krista4:
The Grand Parade – The Reindeer Section
(new artist)
My pick today is more about time and place than about the quality of the song (though I think the song is gorgeous). Being a Belle and Sebastian fan and, as we learned yesterday, a Snow Patrol fan, I was thrilled in 2001 to find that members of those two bands plus a host of other Scots – among them Mogwai, Teenage Fanclub, Arab Strap, and Idlewild – had formed a supergroup. If you look
here, you can see why I was cursing myself during the vetting process – there are ~582 people in this band. The band’s first album,
Y’All Get Scared Now, Ya Hear!, was very good, but it was their second record,
Son of Evil Reindeer, that became my jam.
Circa 2000, I had bought some ridiculous expensive speakers – an earlier version of
these Vienna Acoustics in rosewood. To this day they might still be the most expensive non-house-or-car single item I’ve ever bought. When
Son of Evil Reindeer came out, I was going through a tough time (breakup with the first Mr. krista), and I would lie on my back, in the dark, in front of these speakers and listen to this album, and in particular the song I chose above. It was such an emotional experience and an integral part of my life at the time that it came to be that
everyone who was ever at my house – friends, dates, literally anyone I knew – was forced to experience this with me. Lie on your back on the floor, in the dark, with your head pointing toward the Vienna Acoustics, fire up “The Grand Parade,” and simply take in the beauty and power of the song. Sometimes we’d lie there and listen to just this one song over and over again. It was as spiritual a ritual as I’ve had in my adult life.
This is probably not the best song on the album, but it’s the one that has the most meaning to me. Since no one else is taking this artist, I’ll list a couple of my other favorites:
You Are My Joy and
Your Sweet Voice, though be forewarned that the latter’s lyrics are emotionally brutal. The album is best when listened through as a whole, though.
I invite you all to listen to my selection today while lying on your back, using headphones or some great speakers, and taking the sound in without distraction. Small warning that the song starts off softly and kicks in a lot louder about a minute in.