Article Response: Lift To Experience

Ever seen 'em live? They blew me away, way more than what I could make out from the record.

i have seen them live and they are phenomenal, just turn the record up loud too, treble up, bass down a bit, a finger of middle and its the same... nearly...

I don't like Jeff Buckley at all either, Ned.

(do you have a link to that other article?)

the album is a phenom

Rah!

(do you have a link to that other article?)

To my knowledge it is print only...*checks*...yeah, the Arthur mag as yet has no online archive, just this page.

It's good to see someone writing about them. It would suck if they were overhyped, but they're clearly on the other end of that curve; they haven't gotten the amount of coverage they deserve.

I love the piece; the only thing that wasn't discussed head-on is the question - what is Josh actually ON about?

His lyrics are quite extraordinary, and his lyrical concerns quite prophetic seeing as they were written before sept 11. Anyone else who's listened care to discuss this one?

No. Unless the apocalypse happened in Texas, and it became Jerusalem, and Buck was the Second Coming. I don't remember that happening though.

Unless you're saying any album with apocalyptic themes or overtones (there've been many) would somehow be prophetic of terrorist attacks, which at the time and for a long time thereafter certainly felt like the end of the world.

You're right, of course - anything semi-biblical and apocalyptic fits the post-Sept 11 bill. But Josh does get quite worked up about America as the venue for some bloody armageddon and the ties between it and Palestine, all of which made half-sense last Summer and then rather too much sense later in the Autumn.

But leaving that aside - it's really a canard unless those Texas Boys had some intelligence the CIA didn't have - I'm still interested in the very clear personal mythology Josh espouses on that record. Is it, for all it's poetry, nouveau Confederate talk? or something purely personal about making music? It's about his roots, his music, and his 'old testament'background, for sure: but what do we think he's trying to say?

I'm not sure there's a message... It all seems like daydreams and obsessions that kept his mind off reality whilst shoveling horseshit. So kind of all of the above -- personal/ mythological/ Southern Gothic/ art wank/ hip hop trashtalk even.

It'll be interesting to see if he continues with this thread or jumps tracks on LtE's sophomore release, I think.

And I wondered whether some of the references made more, or different, sense to an American listener - but if you are one, I guess not - as you seem to have got about as far as I have with it! Does it sound crypto-Conferederate to you?

I too wonder where they can go next. There are many great first albums out there, but rarely one that stakes out and expresses a complete sonic and lyrical worldview so fully, ahem.

By the same token, I'm not sure what you mean by "crypto-Confederate." All it brings to mind for me is the reference to rifles and gun racks. As much as Buck's delving into myth, etc., his surroundings clearly inform his fantasy/lyrics as well.

Anyhow, I don't think there's an American secret that makes all of T-J Crossroads make sense. It's got a muddled mystery/ internal consistency ratio similar to most decent concept albums I can think of.

I think he is 'saying something', but it may not be an American secret so much as a personal one.

I chatted to him after a gig in Bristol, UK, and came close to taking him for a long walk into our history, but chickened out. Felt like we might have things in common.

i like this line: "Pearson is on park benches all over this album."

As though I needed another reason, Lift to Experience makes me real, real proud to be from Texas.

That's a relief, because there just isn't enough Texas pride out there.

My friend's record label put Josh Pearson on at a wee sweaty venue in Brighton last night. Sublime.

Noisy and gravelly and raw and guttural and many many great things. Must really make more of an effort with Lift to Experience now.

As this is the longest thread about them, I'll revive it...

Not keen on Cozen's article, to be honest. Too precious. Too carved.

But this record. This record is a sandstorm. Phenomenal.

I met Josh before I'd heard it, backstage at a 65daysofstatic gig last May. We talked about the internet. Interesting guy. He had a massive ZZ Top beard then. I'd love him to do a solo album.

Lucky enough to see these at some Festival or other.Reading? Leeds? Must've been pre Leeds?

The three of them treated the whole set like they were flying to the sun or some other out there place . It was that important.

I was probably pissed but they were great.

Was poised to see Josh Pearson recently and bottled it for some rubbish reason. I think it was a Sunday night

does the main guy have a solo record then Nick?

been meaning to relisten to the Lift to Experience record again but it's buried somewhere in Dublin

As far as I know, while he's written songs and toured, he's not recorded or released anything solo, which is a shame.

Nothing as far as I know, though I think there may have been a ltd 7" somewhere.

Josh Pearson did a ltd split 7" of I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry with Dirty Three's Doris in 2006 plus he released a CDR of the same track at around the same time.

I spoke to him at ATP in 2006 and he was still unsure that there was a market for his stuff (!), which I assured him wasn't the case as the gig he did the night before had gone down a storm.

I believe he will release stuff in his own good time (or possibly the much rumoured LtE reunion may occur). Until then, get to see him as much as you can because he is fantastic. Also there is at least one live Pearson solo set doing the rounds on P2P torrent.

I have the CDR of I'm So Lonesome he released ("Josh Sings Hank") and there was another CDR of a show he's been hawking round, which I think is the saem show as the one which is normally on p2p.

I suspect LTE might have burned him so badly he's happy just scraping a living playing shows.

Josh opened for MBV last night in Austin... solid show!

http://sickmouthy.com/2013/05/12/lift-to-experience-the-texas-jerusalem-crossroads-2001/