Hey everyone,
For today's album review I am reviewing an album by a new Queer group The Last Dinner Party called 'Prelude to Ecstasy' which is an album with tracks that sound like a mix of songs from Oliver Twist, Six the Musical and Harry Potter. The album features a lot of songs with a lot of female empowerment style songs, self confidence boosting lyrics and the introduction has a variety of musical instruments including trumpts and drums.
Some of the songs on the album include 'Burn Alive' which is the first track on the song and it's a nice introduction rock song for the album with lyrics including 'I'm not the girl I set out to be', which could suggest that at least one of these girls is on a different journey now to what they were on in the past. Other lyrics include 'candle wax burning in my veins' which could simply mean that there is burning skin or a warmness to someone's body. The final part of the song has a lot of soft vocals to bring the song to a close.
The song titled 'Caesar on a TV Screen' was a very theatrical music video where the girls are all dressed up as men, and one of them sings the words 'when I was a kid I didn't feel like a kid', suggesting that they grew up very quickly. 'The Feminine Urge' is a song which suggests that the girls are only 'here for your entertainment' and they are singing about how they have failed to commit to the role that they were to play. The song has a lot of drums in the background which makes the melody a lot stronger.
'Beautiful Boy' is a really lovely song on the album which starts with creepy sounding music, and one of the girls explains that 'the best a boy can ever be is, pretty' suggesting other than good looks, most men will probably not have anything else that they find attractive. Other lyrics include the words 'what I'm feeling isn't lust, it's envy', suggesting that they are jealous of what some men have. It seems to have a lot of sexual connotations as she describes 'the power of my hips are useless in the dark' and 'what good are red lips when you're faced with something sharp'. The final part of the song has a lot of 'huh huh uuhh ahh ahh' vocals which bring the song to an end. 'Gjuha' is a solo song in Albanian by one of the musicians of the band as she is embarrased to not know her native language and I believe she sings about this in the very short song.
The next song 'Sinner' explains that one of the girls wishing that she knew this individual 'before it felt like a sin', to almost try and work out in advance how she was going to feel about this situation. Other lyrics include the words 'turn and face me, turn to the alter of dust' with a lot of repeated lyrics of the words 'pray for me, on your knees' almost begging somebody to ask for forgiveness for their actions, or praying for her for falling in love with someone like this. 'My Lady of Mercy' was a nice song to continue on from this, as one of the girls sings the words 'teach me how to do as you do' almost hinting that they want to learn from somebody that they look upto. 'strike me, kiss me straight to the heart' also suggest that this person has an emotional and maybe even a physical connection with the person they are singing about.
The final two songs on the album were 'Nothing Matters' where the lyrics
I have my sentence now, at least I know now how you felt', suggesting that there maybe wasn't as much of a spark or connection between one of the singers and this individual mentioned, with additional lyrics 'he can hold me like he held her' almost suggesting a form of jealousy of what they cannot have. 'Mirror' is the final track of the album where the opening lyrics are 'I'm not good until I cry...she's there at the end of my bed with a smile on her face and a gun to my head' which could either be a form of nightmare, or maybe there is a female in her bed that is a bit dangerous when it comes to love. The singer continues to sing the lyrics 'I'm just a mirror, break my glass to fix my heart', suggesting that behind the glass there is a real person with real emotions. She also says that it feels like she doesn't exist without this person's faze, so maybe there is nobody else that she wants to live for apart from this person.
Overall it's a great album and lots of very unique and female empowering songs, and it's nice to see a new Queer rockband being recognised for their music.
Hopefully you enjoyed my review, and until next time... Goodbye!