http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/02/11/182042.php
Condition of the Heart: The Modern Pea Pod's Valentine's Day 2006 Mixtape
February 11, 2006
Modern Pea Pod
Love, lust and loneliness - Valentine's Day must be like Christmas for songwriters. After all, the love song (and its reverse, the break-up song) stands as pop's ultimate cheap thrill: easy to write and easier to listen to, its appeal comes to us immediately because we fill in the blanks with our own experiences. Everyone has fallen in love, and almost everyone has fallen out of it, too; these feelings have mass appeal because they truly are universal. So when we hear a great love song, it's less like hearing somebody tell us about their lives and more like reliving our own. So what if many of the great love songs weren't inspired by great romances? So what if, like John Lennon said, 90% of the Beatles' early tunes didn't stem from personal experience?
We experience these songs with the intensity of a real-life love affair, and that's what's important; the "She" in "She Loves You" might not have been a real person, but the love was real. So in celebration of this most romantic (and loneliest) of holidays - as well as those great twin songwriting traditions, those songs of love and heartbreak - we present this lovingly compiled mixtape, with two songs each by fourteen artists: Side A love, Side B loss. Maybe it won't keep you warm at night (or make you loathe some heartless bitch with every fibre of your existence), the way real love can. But it's our hope that for at least 90 minutes, it will remind you of just what a powerful and unexplainable force human connection can be.
( extract)
Side A: Love Songs
Elvis Costello & The Attractions: "Pidgin English" (3:58)
Megan: Elvis Costello can't quite handle love, as clearly evidenced by most of his lyrics. In this particular song, he squares off against himself in a struggle of self-expression. He might not want to feel the emotions, but "Pidgin English" proves that even Costello, king of the He-Man Women Hater's Club, can't help but lose when the opponent is love. (Available on Imperial Bedroom)
Side B: Heartbreak Songs
Elvis Costello: "I'm Not Angry" (3:02)
Megan: Here, Elvis Costello successfully explains what is actually happening underneath that stoic, usually male phrase: "I'm Not Angry." He screams, he insults, he plays loud music, but as he reminds us with every chorus, 'He's not angry.' Well, Elvis, you just need to remember this: "Bitches ain't shit but hos and tricks." (Available on My Aim is True)
