Titus Andronicus - The Most Lamentable Tragedy (2015)

"Whatever's inside/Let it climb out/That was his plan/And it's mine now!"

I'm probably breaking some unwritten Musooklub rule here by posting an artist more than once, but I don't care!  

If memory serves the majority of you musooklubbers really and truly did not enjoy their 3rd album (at present time the aggregate rating of that record is 2.6/5; much lower than the 4 that I gave it), and it seemed that most of the reasons for the dislike were because of the lead singers voice (actually it seems like a lot of what I post gets poor reviews with the singer's voice being cited as a reason...) but you know what, fuck it:  We're doing this.

Patrick Stickles has expressed on more than one occasion that he is after that lyrical crown that sits on the head of Biggie Smalls; he wants to be the greatest lyricist in the world.  A brash and seemingly arrogant goal to set for oneself to be sure, but now that Titus Andronicus ("+@" in their now adopted shorthand) has four dense, bold, and vastly different albums under their belts, listeners can now begin to fully grasp that yes, indeed, Stickles means it.  Does he succeed?  I can't really say.  But on their fourth album, The Most Lamentable Tragedy, +@ have certainly outdone themselves.

One part Rock Opera that at times channels Bruce Springsteen and Meat Loaf and one part apology letter/explanation to those friends and family who have been exposed to Stickles' chaotic manic depressive states throughout his life, TMLT is a huge undertaking.  Without cynicism and certainly without compromise, Patrick Stickles and crew have delivered a truly remarkable, fully realized and handcrafted album.  

Clocking in at 5 Acts, 29 tracks, and over 1.5 hours, The Most Lamentable Tragedy (TMLT) is going to take some work on the listener's part to unravel (I hope you, dear musklubber, are up for the challenge.) In a nutshell though, here's the plot:

"TMLT tells the story of a depressed, bedraggled, beaten-down narrator, one who first fell into the system of institutionalization at age four and who faces an unremittingly bleak existence. Eventually, though, he meets someone who looks just like him, an immediate tipoff that we’re looking at a Narrator-And-Tyler-Durden situation. And this mystery friend teaches the narrator to embrace the chaos of his life, to not mind losing his mind. There’s a love story, an inevitable unraveling of that love story, and possibly a plot to assassinate Ronald Reagan. It ends in death, and that’s not a surprise, either; the album’s title lets you know that going in. Within that narrative frame, there’s even more going on: References to old Titus songs, repeating themes, musical allusions. Patrick Stickles sings from the points-of-view of a few different characters. They’re reflections of his own point of view, and it’s rarely entirely clear which is which." - Tony Breihan - Stereogum

There is a whole hell of a lot to this album; lot's of stuff that works, some stuff that doesn't. (I'm not especially partial to A More Perfect Union, the last 5 minutes of S(HE) SAID/S(HE) SAID, and unfortunately the closing track Stable Boy leaves something to be desired (though it was recorded using the same boombox that was used for the first track on their first album, so I can appreciate that bit coming full circle).  

Aside from that though the vast majority of the rock opera works: the rock songs rock, the punk songs kick you in the gut, and the story is told well. In a way it mimics the manic depressive's varying states of mind throughout the album (periods of incoherence and fevered energy with opposing bouts of soul crushing lethargy).  At the end, if the message hits you as it's hit me, you really gain an appreciation and thankfulness if you are blessed with mental health, you feel empathy for Stickles and his struggles and desire to gain health, (or at least figure out how to get by), and you gain admiration for an artist who is putting it all out there on the table.  

Stickles encourages you to explore each lyric; each track below is hyperlinked to genius.com, which houses the official lyrics and are annotated with explanations from the band (also allowing listeners to offer their own observations and theories about the songs.)  That alone is a pretty innovative use of the internet, at least one that I've not seen done before.

I'm no professional music critic, so I'm going to cheat here and offer up some snippets from actual music critics (and one troll):

"Is there another band recording today that so deftly walks the tightrope of simultaneously not giving a fuck and giving their all than Titus Andronicus? The New Jersey band’s anthemic, sprawling punk rock has always had a sense of impassioned nihilism about it, with lyrics laden with references to philosophy, art, and history and intensely personal songs filled with naked emotion." - Ben Cannon, The AV Club

"Each Titus Andronicus record is multidisciplinary. You get some history lessons, philosophical inquiries, explosions of English wordplay and plenty of music theory. It only makes sense their records’ durations stretch out since they’ve got so much to pack in them. Stickles is a guy writing lyrics off the page and struggling to fit them all into the melody. Even when his suitcase is crammed to the point of explosion though, he’s a master of his craft. He never wastes or recycles; he just uses more than most." - Mack Hayden, Paste Magazine

"The hope is that it will have a different power when it's assembled than its component pieces have on their own...It's wack that music and every kind of art is getting more and more disposable all the time. People think that if a record isn't good to put on when you're making dinner or you're picking out your outfit, then it's worthless. But that isn't true. It's a good feeling when you have an artist that you really love surrender to their vision, however large and hopefully immersive it is." - Patrick Stickles, Interview in Esquire

"The Clash were hyped as the "only band that matters," a dubious claim because it was invented by their record label. But for their fans, Titus Andronicus is this type of group. They turn a great, burning eye upon the world and spare no one from their observations, not even themselves. For listeners attracted to rock'n'roll as both flagellating whip and eternal flame, this is powerfully enticing—especially if you also believe the world is on the perennial edge of collapse. (Ironically, they take a similarly analytical approach to the ugliness in themselves and in the world as Kendrick Lamar—only, of course, they'd never sell any shoes.)" - Jeremy Gordon, Pitchfork

"It’s hard to know how seriously to take this kind of thing. On the one hand, the album’s story is based in Stickles’s own experience of a nervous breakdown and depressive illness, and the singer doesn’t appear to be a man much given to flippancy: during one recent interview explaining the album, he burst into tears. On the other, taken in isolation from the accompanying storyline and the stuff about Nietzsche, his lyrics are often comically bathetic or slyly witty. “And everywhere you turn there are hundreds of humans,” he sings on Lonely Boy, “all opening the door and saying, ‘Hello, Newman’” – another Seinfeld reference to file alongside the title of their debut album, The Airing of Grievances." - Alexis Petridis, The Guardian

"I listened to all of Angry Hour. Started with an F triad and added some dissonant chords which "slid" into an A triad. Quite the composition there. I think I'll stop there. Such blinding brilliance in allowing a synthesizer to resolve a chord just might make me think about going back to the conservatory. jesus, NPR. Really? With all the amazing talent that is out there, this is a featured album? I understand the need to be different, but this could have easily been done by a child and a keyboard you buy at BestBuy." - Jackass commenter on NPR's First Listen after only listening to the first track and stopping there

I'm still trying to figure out how much I like this album (hint, somewhere between "quite a bit" and "totally"), so at the time of writing I'm going to give it a 4.5.  I've listened to it straight through about 4 times now, and listened to some of my favorite tracks a lot more than that.  

If you're just looking for some rock songs to listen to, I'd recommend No Future IV: No Future Triumphant, I Lost My Mind (+@), The Magic Morning-Lookalike-I Lost My Mind (DJ)-Mr. E Mann-Fired Up-Dimed Out (which is probably the area of the album the works the most),the first 4 minutes of S(HE) SAID/S(HE) SAID, Funny Feeling, and Into The Void (Filler).  I think the high point on the album for me is the one-two punch of Fired Up and Dimed Out.

>>Again, there's a lot here.<<

The Most Lamentable Tragedy Tracklist:

"Most days start with a dull ache/Enough weight to crush my face/and I hate to be awake."

"I look alive but inside I'm dead."

Act I: Set Aside or Miserable and Water-Buried

01. The Angry Hour

02. No Future IV: No Future Triumphant

03. Stranded (On My Own)

04. Lonely Boy

05. I Lost My Mind (+@)

06. Look Alive

"...They sell you shit to make you sick/That shit I sell will make you well/Take two of these and break the great Satan's spell."

"I was afraid of what the doctor might say/That I'd be made to learn to pray the right way/But then I saw a brave face say "Being afraid's okay/It's okay."

Act II: Beside Himself

07: The Magic Morning

08: Lookalike

09: I Lost My Mind (DJ)

10: Mr: E. Mann

11: Fired Up

12: Dimed Out

13: More Perfect Union

14: [ intermission ]

"I've always had something inside of me/And it's always been kind of a mystery/Like a child that screams for his wildest dream/It's the font of all madness and misery."

Act III: Down By The Seaside

15. Sun Salutation

16. S(HE) SAID/ S(HE) SAID

17. Funny Feeling

18. Fatal Flaw

19. Please

"My family always saw me as the crazy one/Yeah, we're just two Catholic kids out on the run/Either from God or a guy with a gun."

Act IV: The Other Side or A Midsummer Night's Dream

20: Come On, Siobhan

21. A Pair of Brown Eyes

22. Auld Lang Syne

23. I’m Going Insane (Finish Him)

"Yr at peace when you sleep/Why not an endless dream?"

Act V: Decide

24. The Fall

26. No Future Part V: In Endless Dreaming

25. Into the Void (Filler)

27. [ seven seconds ]

28. Stable Boy

29. A Moral

BONUS LEVELS:  

Patrick Stickles and (Craig Finn of The Hold Steady) talking rock and roll, TMLT,  and just generally being Patrick Stickles.

Music Video for the majority of Act II of TMLT.

I Had Lost My Mind by Daniel Johnston

A Pair of Brown Eyes by The Pogues