This album makes me happy. Its simplicity makes me happy. It’s clean and simple. It reminds me of scrubbing things – showers, floors; washing windows, polishing up the hardware. It’s the joyful sense of simple accomplishments. It’s why I love to fold clothes. Set about a task, and finish it. And it’s viewable – enjoyable by me. Simple things.
The album begins with “Heaven, help me if this is love,” but it still makes me happy despite they’re asking a place. They’ve got to single someone out. Aphrodite maybe.
The drums sit on top – the snare is always there (if you think it’s time to rhyme). Snap, snap, snap! It’s reassuring, like the trains, that they run and the snare snaps. These things say, It’s okay, life goes on.
The picture on the cover shows a little channel of smudged copper water through an autumnal scene. Water seeks the bottom, and gets there if there’s a way. It’s got gravity, weight and slippery working for it.
I wonder if the lead guy isn’t the drummer – or the producer has a thing about snare drums. They’d call him Snappy maybe, although he might not like that.
We can’t expect people to think just like we do – there are too many factors that factor in to them and me. Everyone’s smart phone looks the same but what’s inside is different
There were no smartphones when this album came out in 1983. Not many personal computers even. No doubt has something to do with the cleanliness and simplicity.
That’s the rub in the modern world, isn’t it? Too many choices.
This song doesn’t have any snare, only a kick drum. Oh, shit, there’s the snare.
I read about Fra Lippo Lippi – the namesake for the band – in school but I can’t tell you much about it, but he was a long time ago and maybe he was a religious figure and maybe wore a robe. There were a lot fewer choices back then.
Other than the lack of any sanitation, the plague and pestilence, the rotting teeth and zilch healthcare, I wonder if they were happier. They had plenty of cleaning to do.
Luke Soiseth 