Ok, apparently my VHS player has died, and so I have instead dropped it off at Snappy Snaps* (*other digital recording shops may be available) to convert the tape to digital. I also dropped off another tape from around the time of other music things I recorded from TV, which is probably just the Divine comedy and the polyphonic spree on Jools Holland I imagine. Will find out! Anyway, apparently it will take two weeks, so I'll share it online when it's ready. Hopefully we'll still be discussing Regeneration b-sides and haven't moved onto the next album by then!
Dumb it down Seems topical enough in the early 21st century to be exercised about this issue, though actually ‘‘twas ever thus. I think Neil’s comments on @LivingForever’s post about it being too on the nose is possibly a good call. It’s the sort of topic to approach cautiously due to its ubiquity, I think, though, to be fair, that’s never harmed ‘love’. I know we’re all sick of Radiohead comparisons by now but this is the most Thom Yorke-alike vocal ever. Nice chorus but other than that I do find it a little dreary. 2.0/5.0
Dumb It Down The irony of this song on an album which dumbs down the unique Divine Comedy sound for something generic of the time has been noted by others. In itself i find the song pleasant enough and by far from the worst offenders on the album. I like the old synth intro sound. Pleasant and not offensive but hardly memorable. 2.8/5
Fascinating to read the interview quotes today. Maybe the lyrics to this song have a deeper meaning than I've ever given them credit for. If so, he's buried it well. I think Dumb It Down tackles a theme it's almost impossible to handle well in this medium. Is it true that, at the turn of the century, there was widespread dumbing down in popular culture? Probably. Was this a bigger problem than it had been 10 years before? 20 years before? At any chosen historical point? Possibly. Is it possible to deal with these concerns through the medium of a pop song without sounding unfortunately condescending? Almost certainly not. So, lyrically, this comes across as a retread of The Heart Of Rock And Roll, only a bit more self-important, and in the middle of your album rather than tucked away as the b-side on an obscure format. If Neil wants to argue that, I'm fact, he's satirising this viewpoint rather than identifying with it, then who's to say that isn't the case? Well, he is, apparently, if some of the other quotes are anything to go by. It certainly isn't clear, but if you sell this record on the notion of it being honest and irony-free, you can't be surprised when people take you at your word. It seems particularly unfortunate though, that this track follows the last one. "Love what you do! Whatever it is, you've gotta love it! Unless the thing you love isn't clever enough, in which case you're an idiot." Anyway, I'm overstating the issue. The lyrics here are a little heavy handed and, unfortunately, a little dull, but they're not offensive, and I'd be lying if I said they'd bothered me over the years - it's only when you start listening for a thread like this that they really stand out. If the music to this track was really good, I'd happily let them slide. Unfortunately, then, I'd rate this track, musically, as easily the weakest on the album. Along with Eye of the Needle, this is the song that most comes to mind when I hear people talk about Regeneration as dull, plodding and sub-Radiohead. It isn't bad, as such, but it's the only track on the album which doesn't have any standout musical features to latch on to. Neil's approach of turning the arrangement over to the band has led to some lovely instrumental flourishes across the album, but on this track, it has led to a generic indie nothingness. The quiet/loud structure is a bit obvious, and it's used far better in Note To Self and the title track anyway. I'm aware this reads very critically - I'll stress again that I don't actually dislike this. I'll happily let it play through when listening to the album, but its definitely the track I'd be least likely to search out, and if and when we play the 'make your own album tracklist by including some b-sides' game, this'll be the first one off the list. 2.5/5
Dumb it Down Well, I was all prepared to slate this one for having whiny, preachy, obvious clichéd lyrics, but then I read that quote which suggested that maybe Neil was taking an opposite tack to the one that I thought, and then I was all ready to raise the score a bit. And then I read @Vagabone explaining that no, he actually is taking the approach that I initially thought... and then I read @jon-senior ’s take on it; and now I just don’t even know any more at all I think I’ll stick to the music. I’m with @a paul in that I always think “ugh” when I think about the song, but actually when I hear it I usually enjoy it more than I expect to. Especially in live recordings, I enjoy the bass playing and drums, and especially in the loud “Down and down and down we go...” bits, where I also enjoy that recorder chorus yet again. I particularly like the second chorus and change of the vocal melody on “Like this world’s not / dumb enough”. Scoring... hmm, well I enjoy this more than “Note to Self” and “Eye of the Needle” and marginally more than “Love What You Do”, too, so let’s say: 3.5
"Dumb It Down": As @jon-senior noted above, this kind of po-faced lyric isn't really the kind of thing that lends itself to good songs. It's just another nondescript, does-nothing-for-me track amongst several other tracks like that. I honestly forget the melody within minutes of the song being over. At least it isn't five plus minutes long, I guess. 1/5
Sorry to say this is where the wheels come off the album for me. I can't stand the patronising tone of this or what follows, and I find the messages trite and sometimes just wrong. After the slow meltdown of the first half, I can't get into Neil posing as a sage, dispensing wisdom to his imagined audience of naive acolytes. Vic Reeves was asked once why he did the Big Night Out rather than Thatcher jokes: "I hate being preached to. I can make my own mind up: tell me something new". Whatever value there is in the sentiment of this song, it was already implicit in all the previous Divine Comedy albums, a shared understanding with the audience. But he lost his nerve. It's just depressing to hear it stated so baldly; the hysteria of the second verse is particularly awful. And as many have noted, it's pretty hypocritical to put this lecture on this album. I also hoped this would be better on a re-listen, but it's worse, to the point where it's starting to poison the other albums too. 1/5
Dumb it Down 2.8 Dreary stuff. I get the preachy thing but that bothers me less than the fact it isn't musically interesting at all. I did probably mark it up for the unintentionally prescient line: "We'll vaccinate each boy and girl".
I think there's a fine line between preaching and just expressing your opinions. Artists dance around on either side of that line, possibly with some missteps, all the time. These lyrics are not a big deal to me.
Dumb It Down While originally listening to the album this was a refuge track for me--safe haven to escape some of the more tiresome ones. It's all relative of course, as outside of the album it's not too high on my list. But it's pleasant enough, and I like the drums (the real ones) and bass. The lyrics are fine--they're observations and opinions, and everyone's got 'em. In fact, I like the perspective of the lyrics--in the voice of the condescending dumb-it-downers themselves. Yeah, maybe a bit on the nose by the end, as he admitted in 2016, but as we've heard this same argument often from others, he can find safety in numbers. 3.6/5
I like this one a fair bit more than many of those in this thread do, but even so it is something of a bland and mid-range track. Not got much more to say about it than that, to be honest. 3/5
Dumb It Down Another thumbs up from me. Again, the arrangement and production work very well woth the song, and I don't find the lyrics to be particularly ham fisted or preachy. The rise and fall between the verse and louder section ( I can't call it a chorus) is very effective, and Neil's vocal tone suits the subject matter. There is also a sound from the drum machine, which sounds like crickets to my ears... I find that to be a nice touch as well. 4.5/5
It’s a good job nobody expects this thread to run to any kind of consistent schedule, isn’t it? Anyway, “Dumb it Down” scored a distinctly intellectual 54.1823 points from 19 votes, giving it a preliminary score of 2.85 Today’s song incoming after my next Zoom meeting
Today’s song is: Mastermind The album’s “big ballad”, if there were to be such a thing. Here’s the very limited press on this song from 2000: Neil: "It's about self-justification. Sometimes you constantly try to prove things to people when the important thing is that you just are. It's a bit like folk music." (Newcomer, March 2001) (I assume “it’s a bit like folk music” is a separate thought about what Neil thinks the song sounds like, but who knows? ) —- Question from James E: Do you have a favourite track on the new album? Neil: Mine [is] 'Mastermind', because there are so many words in it and they all make sense. (BBC Webchat, March 2001) Here, at last, is today’s song:
As far as early versions go, this song has arguably changed the most. The band talk in interviews about Nigel Godrich telling them that certain things are a terrible idea, and I can only imagine they’re talking about this original “country” version of the song. Even if you never normally listen to the alternate versions, I implore you to do so today, as this is quite something! This is a rehearsal version from very early 2000, as released on the new boxset, and it was played the same at the Edinburgh gigs.
Mastermind (Eek, I'm actually nervous about going first...!) This is probably the song that comes to my mind first when thinking of Regeneration. I like the melody, and its refreshing to hear the acoustic instruments taking the lead (as with Lost Property) after two preceding songs with their drum machine intros. Neil's vocal sounds a bit more engaged to me, and I like the 'doo do do doo' backing vocal in the 2nd chorus. Nice to hear the accordion make its first (only?) appearance on the album, and the vibraphone echoey 'ding' is also... nice! I notice I've used the word 'nice' a number of times, but am struggling to find a suitable alternative for this song. It's quite nice... Lyrically I find the message more subtle than some of the songs here, and to be honest I would struggle now to say what I think it means, but while I'm listening to it I feel I do understand. (If I get anything from Neil's interview comment, which I only read after writing my notes, do I detect another little contradiction in urging people to be themselves whilst seemingly trying to lose/bury what made you unique...?) But, like a nice cup of tea, I find this pleasant but not all that interesting, and at over 5 minutes its pretty long. I could happily lose the vacuum cleaner/arena verse as it somehow takes me out of the song (unless I'm missing the role that verse plays in the overall meaning...? I may be, as I'm not sure I quite get the meaning!). Score 3.3/5.0 @LivingForever you're right, that country version is quite 'something'...! What with this and the band's apparent love of congas, I wonder what on earth this set of songs could have sounded like without Mr Godrich... Interesting? Weird? Car crash?
Not much to say about this song other than I never think about it, but when I listen to it I really like it! I think its the most Fin song on the album, with the big climactic strings at the end and the accordion. You could basically slot this in instead of Life On Earth and it wouldn't really stick out too much. I'll give it a 4/5. As an aside, I think this was the first Divine Comedy song I learnt to play on the guitar, probably using one of @jon-senior's tabs - so thanks for those! EDIT: Oh, and that country version is absolutely horrible. I remember back in the day downloading the live country version (what I now guess was from one of those Edinburgh shows) and assuming it was a bit of a joke like the Wuthering Heights cover. The fact they wanted to do it seriously maybe is vindication enough for Neil to ditch the band!
Mastermind The highlight of the album, and a key song in the catalogue for me. Every element is coalesced into something very special indeed. I remember seeing Neil on the one man tour to support Bang Goes The Knighthood. There were shouts for requests during the encore and I asked for Mastermind and got a reply of "really? OK then..." after a few false starts and a cry of "bas**rd" towards me, we got a lovely solo rendition. I absolutely love everything about this song, although the rehearsal version made me laugh out loud the first time I heard it. 5/5
I really like this song. I enjoyed the silliness of the country version at the time, but I think that's just because I liked being whacky or some such then. Much prefer this lovely version. 4.5
Mastermind A highlight of this album, this is the song I most often think of when this album is mentioned. It's got a lovely understated backing, much less of the space-y arrangements (not that I dislike them, but it's nice with some variety), and as Neil breaks into the choruses the song kicks up a notch. A more passionate vocal than otherwhere on this album. Perhaps the ending is just a fraction too abrupt? 4.9 The rehearsal version is silly fun, but I like the meta when he sings "you don't need a country song to see what's going wrong".
