Here's the thing: Legal documents, bankruptcies, booster shots, etc. are measured "good" for 10 years. After ten years, it's time to update. I've adopted this ten-year rule for Gem Of A Jam. What I mean is, an album that is 10 years or older is eligible to be discussed on this blog. (There's something so thrilling about making my own rules--what a rebel rouser!) While I've been on an early '80s R&B kick, thanks in part to Teena Marie and Aretha's Arista Records albums from "Aretha" to "Who's Zoomin' Who?" I felt compelled this entry to write about an album that I purchased some time ago but never gave more thought to than recently. Actually, I am so entrenched in this record that it's quickly become a favorite of mine. Albums that do this usually track-for-track embody my personal emotional zeitgeist--and this album hits all the right places. It's also a plus that A. Lennox is so strikingly beautiful and I adore her androgyny.
Released in June of 2003, Annie Lennox's "Bare" is an album that took her eight years to release after her album "Medusa," a collection of uniquely original cover songs. When asked in an interview for this album about her writing process and why she writes "sad" or "melancholy" songs, Annie Lennox responded that she only writes about what she's experienced or experiencing. She experienced a lot in those eight years. She raised two daughters, and was married and divorced twice. She was also struggling with her depression, a struggle I know all too well. Not that these past few months have been a totally bleak experience for me, but every year, towards the year's end I am uncontrollably immersed in an emotional state of introspection, followed by states of pensiveness, existential ambiguity, and lack of accomplishment. Some people who experience feelings such as these can grab their proverbial "boot straps" pull them up, and rise above. For me, they can feel like a cinderblock chained to my ankle as I'm thrown off a pier into the ocean. It's Virginia Woolf time for me, as I refer to it. Thankfully, as my saving grace, I have music to get me through. This album is doing just that now. Even if I was slated to write about The S.O.S. Band, I found myself being called to cover this record in lieu. Stumbling back upon or revisiting an album that I've had for years, but initially didn't have as much as an impact on me when I purchased it is what makes me fall in love with music all over again. It's also a major reason why I started this blog.
"Bare" captures the feelings of frustration, hurt, anger, and self-doubt in such a striking musical way--it's difficult for me to single out a track because they all work together in such a way--they are perfectly simpatico. Musically Annie Lennox has such a knack for going through the 5 stages of grief in a song (please listen to "Why" from her debut solo album "Diva"). However, there are passages from songs here that I feel should be shared to gain a sense of emotional intensity about this record. Nominated for a Grammy for Best Pop Album and being certified gold, "Bare" is an album I've bumped up on my personal list of favorite albums ever.
There are melodies on "Bare" such as "Pavement Cracks," a song that begins with liltingly minor verses but erupt into choruses of fury.
"Wonderful" is a brilliantly arranged song of hurt and anger:
"Idiot me, stupid fool, how could you be so uncool? To fall in love with someone who, doesn't really care for you, it's so obscure... But I feel Wonderful..." Annie painfully coos and then suddenly she flies into a rage: "God It makes me feels so blue, every time I think about you, all of the heat of my desire, smokin' like some crazy fire, come on here look at me, where I stand, can't you see my heart burnin' in my hands? Do you want me? Do you not? Does it feel cold baby? Does it feel hot?" Don't let the song title fool you.
"The Hurting Time" is a gorgeous ballad of truth:
"A million little deaths you've died, the times that you've been crucified, the more you've loved and lost and tried and still could not be satisfied; when will you be satisfied? Not till the hurtin' time begins."
"Honestly" lives up to its name:
"Was I Mad? Foolish me, to succumb so easily... Fools like me get so easily taken and fools like me can be so mistaken... Honestly."
"Bitter Pill" has no subtext to it--Annie just lays it all out there:
"Bitter pill to swallow, how it makes me choke, how the hell am I gonna find happiness and peace of mind when I'm losin' all the time? Yea bitter."
The song "Loneliness" is word for word an experience I continue to struggle with.
"And I've got a longin' that's hard to find, won't give me no peace of mind, something that I've lived with all along. Days and weeks and months and years, fillin' in the time my dear, tryin' to find the place where I belong... Loneliness is a place that I know well."
Annie Lennox has always been one of those artists that have such emotional intensity when she performs, not to mention as a songwriter. I LIVE for artists such as Annie--artists that surrender themselves to the music. Annie does so exquisitely on this Gem Of A Jam, "Bare." Thankfully, she has a new album coming out in a few weeks. "Nostalgia" is an album of cover song interpreted by Annie. However, they are songs that are nearly eighty-plus years old. This new album should be interesting, and thoroughly Annie Lennox.