I wish that we could talk about it, / But there, that's the problem. / With someone new I couldn't start it, / Too late, for beginnings. / The little things that made me ..
Tomorrow night, LCD Soundsystem will play their last show ever. A tremendous, tumultuous, extravagant three-hour blowout at Madison Square Garden. James Murphy and company are going out with a bang. The group has been around since 2002 with “Losing My Edge”—an unassuming, unapologetic “ballad of the hipster.” The 2005 self-titled two-disc debut, LCD Soundsystem, had the band’s highest charting hit, “Daft Punk is Playing at My House.” The follow up, 2007’s Sound of Silver turned the lens inward, examining the frailties of life and success, lamenting for friends lost and time both spent and wasted. And 2010’s This Is Happening saw the band reach their creative peak. Its nine tracks—nearly every one between six and nine minutes long—tackled love, loss, success and failure through idyllic beats and melodies. Not everything can live forever, and LCD is going out on top. In honor of the passing of the dance-punk giant, here are the 10 best songs by LCD Soundsystem. 10. You Wanted a Hit Album: This Is Happening Great line: “You wanted the time, but maybe I can’t do time. Oh we both know that’s an awful line, but it doesn’t make it wrong.” Like many tracks on LCD’s third and final record, This Is Happening, “Hit” is a long-form slow burn. Clocking in at more than 9 minutes, the song is the longest track on the album, its intro lasting past the two minute mark with vocals not appearing for another minute more. A closing statement that doesn’t come last, “Hit” is the long goodbye. Murphy and company may be closing the door on LCD, but only time will tell what the future holds. They won’t be your babies anymore, until you take them home. 9. Daft Punk is Playing at My House Album: LCD Soundsystem Great line: “Well, Daft Punk is playing at my house, my house. I’ve waited 7 years and 15 days. There’s every kid for miles at my house, my house, and the neighbors can’t call the police.” Imagine the kind of party James Murphy would throw. Of course Daft Punk is going to be there. The song is a raucous party itself, discordant cowbell over rumbling bass. Not limited to the indie-ist hipsters, as he says, “got every kid for miles at my house.” The party of the century, the one you can’t afford to miss. 8. I Can Change Album: This Is Happening Great line: “Love is an open book to a verse of your bad poetry, and this is coming from me.” A love song; to an unnamed someone, to Murphy’s career, to anything. One of the most honest and emotional sentiments Murphy has ever committed to song, “Change” resonates through with the quiet desperation of love. Many LCD songs are emotional, but few strike the chord of a relationship in the way this does. 7. Yeah Album: LCD Soundsystem Great line: “Everybody keeps on talking about it, nobody’s getting it done.” Crude and in your face, LCD’s thundering “Yeah” tells us that everything is wrong with the world and nobody’s going to do anything about it. The vocal [Crass] version has become an explosive staple of LCD’s live performance, while the longer, [Pretentious] instrumental edition feels like a trance song wrapped in LCD flair. It is a song that both attacks and washes over you. Sit back, close your eyes, put “Yeah” on repeat and float into the music. [Crass Version] [Pretentious Version] 6. New York I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down Album: Sound of Silver Great line: “New York, I Love You, but you’re bringing me down. Like a death of the heart, Jesus, where do I start? But you’re still the one pool, where I’d happily drown.” The close to 2007’s Sound of Silver, “New York I Love You” is Murphy’s love letter to his home. At once a ballad of love and hatred, the slow build exhibits the same faltering-but-beautiful vocality observed on “I Can Change.” Gradually developing momentum into a tumultuous climax, just like the city, the song isn’t perfect, but it’s better that way. 5. Home Album: This Is Happening Great line: “You might forget the sound of a voice, but you should not forget, no don’t forget the things that we laughed about.” Over the years of LCD Soundsystem’s service, two main song dichotomies have emerged. The “ode to the party” seen in “Daft Punk is Playing at My House” and “Drunk Girls,” and the slow-burning, generation-defining epics of “All My Friends” and “Great Release.” “Home” manages to encapsulate both, looking back while looking forward, celebrating good times and bad. It is a story of the girl you thought you would barely remember, but it turns out you’ll never forget. 4. Losing My Edge Album: LCD Soundsystem Great line: “I was the first guy playing Daft Punk to the rock kids. I played it at CBGB’s. Everybody thought I was crazy.” Before it appeared kicking off disc two of LCD’s self-titled debut in 2005, “Losing My Edge” broke onto the scene in 2002. The ballad of the aging hipster, repeating over and over, “I was there.” Murphy laments the woes of growing older as the new kids come in and find you irrelevant. Looking back from where he is now, quitting while he’s ahead and going out on top, “Edge” remains introspective and autobiographical, almost as if he planned it all from the beginning. 3. Someone Great Album: Sound of Silver Great line: “The worst is all the lovely weather, I’m stunned, it’s not raining. The coffee isn’t even bitter, because, what’s the difference?” “Someone Great” is Murphy’s lament to a lost friend, lover, associate or child. The LCD frontman has deliberately chosen to not comment on the song’s specific meaning, letting it speak for itself. Either way, it’s clearly about loss, a beautiful construction built upon a hauntingly heavenly synth sequence. Suggesting a very intimate relationship, be it lover or friend, the lyrics speak of someone of mythical proportions, someone who could do no wrong, someone great. 2. Dance Yrself Clean Album: This Is Happening Great line: “Every night’s a different story, it’s a thirty car pile-up with you. Everybody’s getting younger, it’s the end of an era, it’s true.” Bombastic, explosive, subtle and hard-hitting, one of the best songs of 2010 off the best album of 2010, “Dance Yrself Clean” is the beginning of the end for Murphy and company. He goes out with a bang. For three minutes, a stark and minimalist beat is filled with naught but Murphy’s delicate voice. For three minutes, a simple beat and fragile melody teases you into a sense of security. But after three minutes, a barrage of drums and synths assault you mercilessly. There’s only one way to respond: Dance. 1. All My Friends **Album:* Sound of Silver Great line: “I wouldn’t trade one stupid decision for another five years of life.” The song most definitive of LCD Soundsystem is also its best. From the extended piano introduction that holds steady throughout the seven-minute affair to the simple, quickened drum beat, the song is a quiet yearning for simpler times. The introspective nature of LCD’s music looks at the desire to make it in the “scene” and at the same time escape. The good news is at the end of the day, no matter what happens, you can see all your friends tonight. Bo Moore is currently making the trip from Atlanta to New York to catch LCD’s farewell show.
Watch the video or listen to LCD Soundsystem – Someone Great for free. Someone Great appears on the album Sound Of Silver. "Someone Great" is the third ..
I wish that we could talk about it, But there, that's the problem. With someone new I couldn't start it, Too late, for beginnings. The little things that made me nervous, Are gone, in a moment. I miss the way we used to argue, Locked, in your basement. I wake up and the phone is ringing, Surprised, as it's early. And that should be the perfect warning, That something's, a problem. To tell the truth I saw it coming, The way, you were breathing.
