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Old 23-09-2020, 12:53
starfucker starfucker is offline
Knowlede Is Power
 
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 1,051
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tim View Post
I kinda like bounced off journal when it came out, maybe i was expecting something that hewed a lot closer to the holy bible than it did. I think also the editing of richey's words to fit them into the music left a bit of a sour taste compared to how dense the bible is where they'd fit the music into the words. I hated william's last words for it being edited to imply meaning completely different to the original typed prose but i came to accept that he left these words for them to turn into songs and if his close friend achieved some catharsis doing this then so be it. Then a few years later it really clicked for me and i wouldn't hesitate to put it towards the top of my favourites so lucas needs to give both albums some time then they'll flower for him like they have for us (though i doubt it).

So i don't really see this as holy bible v2.0, it's certainly a spiritual successor but there's not as much bleakness on here as that granite obelisk of an album. The songs are of a troubled mind sure but there's so much dark humour, it reads to me like a version of richey having exorcised his demons through holy bible and coming out the other side and seeing the morbid humour in the people he is surrounded by while recovering. I can't honestly say i'm reading the last words of someone who is planning something drastic, the holy bible gives me that impression but not this.

I did really admire their almost low key approach to promoting this with no singles and playing the album in full was absolutely the way to go (wish they'd played bag lady) even though i got the impression that nicky wasn't entirely happy, the twice i saw it played lived he was very subdued during the first half. Which ya can understand but it was great being a fan because it did feel a bit like they were a four-piece again and not including any tracks in subsequent gigs is appropriate i think despite how much i would have enjoyed hearing them.

Glad you brought up nicky saying he wanted to burn the album after mastering it and james telling him to fuck right off after all the work he put into it, i distinctly remember that but not sure if it was in print or on camera while being interviewed.

Good shout out to the girl from tiger bay by simon, it's such a fantastic track and so very manics slipping in a bit of situationist international. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3Y9bVGtW0Q
This is a good point you make here and it makes me wonder even more now if these words were written not only from a post-catharsis state, but also in a looking to the future point of view.

The Holy Bible was clearly written from an incredibly dark perspective by someone going through a traumatic time. I've often heard stories about people who were depressed and went on to take their own lives whose friends and family say that, if anything, that person seemed much happier just before the final act, like once they knew they were going to go through with it, the main mental hurdle was over in a way. The dark and morbid humour you reference in the JFPL lyrics perhaps show that Richey was in a better place mentally not just due to having gotten The Holy Bible out of his system and going through recovery but also maybe as a product of knowing what he knew - ie that he had been planning his disappearance and was looking forward to some kind of freedom from the mental torment and anguish he must have felt leading up to that.
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