La Candida track length

[Ben.Daly]

It's one of my favourites from UEDS, hence why the song only being 2 minutes and 15 seconds long has me a tad annoyed.

Most Alizée songs of course are in the standard 3-5 minute long range, and there's a few outliers, but La Candida really shouldn't have been one of those on the shorter end.

Whether it was another verse, a repeat of the chorus, maybe a bridge, all of the above even, something to have it go on for at least 3 minutes or more I think would've made the song a lot better. Feels like a missed opportunity when some of the other longer songs, not just in this album but in others as well, can drag on a bit too long.

Wanted to start this discussion as we seem to not talk that much about her music and instead focus on everything else in her life Perhaps everything's already been said so that's why, anyway, what do you lot think?

[Aragorn97]

I rarely listen to UEDS so I'm not particularly attached to La candida, but I like when a song makes you wish it was longer. It gives me the impression that it has the right duration and that the goal was to make a good song and not something to sell. Usually this happens with slower song that seems to be more personal and intimate. But this is just a general idea, honestly I don't even know the translation of the song, but the entire album gives me the impression that Alizée wanted to do something without caring about what is good to sell or what other people like.

[Ben.Daly]

Originally Posted by Aragorn97

I rarely listen to UEDS so I'm not particularly attached to La candida, but I like when a song makes you wish it was longer. It gives me the impression that it has the right duration and that the goal was to make a good song and not something to sell. Usually this happens with slower song that seems to be more personal and intimate. But this is just a general idea, honestly I don't even know the translation of the song...

Well said. It's still just a bit odd how it's so much shorter than everything else in the album, maybe they thought about making it longer but doing so would've compromised the songs structure or pacing

Originally Posted by Aragorn97

...but the entire album gives me the impression that Alizée wanted to do something without caring about what is good to sell or what other people like.

Regardless of how good some of her latter work is from a more objective standpoint, I'll always appreciate that aspect of such albums. Especially UEDS and 5, they feel the most genuine and true to herself, in my opinion, out of her whole discography.

[CleverCowboy]

Originally Posted by Ben.Daly

Regardless of how good some of her latter work is from a more objective standpoint, I'll always appreciate that aspect of such albums. Especially UEDS and 5, they feel the most genuine and true to herself, in my opinion, out of her whole discography.

I like UEDS very much. In the thread where we ranked her albums, I put it at #2 behind MCE. The album is all over the place as far as style of music. I feel like Alizee wanted to make a statement with the album that she is her own artist, selecting the music that she wanted to sing instead of what somebody else wanted her to sing.

Grand Central and Limelight are my two favorites. Mes Fantomes is one of her prettiest songs. I think Eden Eden was misplaced as the first song of the album and should have been Les Collines. But anyway, great album!

[Fall]

It's definitely one of my favorites from the album. I wonder what a music video for it would have looked like.

[Ben.Daly]

Originally Posted by Fall

It's definitely one of my favorites from the album. I wonder what a music video for it would have looked like.

Would've been great if there was the budget/incentive for more music videos to coincide with her later albums. MCE and Gourmandises have 3/4 each but most of the later albums have just 1 per piece.
There was that thread from a couple of months back where this was discussed and you took part in, for anyone else wondering here it is:
http://alizeeamerica.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8607

Originally Posted by CleverCowboy

I like UEDS very much. In the thread where we ranked her albums, I put it at #2 behind MCE. The album is all over the place as far as style of music. I feel like Alizee wanted to make a statement with the album that she is her own artist, selecting the music that she wanted to sing instead of what somebody else wanted her to sing.

Grand Central and Limelight are my two favorites. Mes Fantomes is one of her prettiest songs. I think Eden Eden was misplaced as the first song of the album and should have been Les Collines. But anyway, great album!

It's a hard album to pick a 'lead' or first song for. As you said they are all very diverse, more so structurally than thematically. There are very short songs, quite long ones as well.
It's something that I think Gourmandises and MCE especially perhaps could've done better. The songs are all laid out in a very similar way. It's usually something like:

Verse 1, Chorus, Verse 2, Chorus, Instrumental/Bridge, then the Chorus a couple of times at the end.

Which is fine, they're still great songs that also work well for the radio and promotion, but it slightly diminishes the enjoyment listening to it in a playlist. With UEDS it's often as if I'm listening to the songs for the first time again, though noted as a newer fan I'm yet to fully know all of them inside out.
Grand Central for example just completely changes it's tone 2 or 3 times part way through because, well, why not

I think a sort of investigation of how all of Alizee's songs are structured would be a very interesting post. A sort of display of graphs showing how each track is laid out, common patterns and other bits of information. I might need to look into doing something like that, no promises, but it is something I've been thinking of for a few weeks.


Other than La Candida, Eden Eden and Factory Girl are among some of my favourites from UEDS.

[CleverCowboy]

Originally Posted by Ben.Daly

The songs are all laid out in a very similar way. It's usually something like:

Verse 1, Chorus, Verse 2, Chorus, Instrumental/Bridge, then the Chorus a couple of times at the end.

Which is fine, they're still great songs that also work well for the radio and promotion, but it slightly diminishes the enjoyment listening to it in a playlist.

Most songs it seems are laid out this way. I consider it "lazy" songwriting and even if the song has a good hook, I find myself getting tired of the song quickly. I guess that is why I have gravitated towards more progressive type music because there is less repetition and I don't get bored of them.

I don't get tired of Alizee's albums because I pace myself, rotate them often, and would even stop listening to them for a while for a soft reboot. When I go back to listening to them, they sound fresh again.

Originally Posted by Ben.Daly

Other than La Candida, Eden Eden and Factory Girl are among some of my favourites from UEDS.

I forgot about mentioning Factory Girl, which I like a lot. A few winters ago, I took a road trip in the middle of winter. The plan was to stay at a hotel at the halfway mark. I was trying to beat an approaching winter storm but I got caught up in it the last 30 miles before I reached the hotel. It was in the middle of the night and I was very tired, but I had been drinking many cups of coffee to keep me alert. The storm started with freezing rain and sleet, which makes for the worst possible driving conditions. About that time, Factory Girl came on, which matched the intensity of the drive. I put it on Repeat, playing it over and over again and it put me into "the zone", and kept it going until I reached the hotel... safely.

[Ben.Daly]

Originally Posted by CleverCowboy

Most songs it seems are laid out this way. I consider it "lazy" songwriting and even if the song has a good hook, I find myself getting tired of the song quickly. I guess that is why I have gravitated towards more progressive type music because there is less repetition and I don't get bored of them.

I don't get tired of Alizee's albums because I pace myself, rotate them often, and would even stop listening to them for a while for a soft reboot. When I go back to listening to them, they sound fresh again.

How long would you say is a good amount of time to leave one of her songs and get back to it? Aside from the random 1 or 2 songs from her each day, I find myself listening to all her albums, each straight through in one sitting once a month, which might be a bit much, or maybe I'm going about it too methodically. It's still enjoyable, going through an album and getting the best feel of it overall for ~45 minutes, but the schedule overall could definitely use some shaking up.

Originally Posted by CleverCowboy

I forgot about mentioning Factory Girl, which I like a lot. A few winters ago, I took a road trip in the middle of winter. The plan was to stay at a hotel at the halfway mark. I was trying to beat an approaching winter storm but I got caught up in it the last 30 miles before I reached the hotel. It was in the middle of the night and I was very tired, but I had been drinking many cups of coffee to keep me alert. The storm started with freezing rain and sleet, which makes for the worst possible driving conditions. About that time, Factory Girl came on, which matched the intensity of the drive. I put it on Repeat, playing it over and over again and it put me into "the zone", and kept it going until I reached the hotel... safely.

That's sounds like quite the experience