Customer Reviews

Bad Vibes

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This seems to be a polarizing album for fans of Lloyd Cole. This is clearly his most cohesive set of songs since "Rattlesnakes". It's simply a question of whether or not you like the left turn he's taking here.

"Bad Vibes" is indeed all about mood. Things aren't going so well in Lloyd Cole's world. In a heart-breaking song near the end of the album, he sings softly "I'm a lonseome alcoholic", while trying to screw up the courage to ask someone "for the pleasure of your company". You get the feeling his potential new lover would be better off staying away from him, and that Lloyd knows it, too.

Nevertheless, Cole is a top songwriter and in fine form here. This is Lloyd Cole's soundtrack to falling out of love with his significant other, his own life, and his fellow man. His wry observations and insightful, cutting lyrics are still here, along with that pop sheen all his albums seem to have. This still sounds like a Lloyd Cole CD, just a little darker and more self-lacerating.

"So you'd like to save the world?" he asks. "I suggest you take one person at a time and start with me". Get the picture?

I'm a huge Lloyd Cole fan and have been since the mid-'80's. On the first couple of listens I was very disappointed with this album and didn't listen to it much until about two years ago. Then I listened to it again very closely and found it challenging and interesting. The lyrics are clever as they always are, but the music goes in many directions that differ from Cole's standard fare, from the faux-beatlesque "Fall Together" to the funny "Seen the Future". This may be the sardonic Cole's wriest album, and it certainly is worth a patient listen.

After DON'T GET WEIRD ON ME, BABE, I honestly felt that Cole was saying goodbye in some strange way...especially with the last song on that album that ended with such bittersweet melodic strings.

But, no, he came back! I remember going to college when this came out; I lived in England at the time, but was going to school in Colorado--hence, my mother in England was able to get me the UK release before a US release available. She told me the album title and described the cover as "Lloyd Cole slouched in a corner in a really bad mood."

It sent chills down me and the chills were intensified when the guitar rumbled through me with the opening strains of "Morning is Broken." Following that song is Cole's satirical look towards global problems being treated as "fads" in "So You'd Like To Save The World?" There's the darkly sexual tone of "Wild Mushrooms" amongst other wonderful songs on this album.

This album was such a refreshing 180 from DON'T GET WEIRD ON ME, BABE, which was a strange, confused album compared to this straightforward word play observations on self-reflection, relationships, and unabashedly unreserved obsession for a girl with her "natural grace."

In my mind, there are no bad Lloyd Cole albums (Commotions, solo, or Negatives) -- but this is definitely his best solo album.

Songs like "Half of Everything","She's a Girl and I'm a Man","Weeping Wine","Butterfly","You will Never Be No Good" and "Are you Ready to be Heartbroken?" won me over to Lloyd Cole's brand of cynical romanticism (or is it romantic cynicism?). In particular the sweeping grandeur of the string arrangements and melodies on DON'T GET WEIRD ON ME, BABE recalled prime era Jimmy Webb songs for me.

This one...well, let's say I don't get that feeling here. There isn't anything on here that really screams "outtake" (with the possible exception of the overlong "Can't Get Arrested") but all too often it's just a bland middle of the road safeness. The songs are nice while they're playing, but I can't recall them when the disc ends. Even the ones I'm calling "highlights" here are merely the CD's better spots not necessarily great music.

HIGHLIGHTS:
"So You'd like to Save the World" finds Cole chasing a treehugger type and simultaneously castigating her naivete ("Did you really cry/when you saw the hole in the sky?/Did you really hold your head and hide your eyes?") and salivating over her body ("So you'd like to free my world/If you can free my inner child then I can free your inhibitions,baby"). "Love You So What" finds Cole after he's betrayed his lover and discovered what they say about a woman scorned is the truth. ("you beat me up, you put me down/you're slamming my name all over town/guess i'm big enough to roll with the punches/but you bruise me, you abuse me d**n good") It's probably the "poppiest" song on here thanks to an indelible keyboard riff. The gently loping "Wild Mushrooms" is an ode to sex under the influence of less than legal substances, while "Too Much of a Good Thing" marries trip hop with country as twangy guitars collide with insistent drum machine high-hat. Here Cole is probably at his most pragmatic romantically. ("If it's good to me/And it's good to you/won't you stay with me/and i will stay with you..") "Seen the Future" is a snide look at trendy musical acts. ("All my friends do the model girl thing/So I found one, now she wears my nose ring..") "For the Pleasure of Your Company" underscores its tale of a flawed man on the make with menacing tremeloed guitars and dramatic martial drum interludes. (NOTE: This song appears only on this U.S. version..the U.K. version omits it and "4 M.B.")

LOWS:
"Can't get Arrested" should have been titled "Can't Stay Awake". Way...too...long. There's some nicely bitter words in there about Cole's unknown status in the U.S. but it should have been boiled down to a tasty confection instead of this sprawling Viennese torte of a song. "4 M.B." finds Cole a nonentity in his own song..mixed so low that his muffled whisper quite often is a subtle coloring rather than center of the tune.

BOTTOM LINE:
Diehard Cole fans may still want to have this one and it does grow on you more with repeat listenings. However, I've owned this one for around 7 years now and it's still far from a favourite of mine. If you're dipping your toes in because of Cole's presence on so many Amazon lists here, make sure that DON'T GET WEIRD ON ME, BABE is your first exposure, not this disc. Definitely a "hear it first" CD.

Bad Vibes starts well with Morning is Broken and So You'd Like to Save the World and ends pretty well with 4 M.B. (one of those "who's it about?" songs), but in between there is not much to get excited about. Call this a tame CD. Very soft arrangements, the usual cynical romantic well-crafted lyrics, all of it with little staying power in my book. Sometimes Cole's vocals are so laid back they're barely audible in the already quiet mix. Can't Get Arrested in particular meanders on entirely too long. Mister Wrong and My Way to You are the only other cuts I'd consider keepers.

Although this album is an ambitious departure from his usual fare, it stands on its own as further proof that Lloyd Cole is the greatest living male songwriter on this planet!

LLoyd Cole is one of the most clever songwriters of the last 20 years.

While his contemporaries in the late 1980's were descending into the "when in doubt, reverb" school of songwriting, Lloyd Cole continued to reinvent himself, and critics trying to pidgeon hole him were continually frustrated in their efforts.

BAD VIBES is a very slick, funny, sardonic and listenable album. At the heart of his best songs is a repentant Cole, always bashing himself for previous sins and intimating that his next round of offenses is almost in the bag. In BAD VIBES, this comes across best in "Morning is Broken." As evidenced in this number, you can always count on Cole for a woeful reference to Church, God, and some chick he just dumped.

From time to time, Cole descends into the realm of schlock, but usually this occurs when he is covering a topic worthy of derision, such as drug use.

"So You'd Like To Save The World" is a cheerful and sardonic melody (with a sweet-voiced female accompaniment) that takes aim at a beguiled young environmentalist. Cole cautions her against Chicken Little doomsday predictions with the off-cuff remark, "You might call it ultravioet radiotion; it's only sunshine!"

A must-buy for those who prize superb lyrics and slick riffs tempered by a vaguely country-western undertone.

I pretty much like all of LC's albums. Some are mellower, some more acoustic, or more strings, or more country, but the lyrics are always funny/biting/sad & his singing is consistently strong.
Bad Vibes has some louder guitar, some obvious Beatles/Lennon homages, & the last song is a nice tribute to T. Rex's Marc Bolan.
Musically, Bad Vibes is up among his top 5 CD's. If anything, I think the production on his 1st CD has aged the worst, though the songs remain strong.
Looking forward to hearing his 2011 CD as soon as it arrives in the mail. No more CD stores in my town...
I've seen him solo in the mid-90's, with The Negatives in 2000 & solo again in San Fran in 2009. He's a great performer, & if you get a chance to talk to him, Lloyd is a humble, intelligent gentleman (just as you'd imagine).
How he smokes & keeps his voice so smooth is a mystery to me.

I'm a huge fan of his most popular solo album "Don't Get Weird on Me Babe", but this album is a close second. If you like Lloyd's vocals, this a wonderful album that grows better with each listen. He's an excellent songwriter and crafts atomospheric tunes mixed in with straight ahead rock n'roll.
A very underrated musician and songwriter. If you like his sound at all, this is a great album to have.

Well? Any one? I don't get it. Great album by the way. One of the best ever made. Scratches head and smokes a cig....