Stranger than Fiction, Larger Than Life: the Finn Brothers song-by-song discussion thread

"Costeño" makes even an old guy like me want to get up and dance. Now where did I put my copy of Desi Arnaz' "Cuban Pete"?

4/5

(PS I'll have to see if my favorite cheese shop carries Costeno - Les Fromages Rumba .)

 

You're only about 830 pages late on the discussion of Time and Tide (well the first go round on it ). Stranger than Fiction, Larger Than Life: the Finn Brothers song-by-song discussion thread

The second go round is at page 794....

 

OK, I'm looking forward to seeing those dance moves...if I bring cheese will it happen???

 

"Costeño" has a nice summer feel to it. It really sounds like the narrator is at a carnival in South America, enjoying the sunshine, the live music, beautiful scenery and generally relaxed atmosphere. I like how this song too blends lyrics in Spanish and in English. Sonically, I could imagine this song fitting in well on the Southern Cross album from way back (and after hearing the Caught by the Heart and The Ghost of Santiago albums I've listened a fair bit to that album as well). Very nice instrumentation on this track with lots of subtle details going on in the background. I think it works better in its context, as a strong track on the album between "Esperando La Caida" and "Rosemullion Head", than as a stand-alone track but I like it very much.
4/5

 

Our votes for "Costeno"(with a little wavy mark over the "n")
1-0
2-0
3-0
4-6
5-1
Average: 4.0571

 

Today's song is "Rosemullion Head", written and produced by Tim Finn & Phil Manzanera. Additional production and engineering by Mike Boddy. String arrangements by Ros Stephens.

Rosemullion Head is a promontory in Cornwall which is a popular destination for hikers.

Line Up:
Tim Finn: vocals, piano, keyboards
Phil Manzanera: guitars, keyboards
with
Corrina Hentchel: violin, viola
Seth Scott: flute
Yaron Stavi: double bass
Javier Weyler: drums

Lyric:

Facing the sea, we make our way
To the right hand corner of a sheltered bay
Then follow the path to a kissing gate
Stepping across the silver-grey slate

There's a scattering of light
On Rosemullion Head
Can you remember
The things that we said?

Keeping left at the fork and over the stile
The dandelion seeds fill the air for five miles
Blown by the wind past a hut with a sign
Through a gap in a wall
You and I gently climb

A murder of crows
On Rosemullion Head
Remind you to wake up
Before you are dead

Walking past tide polls
Where the seaweed is red
Can you remember
The things that we said
On Rosemullion Head?
Rosemullion Head

 

I usually don't like songs like this, but you know, this is pretty good. I can appreciate its sparse, atmospheric arrangement, though nearly 5 minutes of it is maybe a bit much for me. I can't deny there is a very, very nice sound here, however. Very atmospheric, a touch of ambience, hauntingly somber. A bit of a tough nut to crack in that there's no real structure or segmentation, but in the right mood, I think its impossible not to appreciate the expanse of beauty on display.

3.8/5

 

Rosemullion Head

I've listened to the album more now. From yesterday's song I thought it might be more latin styled than it is. Like Caught by the Heart, it has songs in a variety of styles. This is more of a Roxy Music style song, with modern voiced Tim in the role of Bryan Ferry.

This is very nice indeed. Tim's vocal suits it, and the vocal melody is good. The backing track provides a perfect bed for it.

Perhaps it spends a bit of time building, and then there isn't really a release.

I see that an instrumental version of this song was released on Phil's 2015 album 'The Sound of Blue'. And, while it sounds a different recording, it does seem like it's pretty much the same arrangement with a bit more guitar.



I feel that this is a good song, it just needs a bit more payoff with a bridge. I can see what they were trying with this song, but I feel it needs a bit more.

3.7/5

 

For some reason it seems I forgot to add the video, which I guess you all in the US can't see anyway....Here it is.




Well, that's interesting, @HitAndRun ,that it comes from a 2015 instrumental, which is beautiful all by itself.

The orchestra arrangement is stunning and makes this stand out from, say "All That's Human" from Caught By The Heart. This kind of new agey or ambient/classical background music is given some form by Tim's melody, which manages to navigate the almost formlessness of the structure well.

Interestingly, the title of the song, which figures prominently in the lyric, was present even in the early instrumental. I imagine Tim poring over Google maps street views and taking a virtual hike through the Cornish countryside before writing this probably fictional ode to a hike taken with a lover long long ago.

I really love the lyric, which is complete all by itself, very picturesque: and the deep melancholy of the music wedded to the lyric makes it especially poignant: it's a man looking back at a pleasant holiday in the past, the far past perhaps, and the themes of aging and looming death are back. Musically, this is another song that I don't think is a pop song at all, but rather something...different. And those "non-pop" songs are probably some of my favorites by these two.

5/5

 

Rosemullion Head for those in the US.

 

Rosemullion Head
A truly beautiful song. That opening with the strings and a touch of Phil is exquisite.
I've never been to England so I've no idea what this looks like, but this song really does build a sonic landscape of the ocean and the sea. I'm not musical enough to describe it but I think it has a lot to do with the string arrangement - with that choppy violin/cello background (which remind me of waves) and then the swirling higher strings (which remind me of sea breeze and wheeling sea birds).
The lyrics tell a complete story and match perfectly with the slightly melancholy vibe of the music. I love Tim's vocal on this song. In total the song reminds me a bit of when you look through an old set of photos and you remember what you were doing and how you felt. There's a nostalgia and longing for what you experienced.

There's part of me that can imagine this song in a parallel universe with ALT but then it would become a different song and I like this one just as it is. It really touches my heart when I hear it.

5/5

Edit: Just listening to the instrumental version. It does have more guitar (obviously) but the interesting part to me is how Tim phrased his vocal to fit those guitar parts...thanks for bringing it to our attention @HitAndRun

 

Rosemullion Head (Phil Manzanera instrumental) for those in the US.

 

Rosemullion Head

The lyrics here tell a nice story, and the music evokes a combination of wistfulness and also an actual hike. It’s a little on the slow and meandering side, but that’s what a hike is like. The strings are beautiful and totally make this song. Without them, I think the song would be so ephemeral that it would not capture my attention.

3.5/5

 

Phil's instrumental track on the "Rosemullion Head" remake with Tim sounds extremely close to his original instrumental, it might be the same track, just remixed and re-edited, and of course with Tim's vocal added. The credits on the original instrumental version line up with the credits on the Tim version.

This is nearly ambient music, when the piano, the guitar and Tim come in, it takes us to another place.

Phil's original liner notes: "Rosemullion Head in Cornwall, in the south west of England, is such an inspirational place with its beautiful views out to sea along the verdant cliff tops. There is peace and serenity there that allows your mind to wander freely and which conjured up this music."

That sounds good enough for me. I really like Phil's original instrumental version of "Rosemullion Head", now I'm going to have to try to hunt down The Sound of Blue.

4.5/5 (The Ghost of Santiago)

 

I think it's interesting that while sometimes it sounds wrong if a vocal is added to an instrumental - often as if the vocal is a bit 'unnatural' and 'tacked on', that doesn't happen here. Tim's vocal sounds like it always belonged there. Even though ... it didn't.

 

Yes! I guess that's what I was trying to express in my edit to my post. It's like Tim moulded his vocal/lyrical cadence to do a direct replacement of the guitar which is why it sounds like it should have always been there...

 

Yes, your comment contributed to me thinking that way. I'm sorry, I should have given you explicit credit in my comment

 

No need for an apology! I thought your comment was actually more illuminating... - my comment kind of stated the obvious which it follows the melody line of the guitar...like d'uh...

(Also glad to see you and @StefanWq back here commenting - I wondered where you guys had been!)

 

yeah, I wondered too. You dropped off the earth for a while, @HitAndRun. I mean, if the earth is the steven hoffman boards.

I

 

You'll be hearing form KangaMom's lawyers, now.

 

Basically too many things going on in my life. I regret not participating in the threads. I kept the Brian Eno thread going but slowly lost track with all other threads. I'm trying to get back into things now.

Dropping off the earth included going to places like here:



But, things were far more complex than just that.

 

Where is that?

 

...where the charges will be heard in a Kangaroo Court...

 

That's a fantastic photo. Did you take that?

 

No, that one is from the internet. But, I do have photos of those mangroves on my phone somewhere. However, I'm concerned about thread going off-topic

Off-topic for the thread, but it's your thread! That's Walakiri Beach, near Waingapu, on the island of Sumba in Indonesia. I spent some weeks there and other places.

While we're being flagrantly off-topic, I'll mention that there are many mudskippers on the beach. So, as you walk across the flats at low tide you see lots of fish running away from you across dry land. Albeit very small ones.