![\"http:\/\/blog.timesunion.com\/simplerliving\/files\/2009\/04\/british-sea-power.jpg\"](\"http:\/\/blog.timesunion.com\/simplerliving\/files\/2009\/04\/british-sea-power.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
We have all succumbed to the power of the British rock anthem.\u00a0 Come on–admit it.<\/p>\n
For some it started with the Beatles’ Hey Jude<\/em>, for others the Rolling Stones’ Satisfaction<\/em>, and for others still it was The Who’s My Generation. <\/em>Or perhaps you came along later and for you it was Mott the Hoople’s All the Young Dudes, <\/em>John Lennon’s Instant Karma, <\/em>Bowie’s Heroes, or <\/em>Queen’s Under Pressure<\/em>.\u00a0 Still later it could have been the Clash’s London Calling, <\/em>the Smiths’ There is A Light That Never Goes Out, <\/em>Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart, <\/em>the Stone Roses’ I Am the Resurrection <\/em>and (we sensed a theme with the Stoned ones) I Wanna Be Adored, <\/em>Oasis’s Wonderwall, Live Forever,<\/em> <\/em>and Don’t Look Back in Anger<\/em>, or The Verve’s Bitter Sweet Symphony.<\/em> Still more recently it’s been Radiohead’s Fake Plastic Trees, Paranoid Android, Karma Police, High and Dry, <\/em>and (yes even) Creep, <\/em>Blur’s Song 2, <\/em>Elbow’s One Day Like This, <\/em>and Coldplay’s ubiquitousYellow<\/em> and Vida la Vida<\/em> (does this band do anything but attempt anthems?).<\/p>\n We have all condescended to the British anthem, attached our souls thereto and souled the same down that ravashing musical river.\u00a0 But still we have overlooked some.<\/p>\n And a band that has delivered some beauties you may not have heard is British Sea Power.<\/p>\n We have had a litmus test over the years:\u00a0 if a song forces us to replay it more than five times before listening to another track, then it is likely a classic (in our own minds, mind you) that passes notorious muster (last year we replayed Bell X1’s worthy How Your Heart is Wired<\/em> for almost an entire drive between San Luis Obispo and Berkeley).<\/p>\n And on no less than five to six occasions in recent memory, I have found myself hitting the repeat button on British Sea Power’s mutiny on the bountiful songs, Carrion<\/em> and Lately,<\/em> from their first record, “The Decline of British Sea Power.”<\/p>\n In Carrion<\/em>, the band seems to lament the descent of Britain and British identity in the face of its long, and sometimes dark, history.\u00a0 Regardless, a repeated line and the chorus kill:<\/p>\n “I felt the lapping of an ebbing tide<\/p>\n Oh the heavy water how it enfolds But for those with true staying power (and yes this song has been set to repeat for weeks at a time), the main course for us is the song Lately<\/em> (all 14 minutes of it–and it still feels too short at times).\u00a0 In this great song, British Sea Power tell the story from a British World War II veteran’s perspective, perhaps to his wife or girlfriend, and with serious aplomb (emphasis added):<\/p>\n “Lately, you seem like another language And you know how they say, Have I been standing here for so long, So which way, do I go to get out of here? Replacing Hercules, with the heroic sounds of Formby Have I been standing here for so long, Across the Kattegat, maybe out to Java, All through the years, all through the dead scenes, Oh, have I been standing here for so long, Do you like my megalithic rock? Take great pains to speak the same language with those you love, no matter where you find yourself.\u00a0 We have fallen short at times.<\/p>\n British Sea Power–Carrion<\/em><\/p>\n [audio:https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/08-Carrion.mp3|titles=08 Carrion]<\/em><\/p>\n British Sea Power–Lately<\/em><\/p>\n [audio:https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/10-Lately-1.mp3|titles=10 Lately 1] We have all succumbed to the power of the British rock anthem.\u00a0 Come on–admit it. For some it started with the Beatles’ Hey Jude, for others the Rolling Stones’ Satisfaction, and for others still it was The Who’s My Generation. Or perhaps you came along later and for you it was Mott the Hoople’s All […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t
\nThe salt, the spray, the gorgeous undertow
\nAlways, always, always the sea
\nBrilliantine mortality”<\/p>\n
\nAre you in trouble,
\nAre you in trouble again<\/span>?<\/p>\n
\nThe past, it is a foreign country<\/span>
\nHow can we go there,
\nHow can we go where we once went?<\/p>\n
\nNature’s found a way of telling you that it was going wrong?<\/p>\n
\nAvoiding landmines,
\nAnd all the other stuff around here<\/p>\n
\nRemove the tunics touch, stood aside from the putsch,
\nStood aside from history<\/p>\n
\nNature’s found a way of telling you that it was going wrong?<\/p>\n
\nOh, did you wonder if these days will stay true?<\/p>\n
\nAcross the memories, across the memories, melodies, melodies<\/p>\n
\nNature’s found a way of telling you that it was going wrong?<\/p>\n
\nDo you like my prehistoric rock?
\nDo you like my teutonic rock?
\nDo you like my priapic rock?
\nDo you like my neolithic rock?
\nDo you like my sterile rock?
\nDo you like my megalithic rock?”<\/p>\n
\n<\/em><\/p>\n
\n<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"