Lungs

#54

[2022, PART 1 - ALBUM 2]

I was going to give this a seven, can you believe that?

Going into a relisten of an album, I usually already have an idea of where I would rate it from memory. Quite often I end up being right: my initial hunch of "I'm pretty sure I remember an album being this good" is often a pretty accurate one. With 'Lungs', my feeling was "definitely not as good as 'How Big' and slightly worse than 'Ceremonials' and with a lot more fluff than both - probably a seven'. That was incorrect.

Lungs is almost back to back solid stuff. I'm not quite sure where I thought the fluff lay (although I'd hazard a guess at the second half), and despite one or two minor duds, there isn't a stretch of this album long enough to rob it of the title of a 'must listen'. The first half excels, and the second half keeps the tempo up.

Although it's not quite the masterpiece of 'How Big', nor does it quite reach the heights of 'Ceremonials', 'Lungs' can probably boast the most diverse track list in terms of genre and sound landscape. Florence does things here that she never does again (for better and worse), and considering this is a debut - it's quite the impressive feat.

Track list breakdown:

Dog Days Are Over - It may be due to the fact that it is somewhat overplayed that I don't consider this to be the greatest track of the album; however, I would be crazy to give it anything less than a nine. (9/10)

Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up) - I can't remember if this was a big single back in the day, but I have a really strange vague memory of hearing this song in shopping centres when I was a very small child. If it was big, then it deserved to be so. (8/10)

I'm Not Calling You a Liar - I really do not care for this unfortunately. (5/10)

Howl - {2022 Part 1 - Track 5} An absolute wonder of a song. Showcases Florence's talent of taking a big opening and developing it into an even bigger ending perfectly. One of her best bridge-chorus transitions (and she has a lot of good bridge-chorus transitions). (9/10)

Kiss With a Fist - Probably the least 'Florence and the Machine' 'Florence and the Machine' song. Seriously, this would make more sense appearing on a Taylor Swift album. It would probably be one of the better songs on it too. (8/10)

Girl With One Eye - Another genre flirt that isn't ever really revisited by the artist. It's a shame too, because she really goes HAM on this one. Perhaps she clocked that she wouldn't be able to do a song like this any better. Good for her if so because I have no faults with this one. (9/10)

Drumming Song - Cutting back the strings to give us a track comprised almost completely of vocals and percussion, because it fits with the theming and lyricism of the song is such a fresh concept that only Florence could pull off to this degree. (9/10)

Between Two Lungs - And into the slightly (slightly) weaker second half. This isn't as special as most of the other tracks, I must say. (6/10)

Cosmic Love - Classic 'Florence and the Machine' belter. Doesn't quite hit the peaks of her best work, but it certainly comes close. (8/10)

My Boy Builds Coffins - A nice little song (or, as little as it's going to get). (7/10)

Hurricane Drunk - 'Delilah' lite. Another good belter. (8/10)

Blinding - Doesn't blow me away. (6/10)

You've Got the Love - Slightly annoyed that this has supplanted the original as the most popular version of this song, however, it is a very good cover - it walks the line between being completely new and being "basically the same" very well. (7/10)

Ranked:
1. Howl
2. Dog Days Are Over
3. Girl With One Eye
4. Drumming Song
5. Cosmic Love
6. Hurricane Drunk
7. Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)
8. Kiss With a Fist
9. You've Got the Love
10. My Boy Builds Coffins
11. Blinding
12. Between Two Lungs
13. I'm Not Calling You a Liar

And so, my obsession with 'Florence and the Machine' was in full swing. Despite that, I still managed to overlook just how good her debut was. (8/10)