Word: songe
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...than on her entire previous album, 1995's curiously sedated Only Everything. On that release, attempts to make her music harder often just made it sludgy. Here, the raw pop energy of her older releases is elegantly mixed with urgent, driving power chords and uncharacteristically noisy guitar solos. The song's lyrics provide an ironic commentary on the undernourished sound and sales of Only Everything. "It's not a sellout if nobody buys it/I can't be blamed if nobody likes...
...however, comes with the next three tracks. Together, they are smart, varied, powerful and uncompromising. At first, "As If Your Life Depended On It" seems to be a condemnation of used women in the vein of Hatfield's rant "Supermodel." However, an intricate pronoun game at work in the song reveals its actual subject: Hatfield herself. Instead of saying "I" over and over, Hatfield starts the song out in the second person, pointedly commenting on an unknown woman's pathetic dependency: "Crack a joke/light his smoke/as if your life depended...
...song's subtle wordplay starts to hint at a deeper complexity. Is she singing "all they symbolize" or "all these simple lies"? It's difficult to tell, and Hatfield keeps delivering the line differently to keep her audience on its toes. Eventually, she starts to slip in the occasional "I" to replace "you" almost guiltily. Hatfield is serving up her usual heaping serving of deeply intimate lyrics but with a creative twist that actually works...
...though, is the true triumph of Please Do Not Disturb. It incorporates the same mega bass of "Give Me Some Of That" but melds it seamlessly with an achingly beautiful pop refrain. Starting out as neogrunge, the song quickly shifts to minimalist slow-core hooks for the verse. When Juliana commands early on to "Get off of me!", it sounds pretty imposing. Suddenly, though, the song shifts gears; as the chorus approaches, the thrash elements melt away, leaving only a soaring, melodic vocal line that is not a command at all, but a poignant plea...
...Saturday's performances. Surprisingly, they were the largest draw of the day, with fans ranging the spectrum from children to college students to baby boomers. Band members Davy Jones, Peter Tork and Mickey Dolenz raced out on stage with an abbreviated version of their television show's former theme song, "The Monkees." They quickly followed with "Last Train to Clarksville," before heading into some newer and much-less known material. By the conclusion of the concert though, they returned to old hits like "Pleasant Valley Sunday," "I'm a Believer" and "Daydream Believer...