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The Young IdealistsLloyd Cole16 April 2009 |
Rock n’ roll has the ability to make us feel young — but sometimes it’s nice when our rock n’ roll heroes grow up, acknowledge that they’re getting older, and sing about it in ways that are relevant and keep us connected to them.
In 2006, three years after Music in a Foreign Language, Lloyd Cole released his last studio recording to date. (By now, the irony of the title: Antidepressant, shouldn’t be lost on anyone who’s been logging into the HMSOD for the past few weeks.) Like most of the audience who has followed him over the past twenty years, this release finds Lloyd a few years older, a few pounds heavier, and a few hairs grayer. In other words, he’s slipping into middle age. But rather than fight it or deny it, he seems to be embracing it — and mining it for his musical meditations on love and (middle) life — albeit peppered with the usual self-deprecation, melancholy and black humor that make them quintessential Lloyd Cole compositions. One of my favorite songs on Antidepressant—for both its timeliness and its catchiness—is the opening track and today’s Happy Medium Song of the Day: “The Young Idealists.”
These days, Lloyd lives the life of a modern day traveling troubadour; happy to throw his guitar and golf clubs(?!) in the car and hit the road. Sounds like the perfect candidate for a backyard concert on Druid Drive, followed by a celebrity round of golf. To mark this stage in his career, he’s released two live albums this year: Radio Bremen and The Whelan—recorded in Germany and Dublin respectively. Together they make up Volume 1 and 2 of The Folksinger. As if that weren’t enough, Lloyd also just released a four-disc set of rarities and b-sides called Cleaning Out the Ashtrays. That’s a whole lot of music purged from the archives for our listening pleasure. I, for one, can’t wait to dive in.
In 2006, three years after Music in a Foreign Language, Lloyd Cole released his last studio recording to date. (By now, the irony of the title: Antidepressant, shouldn’t be lost on anyone who’s been logging into the HMSOD for the past few weeks.) Like most of the audience who has followed him over the past twenty years, this release finds Lloyd a few years older, a few pounds heavier, and a few hairs grayer. In other words, he’s slipping into middle age. But rather than fight it or deny it, he seems to be embracing it — and mining it for his musical meditations on love and (middle) life — albeit peppered with the usual self-deprecation, melancholy and black humor that make them quintessential Lloyd Cole compositions. One of my favorite songs on Antidepressant—for both its timeliness and its catchiness—is the opening track and today’s Happy Medium Song of the Day: “The Young Idealists.”
These days, Lloyd lives the life of a modern day traveling troubadour; happy to throw his guitar and golf clubs(?!) in the car and hit the road. Sounds like the perfect candidate for a backyard concert on Druid Drive, followed by a celebrity round of golf. To mark this stage in his career, he’s released two live albums this year: Radio Bremen and The Whelan—recorded in Germany and Dublin respectively. Together they make up Volume 1 and 2 of The Folksinger. As if that weren’t enough, Lloyd also just released a four-disc set of rarities and b-sides called Cleaning Out the Ashtrays. That’s a whole lot of music purged from the archives for our listening pleasure. I, for one, can’t wait to dive in.
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