Blue Banisters vs. Chemtrails Over the County Club

[StrawberryBlond 14,899]

Chemtrails, without a shadow of a doubt. I don't know why its been so sadly glossed over and borderline forgotten. It's one of my most favourite albums ever from her. The only song on it that I'm not as keen on is Tulsa Jesus Freak, but the rest of it is pretty much top tier. If she's going to do the whole "real grass roots singer/songwriter" vibe, this is the kinda way she should go about it.

BB, on the other hand, felt like she wanted to do more of the same but took the indie vibe a bit too far. The first few songs are awesome but after that (good but bizarrely unnecessary) interlude, it all slowly tapers off into bland and boring with only a few decent ones here and there. And not even a good one to end, surely a first for a Lana album. She said this was her most personal album and she got that right as there are so many references to family and friends by name but I don't have a clue who they are so I can't connect. She did it good on the title track as they were brought up in vague ways but in later tracks, it's super specific and I believe Sweet Carolina and Cherry Blossom were for her nieces and were far too specific to them to have any interest for me as an outsider. I don't get why so many people also like Dealer - to me, it's the worst song she's ever made and I don't know what she was thinking. There were other ones as well that I can barely even remember like If You Lie Down With Me and Thunder. I actually had to go back recently to re-listen to some of these tracks as I'd forgotten how they sounded but my opinion on them certainly hadn't changed.

I hope the more extended break (for her standards) is going to help her next album because she's been stuck in a bit of a rut since NFR, just doing the same idea over and over. Maybe she thinks she's too old to do her old style now? Well, I think she can, just do a mature take on it. But she needs to try something new next time. I partly think committing to a style that so many of her OG fans deem boring is what has caused her sales to dwindle so much and it's not like she's gaining new fans to make up for it.