It is rare that I (Victoria) buy an album that I am literally amazed by. One of them is Neon Ballroom. I'm sure that everyone reading this remembers silverchair. Back in 1995, Daniel Johns, Ben Gillies, and Chris Joannou burst onto the scene with the single 'Tommorrow'. Since their arrival was right after the suicide of Kurt Cobain, they were instantly tagged as Nirvava rip-offs. This tag followed them all the way to their sophomore album, Freak Show in 1997. With the release of Neon Ballroom in 1999, hopefully the bashers will be silenced and start to appreciate silverchair as a truly innovative and talented band. More specifically, Daniel Johns will finally be recongnized for his immense talents as a lyricist and musical arranger.
Emotion Sickness : I think silverchair was right in picking this immense, epic-like song as the opener for their new album. It introduces the listener to the "new" silverchair. The title of the track pretty much tells what the song is going to be like. It has a "manic piano part" (or so Daniel says) and a weird orchestral part in the background. I like this song heaps because it goes from being really intense- to quiet at times. I guess your emotions do that sometimes too. Have their highs and lows that is. Daniel's vocals on this song range from a whisper to an almost desperate-sounding scream for help. ( "All my friends say Get Up Get Up..." ) After I finish listening to this song, I wanna hug Daniel. But I wanna hug Daniel a lot so that's irrelevant.. ha.
Anthem For The Year 2000 : Ok, I'm not for shameless promotion off the year 2000. Maybe that's why I don't particulary love this song. Daniel's vocals are a bit strained, and the sound effects tend to clutter the song more often, then add to it. The chorus ( "We'll make it up to you in the year 2000....." ) gets stuck in my head a lot. I'm glad that Daniel has tried to become more politically and socially conscious-but this doesn't work for me. The coming of the year 2000 has become one big cliche and I don't like cliches. All that being said, I still listen to song when it comes on the radio, or on the cd. It just isn't one of my favourites.
Ana's Song (Open Fire) : I love this song. It's incredible. From the moment Daniel sings the opening lines : "Please die Ana, for as long as you're here we're not. You make the sound of laughter and sharpened nails seem softer. " I'm hooked. Too bad, this love song isn't about an actual person. Ana is the code name for anorexia-nervosa. Daniel went through a period of this life, where he was experiencing food phobias and all he ate was fruit and soup. I can also identify with the song, because I can see how people can get preoccupied with food. Being a vegetarian (or semi-vegetarian really) myself, there are some days when I just don't feel like eating vegetables. I don't eat meat, and I don't feel like eating vegetables-so I don't eat sometimes. I know this is bad for my health, but I do it anyways. Everytime I hear this song, I think of that. Then I feel bad for being such a lazy ass, and I go eat. I guess Daniel was right when he said "..this song will help a lot more people than other people realise..". Thanks Daniel. I can truly say I would buy Neon Ballroom for this song. Daniel's vocals are incredible and the music is beautiful.
Spawn Again : I actually bought the Spawn soundtrack just for silverchair's orginal version of Spawn. I loved it- but this version is better in my opinion. The weird electronic "tweaks" were removed, the lyrics were changed slighty, and Daniel redid his vocals. Listening to this song, actually makes me wanna jump up and run around the room. If you didn't know, this song is about animal experimentation. Being a vegan, Daniel obviously is clearly against it. ( "...these are the facts. So eat what you murder. This is Animal Liberation. Eight billion killed for human pleasure !!!!" ) Daniel's vocals are so loud and in-your-face on this song. There are points when he goes crazy, and scream/sings the words. After he finishes one of the verses, you can actually hear him panting because he is out of breath. Spawn Again is the kind of song you turn up REALLY loud when no one else is home.
Miss You Love : I love Daniel's voice. (As if I haven't made that clear yet...lol) This is another rock-balladesque kind of song. Soft at the beginning, hard in the middle, and then fades away in the end. It's a formula that works well for silverchair as a band. I also wanna hug Daniel at the end of this song. :)
Dearest Helpless : At the beginning of the song, the sound kind of drifts in and out. Everytime I listen to it, I think my cd (or my cd player) is messing up. I love the guitar riff on this song. It's a riff that gets stuck in your head-but not in that annoying sort of way. In the middle of the song, there's this weird thing of odd sounds, and high pitched instruments. I listen to the song just for that part. Well that, and to hear Daniel sing, "Sex, drugs, and image is just enough to get you by in the real world. " I guess I'm just weird like that.
Do You Feel The Same : I love the beginning of this song. Daniel's vocals mesh so well with the music, it's evident within 3 seconds of the song's start. I sort of get hynotized by this song. I tend to listen to it over and over, because as a song, it is so well put together. ( "Stay alert cos I'm obsessed, surely I can't be depressed. " ) There is a rare guitar solo in this song. It's fairly simple solo, but I think that's why I like it so much. Great song.
Black Tangled Heart : This song is right up there with Emotion Sickness and Ana's Song (Open Fire) . I adore this song- mainly for the string part in it. It's beautifully arranged. It's an sad song- and beautiful at the same time. I listen to this song over and over. The other day I turned it up really loud, and turned off all the lights, and listened to it. It's an beautiful song. (I can never stress that too much.) Some parts are heavy, and I get this enoromous feeling of weight when I listen to it. I'm weird.
Point Of View : My favourite line from this song is "Pretend the steak's a cowboy-and the kiss will kill you. " It makes me laugh everytime I hear it. I love the music of this song. Lyrically, Daniel has always been strong. But on this album, the music is just as amazing, if not better than the lyrics themselves. I would listen to just the music in the background, (no vocals) if I could. The whole album is like that- the musical development of silverchair boggles my mind sometimes.
Satin Sheets : I don't really get the lyrics to this song much. But that really doesn't bug me too much. It's quite an fast paced song. It's about 2 mintutes and fifteen seconds long. Daniel has said (on chairpage) that he wanted to write a punk song-with a bit of something else in it (Or he said something to that extent...) The noises, and sounds effects on Satin Sheets sound neat. Daniel's voice does this weird echoing thing, that I could listen to over and over.
Paint Pastel Princess : The "princess" in this song, is anti-depressants. Damn teenies bugged Daniel so much he developed a eating disorder AND clinical depression. I love the lyrics- because they are so honest. Daniel is talking about how the "princesses" made everything the same to him. They evened out his moods-and made him feel semi-normal. Daniel was so brutally honest on this album- it sometimes feels like a diary or something. He told us (within the lyrics) he had a eating disorder, was on anti-depressants, had panic attacks, etc. etc. Basically, he was really messed up for a while. It's nice to know that there are still artists out there, that don't write songs just because they are "radio-friendly" and they sound like "hits". There are still bands out there that write and record music that is honest and heartfelt.
Steam Will Rise : So after you're listened to eleven songs (out of 12), and are throughly worried about Daniel's physical and mental state, here comes along Steam Will Rise . It's about ignoring or lowering your feelings about yourself to please everyone else. But luckily Daniel reminds us, that like Steam, esteem will also rise in time. First the Ana Rexia (from Ana's Song (Open Fire)) and now steam and esteem, Daniel is getting to be quite a good word-player. Ha. This is perfect song to end the album, because it leaves you with a feeling of hope, and drifts off quietly. Also, you get to hear Daniel's dog Sweep howl at the end.
Thoughts about the CD artwork and such : Each song has a separate page, and the lyrics are printed on or around a picture that somehow relates to the song. Some of them don't catch my attention much. The picture of a class (from the year 2000) for Anthem For The Year 2000 or the satin sheets for Satin Sheets don't affect me much. But some of the pictures either shock me a bit- or make me laugh. I'll do the laughs first. For Miss You Love there is a picture of a sign (presumabley outside of a church of some kind ) that reads; JUDGE CHRISTIANITY BY CHRIST ALONE. NOTHING ELSE. 10 AM- POWER WITH GLORY 5 PM- DEPRESSION It's kind of humourous that's the sign "TRUST JESUS" and then "DEPRESSION" Ha. The other funny one is of Ben (Gillies) putting on lipstick for Paint Pastel Princess . The ones that shock me are the broken ribs for Ana's Song (Open Fire) , the caged up monkey for Spawn Again ,the girl with a shirt and underwear only for Dearest Helpless , and then right next to the semi-naked chick is a picture of the Kama Sutra. The Kama Sutra is an ancient book that demonstrates different umm...sexual postions. Ha. The picture for Steam Will Rise is Daniel in this steamed up bottle. I don't like seeing Daniel in a steamed up bottle. I want to let him out so he can breathe. Besides, Daniel is too sexy to be locked up in a bottle. Ha.
Back to the main page.
The *official* silverchair page.
CDNOW. Buy Neon Ballroom now !
Read some noteworthy quotes from Neon Ballroom
