The National: Sunshine on My B&Ck

[cobl04]

That's a helluva set. Fuck they're good

 

[Joey788]

It’s a great late Dylan album. Also, it’s on the High Fidelity soundtrack.

Got All the Wine, Brainy, Geese and So Far Around the Bend today (from which the name of the festival comes from).

This band, guys.

Such a great set. Matt was in rare form. I was right behind the guy he kept throwing his wine cup to. Wound up in the splash zone for it!

The song selection between both nights was fantastic. Thrilled that we got All The Wine, one of my favorite National songs. Plus, being up towards the front made every track a singalong.

The other bands on the lineup were excellent too. Future Islands, Cat Power, U.S. Girls and Bully put on great performances that really differed from each other.

 

[gump]

Did anyone subscribe to the Cherry Tree fan club? Just got my annual gift, which included a record, a scarf, a tote bag and some other stuff.

The vinyl is gorgeous and sounds absolutely incredible. It’s a number of live versions of older songs, recorded in the mid-2010s. Some great gems - 90-mile water wall, Son, All Dolled-Up in Straps. I hope this thing gets released for streaming services for those that aren’t getting the record.

 

[gump]

The National Rushmore:

All the Wine/Slow Show/About Today/Fake Empire

 

[cobl04]

The National: Sunshine on My B&Ck

I think I'm gonna get it for my partner for Xmas.

Squalor Victoria (live) / All the Wine / Sleep Well Beast / This is the Last Time

 

[cobl04]

Did anyone subscribe to the Cherry Tree fan club? Just got my annual gift, which included a record, a scarf, a tote bag and some other stuff.

The vinyl is gorgeous and sounds absolutely incredible. It’s a number of live versions of older songs, recorded in the mid-2010s. Some great gems - 90-mile water wall, Son, All Dolled-Up in Straps. I hope this thing gets released for streaming services for those that aren’t getting the record.

How does it work? I just purchased - will I get the same thing you got?

 

[gump]

I think I'm gonna get it for my partner for Xmas.

Squalor Victoria (live) / All the Wine / Sleep Well Beast / This is the Last Time

This is the Last Time would make my top 10 for sure.

How does it work? I just purchased - will I get the same thing you got?

I bought it back in May and just got the gift. They sent me an email confirming shipping a few days ago. You should be getting it soon.

 

[Joey788]

That sounds pretty great. I may have to subscribe to this myself.

My Rushmore:

All The Wine/Squalor Victoria (live)/Terrible Love/The System Only Dreams In Total Darkness

Of course ask me again next week and it’ll be completely different.

 

[the tourist]

The National: Sunshine on My B&Ck

I’d have a tough time picking a top 4, but my top 5 has been the same for awhile now:

Mr. November
Slow Show
Bloodbuzz Ohio
Pink Rabbits
The System Dreams In Total Darkness

Top 4 would have been much easier before Sleep Well Beast came out.

 

[gump]

Here's perhaps an unpopular prediction: soon enough, I'll Still Destroy You will be considered their best song post-Boxer.

 

[nielsgov]

Cardinal Song / The Geese of Beverly Road / This Is the Last Time / City Middle

Honourable mentions: All Dolled-Up in Straps, Karen, Brainy, Nobody Else Will Be There, Humiliation

 

[cobl04]

Here's perhaps an unpopular prediction: soon enough, I'll Still Destroy You will be considered their best song post-Boxer.

I am on board with this. It's an outstanding song. It captures so well the heady beauty of hedonism. And still only my third favourite on Sleep Well Beast behind the closer and opener.

 

[iron yuppie]

You read that song as hedonistic?

 

[cobl04]

I always have, yep. I see it as about a man who has a lot of issues. He's on medication for mental health conditions but doesn't feel they do much for him. He's got self-destructive tendencies in who he picks to hang around with and with the amount of alcohol he consumes. And he knows all this but the times that he feels the most alive and the most at peace are when he's up partying til 5am in the morning, chasing the comfort and happiness that comes from surrender to friends and drugs and alcohol. Something that I can really relate to. The verses are a pretty forlorn him, while the choruses find him elated, deep in party mode and throwing out nostalgic lines that seem like non-sequiturs but are more ways of tying himself to the moment. The film clip captures all this pretty well too, so I think I'm relatively on the money.

 

[iron yuppie]

Interesting. I always took it to be about mental acrobatics trying to cope with depression. Plus the medication part.

 

[djerdap]

My Rushmore A-list:

All the Wine / Available / About Today / All Dolled-Up in Straps

 

[confluencekid]

How does it work? I just purchased - will I get the same thing you got?

Everyone who signs up/orders by Dec 31 gets the same. Just be prepared for a long, long shipping wait down to oz/nz. I got a shipping notification 11 days ago but in that time, according to the tracking, it's only made it from regional Illinois to O'Hare. Bugger.

 

[cobl04]

cool, thanks man appreciate that!

 

[LemonMelon]

My National Rushmore is super predictable: Karen/Fake Empire/All the Wine/Mistaken for Strangers

 

[iron yuppie]

All the Wine / Fake Empire / Terrible Love / Nobody Else Will Be There

Very honorable mentions to Available and Pink Rabbits.

 

[Kieran McConville]

Fake Empire
Abel
Lemonworld
Humiliation
Terrible Love
Walk It Back

 

[nielsgov]

I didn't know All the Wine was so such an Interference favorite.

Fake Empire should have gotten an honorable form me as well.

 

[cobl04]

Fake Empire is a bit overrated imho.

 

[gump]

Nah. I think it's clearly their best song.

 

[Kieran McConville]

It's funny: I think the album recording of Fake Empire is pretty much untouchable. Live, I couldn't care less about it. Half the time Matt screws up the start anyway, it's almost a running joke at this point.

 

[u2popmofo]

For whatever reason, their last album is the album I've far and away listened to the least in their catalog. Every time I hear it, I think it's better than I remember, but I still have very little desire to hear it.

 

[intedomine]

Fake Empire
Abel
Lemonworld
Humiliation
Terrible Love
Walk It Back

Lemonworld [emoji7]

When all is said and done, probably the song I go back to most on High Violet - lyrically breathtaking.

 

[cobl04]

I love Lemonworld. Great song.

 

[nielsgov]

For whatever reason, their last album is the album I've far and away listened to the least in their catalog. Every time I hear it, I think it's better than I remember, but I still have very little desire to hear it.

I have the same with High Violet. I never have the desire to listen to it, even though it's the album that got me into The National. Now that I'm thinking about, I don't even know why I never listen to it as it is a very good album with some fantastic tracks: Terrible Love, Afraid of Everyone, Lemonworld, Conversation 16. It's just that whenever I'm in a National mood, I seem to prefer other albums.

 

[Kieran McConville]

I think all their albums have problems. They're a lot like REM in that way.