Michael Koby

This week, we bring to a close the music of Poor Old Lu with a track off of their last CD, The Waiting Room. Released just six years after what was suppose to be their final album, The Waiting Room easily contains some of the best Lu songs to be recorded and released. What is interesting is not that the songs are well written (they are) but the overall sound and feel of the record shows a band that moved out of their early twenties and was pushing thirty. Do not mistake this as something that is a bad thing. You can really hear that the band and the musicians involved have grown up. The sound is tighter, more coherent, as well as linear. The record has an overall consistent sound to it that really shines through.

The song I want to focus on, is the opening track titled, “Revolve” because I feel that it is one of the best openers the band has ever used. Sure, “Rail” for the Eighth Wonder album is an awesome opener with how it comes in and builds and plays out through out. But “Revolve” starts out with the nice palm muted chunks that really bring you right into the song, grabbing your attention almost immediately and refusing to let go for the entire three minutes and forty-seven seconds of the song.

The song content focuses on sin, and the power it can have in one’s life. This is established early on in the song with the closing line of the first verse “Has the light gone dim, in light of this sin…” so you know right away he is focusing on the issue of sin and how it can bring you down and not even realize it until it is too late. The chorus though, “I’m pushing this out and pulling You in” while obvious is quite simply awesome but when it is followed up later with “I’m throwing this out and hoping in” it totally ties the whole song together. Yes, sin can get you down, and it can drag you through the mud for its own enjoyment but there is hope all you need to do is see that hope.

Overall, it is a great song, it opens the album extremely well, and it shows that the guys in Poor Old Lu did not lose anything in their time apart but instead grew from it and brought it all back to the table to show us something new but familiar because that “Lu sound” is definitely there in the song as well as the album.

Next week, we begin looking at Aaron Sprinkle’s (Poor Old Lu’s guitarist) solo work.

You know where the lyrics are… Read more »

We are almost done with this round of “Songs & Such” for Poor Old Lu songs. Soon we will move into songs from Aaron Sprinkle, Rose Blossom Punch, Fair, and even World Inside. But we still have a couple of “Lu” songs before we look at those. This week song comes off of what was suppose to be Poor Old Lu’s final album. After years of dealing with the Christian music industry, an industry that, at the time wanted nothing do with “alternative” Christian music, the band had decided to move on. The decision to move on was probably also largely based on the fact that the members, once high school buddies had grown up and needed to think about families and such (at least one had a son by this point).

With age, comes change and in Poor Old Lu’s case, this is no exception. After 3 albums the band was ready to call it quits and for the first time, Scott wrote a love song for his wife. The song, “Hello Sunny Weather” is that song. The interesting thing about “Hello Sunny Weather” is that it is a love song that sounds like anything but. What I like is the line “I know I’ve said this all before But I’m sure I mean it now all the more” because it is a nice way of ending the song that starts with an argument. It is also the ending statement of several arguments between couples even if the words are actual spoken or not.

It is these kinds of love songs that really show an artist’s ability to convey true emotion. This song is similar in nature to “I Still Love You” by Glen Phillips or “Hate Me” by Blue October. Love songs that song like something completely different. Very nice to see that Poor Old Lu wrote one like this almost a decade ago. Read more »

Lets jump right in. This week will will be looking at the song “Bittersweet” from Poor Old Lu’s EP, Straight Six. The album Straight Six is interesting in that most of it was written in the studio with very little forethought into the songs other than generic ideas. The song “Bittersweet”, at the time, was probably the song that was most unlike Poor Old Lu had written (later came the song “Rail” which is kind of an offshoot musically from “Bittersweet”).

The other thing is that this is one of the most blatantly “Christian” songs I have looked at on “Songs & Such” and so if this kind of stuff makes you angry, this is your warning.

I want to focus mainly on the line in the chorus, “I know why I sell my Saviour small” because it is one of the most self affecting lyrics Scott ever wrote. The song is primarily about finding fulfillment outside of Christ. In that things can seem right and look like they are the answers to your problems be it emotional or physical and in reality they just leave you empty. Finally, when they do leave you empty there is the bittersweet (sometimes righteous) feelings of anger and resentment at the thing that you so expected to fill that need.

I am not here to tell you that Christ is the answer to your problems (though I believe Him to be), that is something for you to figure out for yourself. However, as someone who shares the beliefs of the songwriter, this was a song that cause me to look at some things in my life and reconsider why I relied on them. Like I have said before, that is the sign of an effective song. One that can cause you to evaluate things in your own life for the better (or worse). All songs affect us differently and at different times. One listen they can insight rage while during another they can cause you to come to a simple realization and calming peace. The way a song can affect us, is pivotal to the strength of that song.

Lyrics following the jump… Read more »

It was really hard to pick a song off of the album Sin by Poor Old Lu for this week’s “Songs & Such” article. The main reason being it is arguably one of my favorite albums by the band as it contains the song that made me fall in love with the band. But going with “Bliss Is” was in the end a great choice because it is the song that is most different from the rest of the album in it’s funk edginess. Also the subject matter is something that seems important of late, family.

It is no secret that the concept of family is falling apart here in the good old United States. And I am not referring to the homosexual’s right to marry. While that is another issue, I am talking more in general about the increasing divorce rate and the lack of some parent’s willingness to accept responsibility for their child’s actions, at least to some degree. A lot of times you see families out at restaurants, at the park, or just at the mall and they may seem perfect, but there are probably a ton of inner struggles that you are not seeing. The song “Bliss Is” looks at this. The song focuses on the lack of communication among families today. In lines like “On floor, out the door, clean the slate” the singer is talking about how sometimes issues are never really truly dealt with and instead forgotten when someone leaves the house for a short period of time.

Another interesting aspect of the long, at least lyrically and vocally is the repeating tails at the end of the verses:

“Give to get, live to get, throw a fit” with “Give to get, live to get, what is it?”

“On the floor, out the door, clean the slate” followed by “On the floor, out the door, in this hate”

“Disregard, life is hard, give a kiss” and “Disregard, life is hard, cut my wrist” and finally

“Hush up now, hear us now, sit stare” to “Hush up now, hear us now, was it fair?”

It is a really neat vocal trick, but each relates quite well the the line or two of actual verse that they follow.

Lyrics after jump…

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