"Rise and Fall"...isn't too bad, all said. I do agree it sounds like something that could be on Liberation, albeit in a cleaner, better played rendition. 2.25/5
Quite good! The arrangement and song itself seems positively refined when set beside the other songs on ”Fanfare”. That chorus is almost a certified, genuine earworm! I suppose Neil liked and saw potential in this song since he re-recorded it for the ”Timewatch” EP. Perhaps I’m being overly kind as the verses aren’t that interesting, but I’ll give it a 3/5.
“The Rise and Fall” scores 25.75 from 10 votes, for an average total of 2.58 Today’s track is: Logic vs Emotion
Rolls on for 4 and a half minutes but doesn’t really gon anywhere. Pleasant enough but unmemmorable. 2/5
I'll echo Linky's sentiment. It doesn't really go anywhere, but I do like the "Leave my house alone" bridge (or is that the chorus?). The verses are musically totally nondescript and most of the song is unmelodious and really unmemorable. 2/5
Logic Vs Emotion feels like the track on Fanfare that tries hardest to be something more complicated, but it doesn't really achieve that. It meanders about without reaching a destination - inoffensive, but entirely unmemorable. 1.5/5
Sorry - a little late to the party with "Rise And Fall". I land at 2.5/5.0. "Logic Vs Emotion" - I like it. Nice to have a less dark song. Beatlesque in the verse (with the essence of R.E.M. there as well) and a bit more TDC in the chorus. 2.75/5.00
I liked Logic Vs Emotion! To me it sounds like it could have been a decent b-side for the later era band with a bit better production and a bit of polishing. I love a lot of the b-sides that don't quite fully do that "Divine Comedy thing", but are quite decent songs. LvsE feels like it could have risen to be one of those songs. Maybe. 3.5/5
Another good one -I will try not to throw the 4s about like confetti however and will restrain myself with a 3/5
And I won't restrain myself and give this 4/5, making it my favourite song from this album so far. I also noticed the Beatles and R.E.M. vibe in the verse, and to throw in a more contemporary reference (i.e. a band that still exists) a lot of the vocals remind me of some Maximo Park songs. I also think that Neil sounds the most like the Neil from future TDC records here. My favourite bit of this song are the bursts of guitar whooshing past during the verses (especially if you listen on headphones). Three of you have written that it's unmemorable, I just think it's subtle. The Flan In The High Castle has this to say: “Logic Versus Emotion” is the only song on Fanfare that’s as explicitly, unapologetically environmentalist as “Tailspin” [...] It’s the latest manifestation of this album’s seemingly inexhaustible navel-gazing about people failing to care quite enough for the environment, and if those of you playing Fanfare bingo at home guessed that some vague political commentary was in the offing, you’d be correct: “Politicians carry the motion / Will we ever learn?” (Later in the song, he echoes this with “Politicians go through the motions” in what’s actually a quietly clever play on words.) Things get a lot more interesting in the second verse, which is unambiguously sung from the perspective of an anthropomorphised river: “I’ll take you upstream / Up to my origin / My water pure as glass / My beauty everlasting”. It’s one of the rare moments the music’s subject-matter even attempts to fulfil the sublimity promised by the artwork; one of the only songs in Hannon’s discography that actually find him giving a voice to the divine. After illustrating its majesty, the river draws our attention to the alternative: “I’ll take you downstream / Down where they turn me green / I suffer the indignity / Of administering your poisons to the sea”.
To me, “Logic” is perhaps the most TDC- sounding track, and the one that’s easiest to imagine turning up on Liberation with a small makeover. It has this sort of soft, pastoral feel (despite the rhythm section’s best efforts), with Neil singing softly and the harmony arrangement reminding us of a hymn. Not a million miles away from the quiet section of “Lucy”? One of the better tracks, but I’m still not moved to go more than 2.5. (don’t worry, there will probably only be about 4 songs in the entire catalogue that score that low once we properly get started, so I’m using up all my low scores now...)
"Logic Versus Emotion" is quite decent. I feel like I don't have much to say about these tracks, really, as I've never given them much time. But it's perfectly serviceable. 2.5/5
You’re not the only one. I don’t have any strong feelings about any of these songs, unlike most of what follows. Plus there’s not that much of interest to say about them, as far as I can tell. Things can only get better!
“Logic vs Emotion” scores a total of 25.75 from 10 votes , making a final score of 2.58 Today’s song is Secret Garden, which is the final track on “Fanfare for the Comic Muse”. When you’re done with this track, feel free to also give your overall thoughts and score for the album as a whole before we move on to the “Timewatch” EP tomorrow.
A little bit of interesting information about this song from ashortsite.com - I had no idea at all that it had been played in 2006, I missed that tour sadly! It was very probably played during the promo of Fanfare For The Comic Muse, and then, being part of an album which Neil tried more or less to deny, it wasn't played... until 2006, for the promo of Victory For The Comic Muse. Why? Well, with this album Neil was definitely going back to Fanfare..., if not in style at least in theme. This song holds the key of the problem it seems. Before being recorded for Fanfare for the Comic Muse, it was recorded as a demo in Active Studio, Banbridge. Actually, it appears that the demo and the album version are different. Indeed, Neil changed half the 2nd verse in the bargain. Originally, it contained a reference to Forster's book A Room With A View, which leads me to think that Neil might have read the book before the recording of Fanfare for the Comic Muse rather than after. 'Secret Garden', which probably owes its title to a novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett, is a love song, full a lust. Usually, the phrase is used to allude to somebody's intimacy, in an abstract, psychological, meaning. Here the phrase gets a more... physical sense.
"Secret Garden"- not one of the stronger songs on the mini-LP. Perhaps a touch of goth to it - a Siouxsie-esque melody to these ears. 3/5 Overall, the mini-LP (I emphasize mini because 7 songs of normal length does not make a proper album IMO) is a pleasant surprise that I will be seeking out. I have been relistening to Liberation (admittedly, never a favourite of mine) and find Fanfare stacks up surprisingly well against Liberation side one. The fact that a Fanfare outtake was used on Liberation backs up my opinion that the latter is a natural progression from the former, rather than a complete ground-zero overhaul.
I completely agree with you, compositionally there’s not actually an enormous leap (or rather not in style, anyway, perhaps in competence though...) I think the main difference is in the musicianship and resources available to Neil, the second time around. A competent drummer and the addition of the subtler textures that the mini-chamber group bring, make it seem like a much bigger leap than it really is. But we’ll come to that...
Interesting/ strange thing: Neil has precisely nothing to say about "Fanfare" in the sleeve notes for Juveneilia. It's not even mentioned by name. We magically skip from the first demo tape (none of which is included!) in the "Juveneilia" notes, to the original band splitting up at the start of the "Liberation" sleeve notes...
Logic vs Emotion Nothing offensive here, but nothing memorable either... Nice vocal layering by Neil, but it doesn't leave a lasting impression. 2/5
Secret Garden Continues in the same vein as previous songs... it just exists without doing much. Again, we have some nice vocal phrasing from Neil, but that is about as positive as I can get with this I'm again. I suppose the change in style/dynamic aims to give us a big finish to the album, but meh.... 2/5
