Re: J and Lou

November 21, 2000 at 6:38 pm #53184

Participant

I love J; that’s a given. And I agree with the idea that J and Lou are better without each other. Like with all music I truly love, I feel that each is awesome in his own right and not to be compared. They are totally different. It’s just a matter of what you like. There doesn’t seem to be much info on Lou out here, so I’ll put some out there, within my opinion.

If anyone has really followed Lou since DJR, you might understand when I say I do not care for Harmacy at all and while the Sebadoh was better, it still wasn’t good.

Before those two albums, it’s easy to see that, to me, Lou is just intelligent and uniquely articulate. He is the KING of the four track. Not so much in Harmacy or the Sebadoh, but prior to, meaning listen to Weed Forestin (All the first six songs and Brand New Love, Ride the Darker Wave), Freed Man (Healthy Sick), III (everything), Bubble and Scrape (Happily Divided, Let Tomorrow Be, Cliche – in which Lou makes a direct jab at J and Thumb "There never really is a good time, so J (vs. "they") says. Cliche, cliche."), Smash your Head on the Punk Rock (Vampire), and Bakesale (everything). Lou and Jason Lowenstein (his long-time counterpart since the J-Lou split) are an amazing team.

Barlow solo and Sentridoh is great as well, especially Winning Losers, 23 songs (Same Old, Say Mold), and Wasted Pieces. "When your mind is cold and clear, defending pride and beauty, only then do you really live." Or, "Sing the words too often heard; glory is sorriest for itself."

It might not be your thing, but Lou can be beautifully sick with all kinds of twisted but subtle allusions to everything from J, being up for days tweaked out, love, and the occult. The paranoid poetry of Lou as he seeks love and security is actually pretty optimistic, and while it is whiny, who cares? It’s accurately descriptive, doing the great dance that good music and lyrics do…describing the feeling, e.g., lonely, without ever having to use the actual word itself.

Again, different. And (un?)equally good.

Liz

[This message has been edited by Liz (edited November 21, 2000).]