grimes Wrote:Family Band is the best song off WC...
I don't share that opinion, but even if I did, it woudn't be saying much
grimes Wrote:.... and probably the most rockin' song they've written since Phantom Power.
Don't share that opinion either... and for me, "rockin" doesn't
necessarily equate to "good" or "likeable"
grimes Wrote:Cordelia is a classic, and I think it's image has been enhanced by the fact that it is played live so rarely.
Perhaps.
[
We all have our opinions and tastes, of course, so consider the following as an explanation of mine and not an attempt to devalue yours.]
For me, it has absolutely nothing to do with "classic" versus "fresh" or "oft-played" versus "rarity"; it's all about substance. While both can be categorized as "rockers", I find Cordelia to have so much more depth than Family Band; Cordelia, for me, drips with "soul" and "passion", whereas Family Band, despite its pace and liveliness, feels so much more flippant and insincere....even
bland.
It's incredibly difficult to articulate.....but to me FB just seems pedestrian compared to Cordelia. The best explanation I can make is that the arrangement of Cordelia's intrumental parts is more scale-oriented in the blues-rock tradition. FB, on the other hand, seems to mimic today's "pop-rock" formula, which, from where I stand, is proliferated by punk themes moreso than blues-rock themes. It has that hyper 4/4 tempo and driving monotone bass line blanketed by guitars downpicked on every beat, and an emphasis on catchy vocal melody. That's neither 'good' or 'bad' per se, but Cordelia's blues-rock pedigree far better suits my personal preferences.
I feel that Cordelia is amongst the very,
very best of this band's work. The main lead riff is on my short-list of "best Hip riffs", and I think that the bass riff during the "
It takes all your power/To prove that you don't care/I'm not Cordelia, I will not be there" parts is probably the coolest of all of Sinclair's bass riffs. Plus, there's far more raw emotion in the Gord's Cordelia vocals -- I
feel the "angst" of which he is speaking, wheras FB has no true emotional effect on me aside from putting an extra spring in my step, so to speak.