The Benja-man Is Verbose

I wasn’t so thrilled with my writeup of Spirit , but perhaps it was appropriate for something I was still trying to get a handle on and understand.   I return with my second review of the band returning with their second record, and this time hopefully I can spend less time listing individual elements of songs and more conveying how it makes me feel to listen to them.   We shall see.   Now the band has eight members rather than nine, and this is the first record to feature then eighteen-year-old Anna Murphy on hurdy-gurdy and backing vocals.   So now we have the pieces in place for the eventual Cellar Darling split.   Whoever is operating the instruments, though, I think Eluveitie is absolutely and thoroughly Chigrel’s band at this point.   I imagined we’d see Merlin and Ivo (and Anna, I guess) getting progressively more writing credits as we stepped through the discography.   Apparently not, though, or at least not yet.   Chigrel Glanzmann is more or less the sole credited writer agai

Does the National have a sense of humor?   That’s a question that randomly popped into my mind when they opened this record with the lyric “I think this place is full of spies” and then spent the song playing off spy clichés.   Here I’m not so much talking about the dudes in the band – I’m sure they’re, well, some dudes.   I’m more trying to personify the National as an entity (which is why I’m using the singular here).   When writing songs, does the National ever make itself laugh – seriously laugh, not sardonically chuckle?   Does the National ever have any fun?   Does the National ever experience joy in a way that’s not arch or ironic?   Is it a dour sad dad whose only modes are misery and bitter amusement, or is it actually a chill individual with a really dry sense of humor that others don’t get?   For instance, “All The Wine,” sounding more or less the same as it did on Cherry Tree , has always struck me as more scathingly ironic rather than “funny,” but was that the intended ton

 [Note:  I've been doing one of these every year for a few years, but this is the first time I had a blog to put it into.] As usual, I miss a few things.  Quite a few last year.  Some that might have had a shot to make the 2022 list if I'd heard them in 2022 but never had a chance to make the list because I didn't hear them in 2022 - and now I don't need to worry about how they compare to the 15 I did actually include - include: Big Thief - Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You Doris Brendel - Star Bright Eruption - Tellurian Rupture Judicator - The Majesty Of Decay Megadeth - The Sick, The Dying... And The Dead! Zeal & Ardor - Zeal & Ardor And then, even accepting that I wouldn't be able to absorb all music in all genres, even within my little pocket of guitar-driven rock/metal/folk/whatever, 2023 was full of goodies.  Not a great year for veteran bands, necessarily, with some underwhelming releases from some big names.  Not a great year for past list i