Album: The Lightning Seeds, Cloudcuckooland, 1990
Best Track: "Pure"
Lasting Memory: The very first time I saw the video for "Pure," I was floored. I remember trying to remember whether I'd ever heard a better song. Not being able to come up with anything at the time, I made sure that The Lightning Seeds' album Cloudcuckooland was on my Christmas list.
I received that very cassette, and as too often happens with love at first hearing, I quickly soured on the song and the entire band.
My disenchantment began as soon as I realized that The Lightning Seeds had a very thin catalog of quality songs. The first track on the first side of Cloudcuckooland, "All I Want," is every bit as good as "Pure." Everything else on the album ranges from forgettable to annoying.
So love was out, but companionship would surely still be possible, right?
No.
Because what I came to realize within a few years was that The Lightning Seeds were doing nothing new or interesting. To encapsulate: The Lightning Seeds sounded like The Smiths when The Smiths were trying to sound like The Beatles. Why settle for an imitation of an imitation?
I wasn't able to bring myself to do so. I had come to know too much. But I still get a little wistful for what I believed could have been when I saw that first video. Like Billy Bragg noted, "Scholarship Is the Enemy of Romance."
Up Next: Live, Throwing Copper, 1994
1 comment:
I had not thought of that song in years; I got tired of it, but hearing it again reminds me of how much I loved it too, back in the day.
Now, Live ... THERE was a band who disappointed me.
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