LCD Soundsystem - "All My Friends"

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/download/47194-lcd-soundsystem-all-my-friends-live-in-manchester-england

And, contrary opinion: http://www.drownedinsound.com/release/view/10148

I almost always skip this song.

That DiS piece is really, really inept.

#1 song of the year.

The anguished vocal is not nearly anguished enough to garner much emotional connection
R
O
N
G

This is an amazingly good song.

I agree with you, Nick. Whoever wrote that DiS review missed the mark totally.

One grasps for more ways to describe the song than this potted account, but there really is little else going on.

One = you, and just because you're a bad writer doesn't mean there's nothing going on in the song, yo.

The anguished vocal is not nearly anguished enough to garner much emotional connection,

(A) No emotional connection? Do you not have a heart?
(B) If you want anguish, listen to nu-metal. As James Murphy once said in an interview, "There's no angst" in his music. That's not the point. It's about missing your friends, not totally freaking out in pain or anything.

and the DFA label has seen about six billion more readily danceable tunes released into the world than this one.

What in the world is his point? Oh no, a song is not danceable, that means it's shite.

http://stylusmagazine.com/reviews/lcd-soundsystem/the-sound-of-silver.htm

Back-to-back at the center of the album are the two best songs Murphy’s ever been involved in: the ruminative, regret-loaded acid-pads of “Someone Great” and the accelerant joie de vivre of “All My Friends.” The former, a meticulously-crafted electro groove with a lyric about a necessarily unidentified personal loss, carries an unexpectedly profound sadness. Thankfully it’s countered by the latter, where excitable pianos and an incessant Krautrock groove build a rose-tinted but realistic reminiscence as a greying hipster looks back on his irreclaimable youth and decides against regret. No one else working this sonic territory has anywhere near this emotional depth.

Sonically, it / they / this whole album is also mixed and mastered absolutely brilliantly - which makes the pianos in AMF not just good but AMAZING.

Amen, Nick, Amen. See, you actually describe how the song works whereas he doesn't. Also, I still have no idea how someone can listen to this and say, "Yeah, this has no emotion in it." Just because he's not screaming like Win Butler (and I like the Arcade Fire), doesn't mean it's not "emotional." There are more emotions than angst angst angst.

Also: In case anyone is interested, here's that James Murphy interview I paraphrased in my above post; it's pretty fantastic (and long):

http://indieinterviews.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=34058

Yeah, production-wise this album is incredible. It's not over-compressed at all, and you can really hear every little sound and how they interact with each other. I just want to play it again and again.

To quote Mark Pytlik's Pitchfork review, which I totes agree with:

He's an analog obsessive with a general aversion to software, and Sound of Silver reflects that. Far removed from the compressed, trebly, and overmastered paradigm that's gripped electronic music in the last decade, Sound of Silver sounds deep, spacious, and full-blooded. (Like, um, an old rock record.) It's an absolute joy to listen to, for every possible reason, not the least of which is because, these days, those epiphanies feel like they're coming fewer and farther between.

"That DiS piece is really, really inept"

qft

There are a lot of ways that stasis/minimalism work incredibly well on this album. I don't think "All My Friends" is one of them, probably because I find that piano intensely annoying.

If I thought that song was supposed to be "anguished" I wouldn't like it for a second.

I love John Cale's cover version as much/more than the original.

HI DERE that's a much better reason for not liking the song than the ones given in that DiS review.

There are a lot of ways that stasis/minimalism work incredibly well on this album. I don't think "All My Friends" is one of them, probably because I find that piano intensely annoying.

See, I find that piano almost unbearably exciting...

The piano bit (along with the drums) is the driving force of the song.

I feel bad for the dude in the video I posted above who has to hit the same notes on the piano for six plus minutes tho.

Piano is like Terry Riley! A+

As sam500 just noted on the "Year-End Critics' Polls '07" thread:

As voted by the Guardian's music writers

Friday December 7, 2007
The Guardian

1 LCD Soundsystem: Sound of Silver . . .

They really blew it with the video, huh: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2V_ZT-nyOs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x07oIcCERtM

Something about the lyrics/vocals really bothers me. I think it sounds like he's trying too hard to be poignant--it doesn't connect with me. I preferred it when LCD Soundsystem made tracks rather than songs, if that makes any sense.

See I think this is a track, rather than a song. But it is also a song... and I don't think he's trying too hard for poignant, certainly not compared to a lot of mainstream sop-rock. The devil's in the details, the little bits I don't understand, the lyrics that are so personal as to be impenetrable.

The devil's in the details, the little bits I don't understand, the lyrics that are so personal as to be impenetrable.

I see what you mean by this but more in relation to "Someone Great" than "All My Friends" (but, even there, I like what he did with "Someone Great" on 45'33" more than Sound of Silver).

(but, even there, I like what he did with "Someone Great" on 45'33" more than Sound of Silver).

...left off the vocal track?

Like the lyric about "we check the charts / and start to figure it out"; Emma took that as meaning his partner was pregnant, I took it to mean they'd been out on a Sunday partying, got home, stuck Teletext on and realised they'd had a hit single / album or something. Not sure why...

...left off the vocal track?

Exactly!

Teletext?

"and for those of you who still think we're from england we're not, no."

Track of the Year also in, of all places 'MOJO'. I didn't think they even DID a track of the year usually.

I took it to mean they'd been out on a Sunday partying, got home, stuck Teletext on and realised they'd had a hit single / album or something.

Funny you should say that. Part of me wonders if James Murphy needs to stop worrying about the charts in order for me to regain interest (which goes back to the whole tracks vs. songs thing).

I think he DID with this album, is the irony; I think he tried too hard with the first full album as LCD, mastered it a bit aggressively, deliberately wrote a couple of 'singles' (the Daft Punk one! the Beatles one!).

Agreed that this is a fine fine song. It reminds me in parts of a song that Secret Machines may have written. It has that same feel to it.

first two tracks of "ten silver drops" >>>>>>>>>>>> this song

See? No heart.

I almost always skip this song.

-- HI DERE, Friday, 7 December 2007 14:43 (2 hours ago) Link

The instant I heard those piano chords hammering out I knew it was the song for me.

Yeah, this is kindof a classic single already.

I like this song, though for a long time I thought he should have gone for a high note ("if I could see all my friends to-NIIIIIIIIIGHT") to really make it climax. BONO would have, and they're aping the U2 side of Eno-rock pretty strongly here.

"Someone Great" affects me a lot more musically and lyrically.

the video for 'someone great' is great!

Yeah but the edit sucks

what nick said, really.

I can't imagine "Someone Great" without the vocal track! That's what makes the song sublime, especially when its motion differs from the glockenspiel line underneath it.

Have you heard 45'33"?

it's nowhere near as good, though, is it?

I haven't heard 45'33", but if one of the things I like so much about "Something Great" is the interplay between the vocal line and the glockenspiel and the vocal line isn't there...

That DiS review is really flat but this sentence seems OTM to me: 'All My Friends' is by no means devoid of enjoyable features, but it's hard to believe that anyone would listen to this and think it was actually finished.

ok what?

"north american scum" is one of my 3 least fave songs on the album.

"sneering" is definitely an appropriate descriptor for the chunk of the album I dislike.

"freak out/starry eyes also awesome awesome.

OTM

xp: OTM

40 year-old men dig music by 40 year-old men.

Jesus.

"freak out/starry eyes also awesome awesome.

-- J0rdan S., Sunday, December 16, 2007 1:21 PM (Sunday, December 16, 2007 1:21 PM) Bookmark Link

OTM

xp: OTM

-- The Reverend, Sunday, December 16, 2007 1:25 PM (Sunday, December 16, 2007 1:25 PM) Bookmark Link

40 year-old men dig music by 40 year-old men.

Jesus.

-- PhilK, Sunday, December 16, 2007 2:11 PM (Sunday, December 16, 2007 2:11 PM) Bookmark Link

i've listend to it again today.
i still think it's a great song, till one minute before closure,where he starts "singing" the lyrics in a nonstop way, which is kinda little annoying.
i also think that the fact that john cale and frenz ferdinand made covers for it really fast, rises the points for it being the song of 2007 for lots of people/music critics.

Pitchfork's track of the year.

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/47681-staff-list-top-100-tracks-of-2007/page_10

"someone great" is better

I like the song a lot, think it's about the 6th best song on the album, and have played the Franz Ferdinand cover more than any other track this year.

Dan P, you should really hear the FF version. It slays.

New cover up on CokeMachineGlow!

http://cokemachineglow.com/songs/index.html

" I don't know what credibility I individually have, but believe me when I say that I am not just saying this: Main Drag's "All My Friends" cover is better than the original. And, as you and me and all our friends know, the original was pretty fucking great, an instant classic that James Murphy himself realized was a little too good for LCD Soundsystem, which is why he poached it out to all his friends in hopes that one of them could turn out the definitive version. None of them did. Franz Ferdinand owes the song an apology."

the singer on ^^^that cover^^^ should be forcefed a steady diet of molten lava.

i'd rather have tiny tim sing it

(And this is where I say "North American Scum" is the best song on the album kthxbye.)

thanks cokemachine glow! awesome.

That DiS piece is really, really inept.

tru fax.

(And this is where I say "North American Scum" is the best song on the album kthxbye.)

ned otm. as are the "temptation" references above. i like "all my friends" but it mostly makes me want to hear new order. (actually lots of this album makes me want to hear other things.)

("here we go like a sales force into the night" is a nice line.)

I predicted the Pitchfork #1 like 6 months ago.

he needs to stop singing on his tunes, then maybe he'd be ok.

They should make a new video in honor of the end-of-year attention. Something along the lines of "Where The Streets Have No Name," the band playing on a Williamsburg rooftop, Murphy standing proudly on the edge with a mic while young hipsters clog the streets, cutaways of a bum getting his groove on, cops on walkie talkies, news cameras, etc. Not that the vocal or the guitar are really up to U2 levels of crystalline grandiosity, but people seem to be rewarding the attempt.

lol

he needs to stop singing on his tunes

i like his singing. i was trying to think the other day of current white male vocalists i really like and he was one who came to mind.

Yeah, now it's all his non-singing (vocal) tunes that annoy me.

kives1985 (6 hours ago)
He's fatter than I thought he would be. Kind of ruins the music for me.:)

actually lots of this album makes me want to hear other things

I've grown to assume that all the tracks that DON'T make me want to listen to an "original version" are that way because I haven't heard the song he ripped off yet. Need to invest in some more motorik krautrock I think

and da croupier OTM, OTM, all over the place

or perhaps someone should do a "cover" of AMF with bono's lyrics

"Get Innocuous" >>>>>>>>>> everything on the album except "Someone Great", which it =.

-- HI DERE, Sunday, December 16, 2007 6:06 PM

OTMFM.

this album = overhyped beyond fucking belief

His singing sounds like The Killers on this ffs....so much weaker than the best stuff on the record... 'Get Innocuous'.

North American Scum = Homosapien

just listen to them one aftehr oether and your mind iwll be blllllown man.

this album = overhyped beyond fucking belief

very true

The music's not bad, but it's just fun to hate this guy - he's a dreary aging hipster loved by other dreary aging hipsters. The lyrics on "New York I Love You" read like he ripped it off the comments section on Curbed.com.

his voice, wtf

that fella from hot chip as well.

do people enjoy listening to fucking drips?

he's a dreary aging hipster loved by other dreary aging hipsters.

You've just defined ILM, pops. Congratulations!

I don't hate on this guy, his first record was basically awesome

North American Scum = Homosapien

-- burt_stanton, Saturday, December 22, 2007 7:55 PM (54 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

i knew i recognized it from somewhere!

i like this album a lot though.

though all my friends is my least favorite song on it

after the new york one

that cover that cokemachine posted is LOL

with a few key exceptions this may be the rongest thread in ilm history.

xpost

i'm really starting to be convinced lcd soundsystem should never be covered or remixed

Any idea who the backing band was on John Cale's cover?

where's galkin

this song is gr8, btw

Tracklisting:
A John Cale All My Friends (John Cale Version) (7:39)
Bass - James Murphy
Drums, Percussion - Michael Jerome
Guitar - David Levitta*
Producer, Vocals, Guitar (Rhythm), Viola, Keyboards, Sampler - John Cale
Programmed By, Sampler - Robin Lynn
Recorded By, Mixed By - Mickey Petralia