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

ok, I've listened to TSS three times through in the last couple days.
Two of those listens on my ipod with Bose headphones, hearing nuances  
I'd never heard before.
I also had a major fascination with the' Taxi Ride' when I first got  
the record (around '95?).
It's so haunting and beautiful.  Vladimir is my other favorite too,  
but There are so many great moments in so many songs--- the one in  
Seven Steps that Tracy mentioned, and another favorite :
"hope you have your camera, Hope you have some paper. cause if no one  
gets this down than it's goooone foooreveeeeer...."

~Lisa
On Feb 23, 2009, at 10:38 PM, David Rieken wrote:

> For years I called *The Taxi Ride *my all-time-favorite song.  It  
> is really
> so very special.  I was fortunate in that the first two times I saw  
> Jane
> live - 86 and 89 - she closed with it.  A few years ago, I yelled  
> it out
> when she asked for requests and she played about half.
> While *The Speckless Sky's *sound can be referred to as "80's", I  
> think it
> totally stands the test of time.
> It was the first tour that I saw of Jane's and I remember being  
> blown away
> by how accurately she and her band reproduced the songs live.   
> *Vladimir,
> Vladimir was *amazing.
>
> David
>
>
> On Mon, Feb 23, 2009 at 2:45 PM, [email protected] <
> [email protected]> wrote:
>
>> 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!)