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u/RedBalloonTalk

r/beatlesfanalbums r/StrikeAtPsyche r/Environmentalism r/AlanPartridge r/Wildfire r/ThatsActuallyInsane r/AdamCurtis r/DavidBowie r/crisps r/fryup r/unexpecteddcc r/AbruptChaos r/thethickofit r/fontainesdc
▲ 30 r/fontainesdc

Some good stuff (presumably from a press release) on the Rough Trade website

Fontaines D.C. release their fifth studio album, Dopamine Chamber, released via XL Recordings. Produced by James Ford, it is the follow-up to 2024’s UK platinum-certified Romance – and the sound of a band moving decisively away from the guitar language of their early records into something colder, stranger and more synthetic.

Dopamine Chamber arrives like a constellation behind undulating sighs of smog: potent balladry, anthemic melodies glinting through the murk. In a world tipping towards collapse, it asks how pleasure mutates amid peril—and what our pursuit of it reveals about us. Across the album, Fontaines D.C. – Grian Chatten, Carlos O’Connell, Conor Curley, Conor Deegan and Tom Coll – move between gratification and dread until the two meld together, reflecting the overwhelm of artificial intelligence, environmental collapse and political violence all riding the same algorithms as memes, jokes and celebrity culture. “The album itself is a dopamine chamber,” says Chatten. “You step inside and we test these different mind- or mood-altering pieces of music on you.”

Where Romance held its tension in balance, this record tips it. “I think Romance was maybe 60 per cent human and 40 per cent corrupted by automation, and a loss of feeling,” says Chatten, who spent time among the faded grandeur of Venice, Vienna and Sicily in search of lyrical inspiration. “This one feels more like 60 per cent corrupted — the mask is wearing the face a little more.” He resisted any pull towards easy optimism: “I felt it would be more powerful to leave the hope out and reflect the ugliness honestly. This one needed to feel more like a catastrophic warning.”  

“Our albums have always questioned a sense of place,” says bassist Conor Deegan. “First Dublin, then being away from Dublin, and then trying to find the romance elsewhere. On this record, the question became: where do you escape to?” Into the self, perhaps – or hedonism, fantasy, cosmetic perfection, eternal youth or the endless refresh of a screen.

Fontaines D.C. have spent five albums refusing to repeat themselves – from Dogrel (2019) through A Hero’s Death (2020), the No. 1 Skinty Fia (2022) and the anarchic, kaleidoscopic Romance (2024). Dopamine Chamber is their most radical turn yet: cold synthesiser tones, marching drums, samples and triggers, several songs with no guitars at all, and the swooning strings of 1960s Italian pop pulled into something synthetic. For guitarist Conor Curley, the aim was to break from the band’s own reference points: “I was trying to find stuff that pointed into the future.” It was made with James Ford between London, the English countryside and Palermo, where Chatten recorded vocals in a makeshift booth built from mattresses and cushions.

 “There’s a poignant sense of us being on the brink of some other kind of form of humanity, or non-humanity,” says Chatten. For their fifth album, Fontaines D.C. have built the chamber. What happens to the listener inside it will be the experiment

Also abit more in the email bumpf:

Fontaines D.C. Dopamine Chamber
LP - Indie exclusive blue marble vinyl.
The Boys In the Better Land are back, returning with their fifth studio album and moving further away from their guitar-drenched past. In a tormented world of suffering and personal loss, the Dublin natives are no longer chasing romance but full-on escapism. Creating a Dopamine Chamber to echo the pursuit of pleasure in an increasingly dark world, the music becomes colder, stranger and more synthetic. Potent balladry, anthemic melodies, mind- and mood- altering music. If you are willing and ready, prepare to participate in the experimentation of the mad scientists as they test out their radical synthesisers, marching drums and swooning strings of Italian pop with James Ford at the helm, inviting us into a constellation of innovation.
roughtrade.com
u/RedBalloonTalk — 2 months ago
▲ 53 r/thethickofit

"The texts from the fake chief of staff to the president were actually the invention of a fake chief of staff to the president"

u/RedBalloonTalk — 2 months ago
▲ 4 r/fontainesdc

My own song ranking

Inspired by u/No-Chipmunk-5843 - I did my own song ranking. Tell me why I'm wrong/right.

Only original songs plus officially released covers are included. Radio session covers etc, not included (sorry that Lana Del Ray cover). I may have missed some really obscure old songs - if I have then let me know!

  1. Favourite (Romance, 2024)
  2. Starburster (Romance, 2024)
  3. Jackie Down the Line (Skinty Fia, 2022)
  4. Bug (Romance, 2024)
  5. Roy’s Tune (Dogrel, 2019)
  6. Death Kink (Romance, 2024)
  7. Bloomsday (Skinty Fia, 2022)
  8. In The Modern World (Romance, 2024)
  9. It’s Amazing to Be Young (Romance Deluxe, 2025)
  10. Desire (Romance, 2024)
  11. Hurricane Laughter (Dogrel, 2019)
  12. Big (Dogrel, 2019)
  13. No (A Hero’s Death, 2020)
  14. Boys in the Better Land (Dogrel, 2019)
  15. Roman Holiday (Skinty Fia, 2022)
  16. Dublin City Sky (Dogrel, 2019)
  17. Horseness is the Whatness (Romance, 2024)
  18. Too Real (Dogrel, 2019)
  19. Nabokov (Skinty Fia, 2022)
  20. A Hero’s Death (A Hero’s Death, 2020)
  21. Here’s the Thing (Romance, 2024)
  22. Television Screens (Dogrel, 2019)
  23. Liberty Belle (Dogrel, 2019)
  24. I Love You (Skinty Fia, 2022)
  25. How Cold Love Is (Skinty Fia, 2022)
  26. I Don’t Belong (A Hero’s Death, 2020)
  27. Motorcycle Boy (Romance, 2024)
  28. Sha Sha Sha (Dogrel, 2019)
  29. Big Shot (Skinty Fia, 2022)
  30. Black Boys on Mopeds (Help(2) Comp, 2026)
  31. Peddler’s Toy (early song) 
  32. The Lotts (Dogrel, 2019)
  33. Love is the Main Thing (A Hero’s Death, 2020)
  34. Twinkle (Skinty Fia Sessions) (Skinty Fia go deo, 2022)
  35. You Said (A Hero’s Death, 2020)
  36. Winter in the Sun (Darklands Version) (Hurricane Laughter/Winter in the Sun single, 2017)
  37. Before You I Just Forget (Romance Deluxe, 2025)
  38. Skinty Fia (Skinty Fia, 2022)
  39. The Cuckoo is A-Callin’ (Too Real single, 2018)
  40. Oh Such a Spring (A Hero’s Death, 2020)
  41. Sunny (A Hero’s Death, 2020)
  42. Televised Mind (A Hero’s Death, 2020)
  43. Chequeless Reckless (Dogrel, 2019)
  44. Romance (Romance, 2024)
  45. A Lucid Dream (A Hero’s Death, 2020)
  46. Not at All (early song)
  47. Living in America (A Hero’s Death, 2020)
  48. ‘Cello Song (The Endless Coloured Ways: The Songs of Nick Drake, 2023)
  49. One (Skinty Fia Sessions) (Skinty Fia go deo, 2022)
  50. Sundowner (Romance, 2024)
  51. In Ár gCroíthe Go Deo (Skinty Fia, 2022)
  52. The Couple Across the Way (Skinty Fia, 2022)
  53. You Can’t Realise (Darklands Versions, 2019) 
  54. The Black Angel’s Death Song (I’ll Be Your Mirror: A Tribute to The Velvet Underground & Nico, 2021)
  55. I Was Not Born (A Hero’s Death, 2020)
  56. Money Bank/I Need A Pill (early song)
  57. Starburster/In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator Song) (Romance Deluxe, 2025)
  58. One in Between (early song)
  59. More Than Anything (Darklands Versions, 2019) 
  60. And I Love It (early song)
  61. Rocket to Russia (Darklands Version) (Liberty Belle, Single, 2017)
reddit.com
u/RedBalloonTalk — 3 months ago
▲ 15 r/beatlesfanalbums

The Beatles - Get Back (1969) - alternate history

After the January 69 rooftop concert - the mood is buoyant in The Beatles camp, despite the ongoing business squabbles. They decide to hold back their favourite material from those sessions in March 1969 but release an EP of some of those songs - plus a simple acousitic version of Across the Universe - it is called the Two of Us EP and is follows:

  1. Two of Us
  2. Oh Darling!
  3. For You Blue
  4. Across the Universe (very similar to the Let it Be naked mix)

They continue working on more material for an album, calling it 'Get Back' and it comes out in August 1969 as follows:

The Beatles - Get Back

SIDE A:

  1. Get Back* (3:11)
  2. One After 909** (2:45)
  3. Don’t Let Me Down*** (3:34)
  4. Octopus’ Garden (2:50)
  5. Something (3:02)
  6. I Me Mine (2:25)
  7. Dig A Pony**** (3:39)
  8. The Long and Winding Road***** (3:34)

Side total: 25:00

SIDE B:

  1. Because (2:45)
  2. Here Comes the Sun (3:05)
  3. Come Together (4:19)
  4. I’ve Got A Feeling (3:37)
  5. You Never Give Me Your Money ****** (3:54)
  6. Let it Be******* (3:51)
  7. All Things Must Pass********(3:04)

Side total: 24:35

All tracks identical to 2019/2021 mixes unless stated below:

*New mix based on Take 8 from Let it Be Super Deluxe/Anthology 4
**‘Oh Danny boy’ studio chatter cut
***Single version
****New edit based on 2021 mix - with studio chatter cut at start and end
*****Let it Be Naked mix
******2019 mix but shorter fade out without transitional sound
******* Single version
******** Demo version from Anthology 3

Qobuz link: https://open.qobuz.com/playlist/67059490

It is to be their last album.

But various fragments of unreleased songs from those sessions exist on bootlegs for years. In the 90s, the remaining 3 Beatles get together and release a box set of the Get Back sessions, finishing off the fragments - including recordings featuring Lennon - the tracklisting of the bonus disc, issued with the remastered 'Get Back' is as follows:

  1. Maggie Mae
  2. Maxwell's Silver Hammer
  3. Mean Mr Mustard
  4. Sun King
  5. Dig It
  6. Polythene Pam
  7. I Want You (She's So Heavy)
  8. Her Majesty
  9. She Came In Through the Bathroom Window
  10. Golden Slumbers
  11. Carry that Weight
  12. The End

It's marketed as a 'lost Beatles album', is hugely critically acclaimed and goes to number 1 for 5 weeks.

u/RedBalloonTalk — 3 months ago
▲ 11 r/beatlesfanalbums

The Beatles - Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) - Alternate double album

Just my take on the classic 67 double album.

I tried not to include too much - and just focus on what would be the best album. I feel it maintains the spirit of the original, whilst adding SFF/Penny Lane at interesting junctures, rather than shoehorning them in. Plus going totally wig out between second half of side B and first half of side C - with Lucy and Penny Lane bringing us back to slightly more regular song-structures - temporarily at least! The whole thing feels like an earned journey.

Sorry to fans of 'When I'm Sixty Four' - plenty of material for singles (including one of my favourite's 'It's All Too Much' - which I'd have loved to include but I feel is a step too far).

https://preview.redd.it/bmjk1hj2kzch1.jpg?width=1600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d910c54b223404019c107fa12a31e55dbea5c5aa

The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - Double Album

SIDE A:

  1. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (2:02)
  2. With a Little Help from My Friends (2:45)
  3. Strawberry Fields Forever (4:12)
  4. Lovely Rita (2:45)
  5. The Fool on the Hill (2:58)

SIDE B:

  1. Getting Better (2:47)
  2. Fixing a Hole (2:37)
  3. Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite! (2:39)
  4. Within You Without You (5:07)
  5. I Am The Walrus (4:35)

SIDE C:

  1. Flying (2:15)
  2. She’s Leaving Home (3:25)
  3. Blue Jay Way (3:55)
  4. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds (3:27)
  5. Penny Lane (3:00)

SIDE D:

  1. Baby You’re a Rich Man (2:59)
  2. Good Morning Good Morning (2:34)
  3. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) (1:20)
  4. A Day in the Life (5:30)
reddit.com
u/RedBalloonTalk — 3 months ago
▲ 31 r/beatlesfanalbums

RUBBER REVOLVER / REVOLVER RUBBER (1966)

Holding back some of the tracks from their sessions for their late '65 record (entitled 'Plastic Soul') - the Beatles go all in on an album that confusingly had two titles on the sleeve (Rubber Revolver and Revolver Rubber) - an intentional choice to strip away meaning from the words and focus on the revolutionary music to be found within.

As the best tracks emerge, a side devoid of McCartney number is clearly the best choice song wise, with Lennon's purple patch dominating. To make it up to Paul, John says he can have two songs on a stonking double A Side - 'Got to Get You Into My Life'/'Good Day Sunshine' - the single stalls at number 2, kept off the top spot by Sinatra's Strangers In The Night, and doesn't climb any further.

The album is released late July and is an immediate sensation.

SIDE A

  1. Paperback Writer (2:18)
  2. Eleanor Rigby (2:06)
  3. Love You To (2:59)
  4. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) (2:04)
  5. I’m Only Sleeping (3:00)
  6. For No One (1:59)
  7. I’m Looking Through You (2:26)
  8. She Said She Said (2:35)
  9. Here, There and Everywhere (2:24)

SIDE RUNTIME: 21 mins 51 seconds

SIDE B

  1. Taxman (2:38)
  2. And Your Bird Can Sing (2:00)
  3. In My Life (2:26)
  4. Doctor Robert (2:14)
  5. Rain (3:01)
  6. Nowhere Man (2:43)
  7. If I Needed Someone (2:22)
  8. Tomorrow Never Knows (2:59)

SIDE RUNTIME: 20 mins 23 seconds

TOTAL RUNTIME: 42 minutes 14 seconds

Edit - Quobuz link to listen https://open.qobuz.com/playlist/66556921

u/RedBalloonTalk — 3 months ago
▲ 17 r/fontainesdc

FONTAINES D.C. - TWENTY GREATEST HITS (2017 - 2025)

I made a very quick 'greatest hits' comp tracklisting. Subtitled 'All the Pieces Last Forever'?

Compiled to fit on CD (or double vinyl with 5 tracks on each side). I only included singles and even though the date says 2017 - 2025, I've only used versions of the early singles that were re-recorded for Dogrel.

  1. Starburster (3:41)
  2. Boys in The Better Land (5:00) 
  3. Jackie Down the Line (4:01)
  4. Televised Mind (4:10)
  5. Bug (3:02)
  6. Hurricane Laughter (4:50)
  7. Big (1:45)
  8. Favourite (4:16)
  9. Roman Holiday (4:28)
  10. I Don’t Belong (4:31)
  11. Here’s the Thing (2:43)
  12. It’s Amazing to Be Young (3:30)
  13. Liberty Belle (2:31)
  14. A Hero’s Death (4:18)
  15. Too Real (4:08)
  16. Roy’s Tune (3:00)
  17. Skinty Fia (3:55)
  18. Desire (3:39)
  19. In The Modern World (4:26)
  20. I Love You (5:05)

What do you think?

Listen: https://open.qobuz.com/playlist/65565176

reddit.com
u/RedBalloonTalk — 4 months ago
▲ 80 r/fryup

my 'morning after going out to a club to celebrate turning 40' fry up

I had more of everything - but didn't want to crowd the plate / it was distributed between 5 other family members.

u/RedBalloonTalk — 4 months ago
▲ 11 r/beatlesfanalbums

Beatles For Sale - Now Reduced!

I like Beatles for Sale - but it's far from perfect. I wanted to play around, cut it down, add in the amazing single/b-side from this era. It's short. Like US album level short. But it's punchy and works better than the original which has a bit too much filler. Hope you enjoy. Cheers!

BEATLES FOR SALE - NOW REDUCED!

Side A

  1. I’m A Loser
  2. I Feel Fine
  3. Every Little Thing
  4. What You’re Doing
  5. No Reply
  6. I’ll Follow the Sun

Side B

  1. Eight Days A Week
  2. She’s A Woman
  3. Baby’s In Black
  4. Mr Moonlight
  5. Rock and Roll Music

Playlist on Quobuz: https://open.qobuz.com/playlist/65216160

u/RedBalloonTalk — 4 months ago
▲ 20 r/crisps

These were banging

Second time I've had them actually. Really great flavour.

u/RedBalloonTalk — 5 months ago