Re: The Speckless Sky (Re: SoJ/I...)

like the good sibling that i am, i listened to "The Speckless Sky" last night.
i didn't listen to this one much when it came with my "Whole Shebang" (too
80's and i didn't get to hear it in it's moment.)
 
i liked and remembered One More Colour, and "7 steps to the wall" - being as
colour is one of my favorite things, that one stuck for me.  The rest are just
a blur, and didn't speak to me at all.   in 7 steps - these lyrics are the
one's that i related to :
 
"he wants to write something down
he wants to sing a song
or paint something
lie down and fade away
or get up and get away
to the beat of the marching feet "
 
...because i always want to write, sing or paint, and well, just do all these
things. and right now i just want the last 2 things, either one will do. or
both!
 
but the timeless one and the real kicker for me is "THE TAXI RIDE" i listened
to that last night until horrible awful hormonal tears were rolling down my
face, in the most huge way, and for such a long time.   a whole bottle of wine
and a bottle of hair color later, i thought now THAT was pretty silly. so
ummm... yeah, struck a cord. i did want something a little more positive this
morning, so i put on dragon dreams. and since i listened to it to death
before, after and all through christmas - it felt like christmas while it was
playing. weird huh? i guess any song can be christmas.
 
- tres' sea  - who can barely see through swollen eyelids. owie! where are the
cucumber slices?  pain hurts.



"One More Colour"  4:38
"Seven Steps to the Wall"  5:11
"The Very Large Hat"  5:35
"Vladimir  Vladimir"  7:08
"Mein Bitte"  4:20
"The Empty City"  6:40
"Map of the World (Part II)"  5:07
"The Taxi Ride"  5:39


--- On Sun, 2/22/09, Michael Williams <[email protected]> wrote:

From: Michael Williams <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: The Speckless Sky (Re: SoJ/I...)
To: "Glenn Nelson" <[email protected]>, "Siblings" <[email protected]>
Date: Sunday, February 22, 2009, 6:29 PM

a/k/a "SoJ/I, Week Three: The Speckless Sky" (released in 1985, eight
tracks)

thanks Glenn for getting out in front!

i enjoy TSS, but for me the album isn't quite as great as the sum of its
parts. that said, some of the parts are simply fantastic. "One More
Colour" is the, or at least one of, jane's purest expressions of
simple, unadulterated happiness and joy. jumping ahead a bit, i hear and feel
the happiness in "Bound by the Beauty" [the track}, but it's
always felt a bit...obsessive to me. "One More Colour" just seems like
someone in a beautiful, beautiful way expressing how wonderful nature is, and
how great it can feel to be alive (even if it doesn't always feel that way).
this many years later, i will look up in New York City at a cloudless, clear
day
and think "a speckless sky".

the album has other moments that i consider priceless - like when jane since
"summmmmmmmer in the yukon" in "the very large hat", or the
"write something down" and "it's thin, but it's
clear" in "seven steps to the wall". and it took me many, many
listens before i finally properly appreciated "the taxi ride".

one other thing - if you've never seen the "One More Colour"
video AND you are a Devo fan, you should IMMEDIATELY head over to youtube.com
and search for the video - you will enjoy it. trust me!

- michael

(p.s. i was a kate bush fan, too, at the time TSS came out, but knew nothing
of
jane. glad that many years later i found her!)