Bel Air Rain

louielouie2000 · #1 09-17-2008, 08:04 AM

Ok, I've noticed in other reviews of Gift Of Screws, that Ledgies are kinda downing this track. So I figured I'd send it some love, because I honestly think this is the coolest song Lindsey has ever recorded. The guitar work is simply entrancing. I LOVE the brutal honesty of the lyrics, example: "in my younger days, I was mistaken for a whore." I don't think I've ever heard Lindsey be so up front and downright brutal in his lyrics... I love it! I just love all the references to his past in Fleetwood Mac and his solo career "you could say I lived in chains" (an obvious nod to the Chain, and it's irony) and "I went insane" (an obvious reference to Go Insane). I think it's fascinating that though Lindsey is being so candid about doors being shut on him after Rumours, that he still feels like his success has been the cause of his failure. He can't complain because he's in Bel Air. I just love it all. The finger picking on this song is simply devine. I could just go on about it forever. Anybody else have some love to show for this song??

TrueFaith77 · #2 09-17-2008, 08:29 AM

you id'd many of its pleasures here. thank you.

louielouie2000 · #3 09-17-2008, 08:37 AM

I'm glad somebody else likes this one. There's just so much I keep picking out I want to discuss. I think the lyric "everyone's peace lives side by side with their war" is probably one of Lindsey's most profound of his career. It's so true if you think about it... what brings you the most peace, love, and security can also bite you the hardest. I'm just soaking up this album like a sponge y'all... I haven't stopped listening to it in nearly 24 hours lol. It's all so multilayered... so much to pull out and so much to discover!

Madness Fades · #4 09-17-2008, 09:05 AM

Sometimes Lindseys songs like that take time to grow on me. I liked Bel Air Rain Right away. Its not the best song on the Album but its by no means anywhere near the worst. Its one album that i find really hard to put the songs into a favourite to least favourite kind of order.
Bel Air Rain has a great vibe to it and is much less risky than Time precious time for that album.

Although the last 10 or 15 seconds of Bel Air Rain are a bit annoying, and very off putting for people who are listening and are not really Lindsey fans.

louielouie2000 · #5 09-17-2008, 09:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Madness Fades

Although the last 10 or 15 seconds of Bel Air Rain are a bit annoying, and very off putting for people who are listening and are not really Lindsey fans.

I totally agree with you in that regard! Kinda ruins the vibe of the song. To me, it's still at least the best song on the album!

TrueFaith77 · #6 09-17-2008, 09:28 AM

OMG the ending is the third best part of that song:

Top 3 Best Parts of "Bel Air Rain"

1. "Oh but that knock" & "I guess you could say" . . . what's that called what he does there vocally, rhythmically? It's awesome
2. "can't complain". . . very "go insane" (the dance version)
3. the ending. . . as some astute listener on The Ledge put it: The ending is just "beyond"

**mylittledemon** · #7 09-17-2008, 09:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by louielouie2000

Ok, I've noticed in other reviews of Gift Of Screws, that Ledgies are kinda downing this track. So I figured I'd send it some love, because I honestly think this is the coolest song Lindsey has ever recorded. The guitar work is simply entrancing. I LOVE the brutal honesty of the lyrics, example: "in my younger days, I was mistaken for a whore." I don't think I've ever heard Lindsey be so up front and downright brutal in his lyrics... I love it! I just love all the references to his past in Fleetwood Mac and his solo career "you could say I lived in chains" (an obvious nod to the Chain, and it's irony) and "I went insane" (an obvious reference to Go Insane). I think it's fascinating that though Lindsey is being so candid about doors being shut on him after Rumours, that he still feels like his success has been the cause of his failure. He can't complain because he's in Bel Air. I just love it all. The finger picking on this song is simply devine. I could just go on about it forever. Anybody else have some love to show for this song??

Well its all about taste isn't it? I for one don't like this album as much as UTS. And oddly enough, Bel Air Rain is one of my favorite songs on this new album!

louielouie2000 · #8 09-17-2008, 11:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mylittledemon

Well its all about taste isn't it? I for one don't like this album as much as UTS. And oddly enough, Bel Air Rain is one of my favorite songs on this new album!

Different strokes indeed! I just never warmed up to Under The Skin, and I have certainly got even colder towards it over time. But Bel Air Rain, which would fit in perfectly on that album, has just totally blown my socks off. It's the only song on the whole album that does that for me. I like Great Day a great deal, but nothing like Bel Air Rain.

I just love the whole album though. It's like a distillation of his entire body of work from Buckingham Nicks forward. You can absolutely hear hints of Go Insane on Great Day, Right Place To Fade is very Second Hand News, and Bel Air Rain is reminiscent of Lindsey's live performances of Big Love from the past decade. That's why I like this album so much... it's approachable and familiar... yet totally fresh, still pushing envelopes creatively, etc. It's neither too pop, nor too rock, nor too experimental. It's just an amalgam of everything... and that's what I enjoy. It's like the very best of Lindsey all wrapped up in a little 40 minute package.

**mylittledemon** · #9 09-17-2008, 11:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by louielouie2000

Different strokes indeed! I just never warmed up to Under The Skin, and I have certainly got even colder towards it over time. But Bel Air Rain, which would fit in perfectly on that album, has just totally blown my socks off. It's the only song on the whole album that does that for me. I like Great Day a great deal, but nothing like Bel Air Rain.

I just love the whole album though. It's like a distillation of his entire body of work from Buckingham Nicks forward. You can absolutely hear hints of Go Insane on Great Day, Right Place To Fade is very Second Hand News, and Bel Air Rain is reminiscent of Lindsey's live performances of Big Love from the past decade. That's why I like this album so much... it's approachable and familiar... yet totally fresh, still pushing envelopes creatively, etc. It's neither too pop, nor too rock, nor too experimental. It's just an amalgam of everything... and that's what I enjoy. It's like the very best of Lindsey all wrapped up in a little 40 minute package.

I partially agree with you. I like Bel Air Rain the best on the album too, along with Did You Miss Me, Wait For You, Underground and Treason. Love Runs Deeper is Ok...but the rest of it ain't workin for me. I still prefer UTS as an album. But you can't really compare them.

AliceLover · #10 09-17-2008, 11:38 AM

I like to fast foward to the end of this one. I love the ba ba ba's, reminds me of the end of Big Love.

michelej1 · #11 09-17-2008, 04:35 PM

Just read a Denver Westword interview when Lindsey said the word is "in shame" and not "in chains." The interviewer thought he meant The Chain too.

Michele

**mylittledemon** · #12 09-17-2008, 04:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by michelej1

Just read a Denver Westword interview when Lindsey said the word is "in shame" and not "in chains." The interviewer thought he meant The Chain too.

Michele

Hmm...I heard "shame", i think sometimes people just listen flippantly.

michelej1 · #13 09-17-2008, 04:42 PM

This is what Lindsey said about shame v. chains:

Quote:

Yes, I see that. But the allusion is not that different, and what you’re arriving at isn’t different for me by changing that word. It generalizes it out more. But it’s true. And in those days especially, we all had moments of peace, but mostly we had moments of war – and war side by side with peace creates ambiguity. And there was really a great deal of ambiguity in my world during those days.

bucklind17 · #14 09-17-2008, 09:09 PM

I really like 'Bel Air Rain". It's not as quirky as I was expecting from people comparing it to "Play in the Rain" but I like the guitar work a lot.

And ok, I'm not going to lie, one of the reasons I love it is because my friend and I always go around singing the guitar part to "Play in the Rain". It's my friend's favorite LB song and I love it too, and we find ourselves just singing it out all the time. So when Lindsey starts singing out his own guitar part at the end of this song? Gold!

TrueFaith77 · #15 09-17-2008, 09:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bucklind17

I really like 'Bel Air Rain". It's not as quirky as I was expecting from people comparing it to "Play in the Rain" but I like the guitar work a lot.

And ok, I'm not going to lie, one of the reasons I love it is because my friend and I always go around singing the guitar part to "Play in the Rain". It's my friend's favorite LB song and I love it too, and we find ourselves just singing it out all the time. So when Lindsey starts singing out his own guitar part at the end of this song? Gold!

I wish I had friends like that!