3. Wedding Dress – This sexy, twisted song has nice backing vocals (I think it’s his ex-wife singing on this one. She shows up a lot throughout the album). One review of the album thinks this is a murder ballad. I’m not sure I get that from the lyric, but there is something sinister. “The end may be soon so we better rent a room so you can love me…”
4. Methamphetamine Blues – This is a song that was released as part of an EP last year. Clanking and hissing percussion give this song an almost industrial feel.
5. One Hundred Days – One of the most straight-ahead, listener-friendly songs on the album and yet there is a drug reference in the chorus (“there is no morphine, I’m only sleeping”). The wistful vocals lighten the darkness just slightly, and ‘One Hundred Days’ feels almost like a respite from the darkness of the album.
6. Bombed – One of the simplest, saddest, shortest songs ever recorded (1:09). The darkness in “Methamphetamine Blues” jumps out and assaults you, the darkness in “One Hundred Days” and “Bombed” is much more sinister enveloping the listener in a warm haze. The song reads almost like an apology for a failed relationship and the backing vocals of his ex-wife gives the track an air of understanding and resignation. A lot to pack into a 0:69 second package.
7. Strange Religion – Duff and Izzy (late of Guns ‘N’ Roses) make guest appearances on this song, and it fits in the same vein of the previous two songs.
8. Sideways in Reverse – The gentleness of the past three songs is gone. “Sideways in Reverse” is a straight ahead, two-chord rocker. One reviewer thinks this song is about cunnilingus… maybe (“going down, going down, people give me your love”)
Article comments
1 - DJRadiohead
I wrote this review the day the album came out and it was written pretty much as a running commentary.
It is amazing to me one year later how much of this still rings true to me and how much of my opinion has changed.
I still like the best moments on this record as much as anything he has recorded. I think as an album, Bubblegum was a little too long. It's not his best and it's not my favorite but it is a terrific record.