“There’s only one difference between you and me/When I look at myself/all I can see/I’m just another lady without…”). “Just One of the Guys” captures the 39-year-old commenting on gender roles, as she reflects back over a voyage that has found her “…locked in this bathroom/full of tears.” Yet Lewis knows that one’s inner voice, or as she puts it, her “cop,” can always serve as a trustworthy guide.
Makes Everything Right: Kylie Minogue: “Love at First Sight”
Full disclosure, this blogger’s favorite single of Kylie Minogue’s is “Love at First Sight. Although she’s been creating pop perfection for decades, it’s this track that has always made my heart aflutter. It captured what pop/dance music sounded like in the late ‘90s/early ‘00s. There are elements in “First Sight” that are similar to Ultra Naté’s 1998 anthem, “Free (the Mood II Swing Radio Mix),” especially the introductory guitar lines, and the deep bass lines that are pushed to the front—right where they belong.
“First Sight” speaks to how music, more specifically a DJ spinning the right record, can serve as clarity for the confused, a sense of connection, even a lifeline, for the temporarily disconnected. Its restorative power so immediately transformative, that not unlike being hit right between the eyes when it’s love at first sight, sound can hit you right between the ears.
Its superb construction sounds like a subway line in the underground. You can barely hear it coming, so you think it’s far away, but when you least expect it, it comes racing into a station. It arrives right on time, stops at the platform for a brief pause, then off it goes again, whisking passengers away on a journey, this musical journey unfortunately only lasting a total of four minutes.
Kylie has steered “First Sight” in different directions over the years, in the form of alternate studio versions (2002’s perky “Ruff & Jam Vocal 7””; 2012’s country-campfire acoustic ballad on The Abbey Road Sessions), as well as how the musical producer, Steve Anderson has arranged it for her concerts. It’s become a reliable crowd favorite and has been on every set list for her last eight major tours (KylieFever 2002; Showgirl 2005 and 2006; X2008; For You, For Me North America 2009; 2014’s Kiss Me Once; a “mashup” with “Can’t Beat the Feeling” for Aphrodite 2011; Golden - Live in Concert 2018), even appearing as one of just 13 tracks for the one-off show in 2003 to launch Body Language.
It’s no wonder that “First Sight” has mostly been reserved for the encore section or literally as the jovial finale; its message and construction inspire fans to bathe in its escapist, rejuvenating power, reminding all who are about to leave the venue that pop has the potential to turn everything wrong to right.
Suspicious Minds: No Doubt: “In My Head”
A sneaky-sounding guitar opens No Doubt’s “In My Head,” off their must-have 2001 release, Rock Steady. The lead singer, Gwen Stefani invites the listener inside her uncertain state of mind, ironic considering the name of the band.
Her “head is wicked jealous,” as she obsessively ponders her long-distance relationship and what’s happening on the other end. She attempts to calm her paranoid mindset by thinking about rainbows and big, fat roses. Not wanting—at all—to talk about ex-girlfriends, abandonment or the past, she warns her boyfriend to “use the right words when you talk to me.” The distrustful thoughts keep spinning, and by the bridge, she stands up and states: “I really think I have a problem/I really can’t control myself/Why do I get so suspicious?/Do you want someone else?/’Cause everybody wants everybody else… only in my head.”
As the song concludes, she’s still manipulating, wanting now to talk about the future, the wedding and “how much you like me/And all that.” There’s nothing like controlling the conversation so we can hopefully hear what we want to hear, to feel all’s right with the world, and more importantly, safe.
Just as much as the album chronicles the downs in a relationship: the skepticism of second chances (“Detective”; “Don’t Let Me Down”) and the questions surrounding realistic longevity (“Running”; “Rock Steady”), there’s the ups too: anticipating a reunion on “Making Out”; make-up lovin’ in the morning on “Start the Fire”; the bass-thumping masterpiece, “Hella Good.” Yet as the chorus in “Underneath It All” goes: “I’m really lucky underneath it all/You’re really lovely.” This is the lucid epiphany that he may, in fact, be worth all those temporary lapses in sanity.
Although Stefani may be a glamour goddess of pop and a confident front woman of rock, it’s her role as a writer where she gets to showcase yet another incarnation: an ordinary woman who’s not afraid to admit that sometimes, yes, she too has doubts… and lots of them.
Be sure to check out No Doubt’s 2002 Rock Steady Live DVD, filmed in Long Beach, CA.
Performance Art: Dali Meets Kylie on “Kiss Me Once” Tour
Kylie Minogue’s whimsically surreal Kiss Me Once tour featured “Les Sex” as the opening number, with Kylie ascending on a lift, draped over a softly glowing lip-shaped couch—an homage to the artist, Salvador Dali and his piece, “Mae West Lips Sofa.” Other noteworthy Dali references include the male dancers donning the signature Dali moustache; the female dancers sporting a pair of lobsters on their bustiers—a nod to the Dali piece, “Lobster Telephone.”
The original video-screen footage playing over the second song in the set, “In My Arms,” continues to honor the work of the legendary Spanish surrealist: Kylie sitting on a pedestal (“Leda Atomica”); creatures with exaggerated limbs walking across a deserted plain, while on stage, the male dancers (similarly) continue to hold onto their tall support-crutches (“The Elephants”).
The third song in the set, Kylie’s 2012 “Timebomb” shows the presence of (melting) clocks in the video-screen footage, a theme prevalent in Dali’s work, for example in “The Persistence of Memory.” Also on stage during “Timebomb,” the female dancers don skintight outfits with spikes running down the spines, similar to an element featured in Dali’s “The Burning Giraffe.”
Although surrounded by surreal imagery, leave it to Kylie to be the light amid the dark:
Band Together: Sly & The Family Stone: “Dance to the Music”
More than just a ‘60s/’70s funk group, Sly & The Family Stone were a musical army. Instead of guns, there were guitars; rather than a single bugle, a serious horn section. In 1968, they issued an official order to their “souldiers,” and really anyone who wanted to enlist, to simply dance to the music. Sly Stone (Sylvester Stewart), the grinning general and deep-voiced patriarch of this revolutionary group, entrusted one of his officers, the trumpeter Cynthia Robinson, to shout this decree. It’s Robinson’s exclamation at the dawn of “Dance to the Music” that became a soulful reveille heard loud and clear across this great land via vinyl and 8-track; an impassioned cry that also has Robinson later shouting, “All the squares go home!”
Sly meticulously breaks down the rich, full sound that is “Dance to the Music,” creating a compelling brass-clad argument for why one and all should follow this new order. The track celebrates the unique and necessary role each instrument has in constructing and layering a song. Whether you were moved by ‘50s-inspired doo-wop harmonies, Wilson Pickett’s “Mustang Sally,” or maybe you “only need a beat,” there’s no excuse not joining this “dance, dance revolution”; whatever you like, it’s got you covered. Just as diverse individuals would ideally come together to make up a harmonious society based on integration, not segregation, every instrument is an important contribution, “everybody is a star.”
It was some 25 years after its release when Madonna, on The Girlie Show World Tour, incorporated a version of this treatment into the finale song, “Everybody,” as the way to introduce her band members. (Skip to 4:44 of the footage embedded below; also her introduction of the bass player, Victor Baley is one of my favorite moments on DVD.) She also mashes up the second verse from Sly & The Family Stone’s “Everybody is a Star” into the beginning of this live performance.
“Dance to the Music” is Sly’s vision of music as the way to unify, allowing all of its listeners a period of détente, where the focus is less on enemy lines and more on bass lines.
Madonna also sung part of Sly & The Family Stone’s “Family Affair” as the intro to “Keep It Together” on her 1990 Blond Ambition World Tour. Both tracks speak about the complicated relationships, yet unconditional love, that can exist within the family structure. Madonna co-wrote hers about her own upbringing, and later found it translated to her role as “mother figure” to her corps of dancers.
Miramax Films. Director: Alek Keshishian.