What a beautiful song, I really wish Michael had been inspired enough to finish writing lyrics for it.
Musically beautiful and as with most of his vocals at that time, really haunting sounding. Would have been an amazing addition to Automatic and it would have elevated the album to even greater levels. Ideally replacing The Sidewinder… or Star Me Kitten.
It’s not bad, a little dirgey, sounds like a verse and bridge repeated a few times. Wouldn’t trade anything on Automatic in for an imaginary finished version of this.
But, I have to say, I wouldn’t swap it for anything on Automatic.
That said, who knows what it might’ve turned into? The demo of Man on the Moon is nice enough. But the lyrics, the melody tweaks, and the harmonies turned that into something really special.
I think if they’d finished it and moved Ignoreland to Monster and added feedback to Ignoreland, it would have worked. The guitar and bass are too clean for the song, in my opinion. I think it would have been best to do it that way. At the end of the day it didn’t happen that way, but it’s fun to think of.
I think if they’d finished it and moved Ignoreland to Monster and added feedback to Ignoreland, it would have worked. The guitar and bass are too clean for the song, in my opinion. I think it would have been best to do it that way. At the end of the day it didn’t happen that way, but it’s fun to think of.
I want to be angry at this because I always defend Ignoreland but I agree, it needed to be rougher or something. It’s still a song in my top 10 but I know it could have been even better…
There are things on Automatic that I would have removed all in the second half. I would NOT have removed Ignoreland as I think it was the right time and the right place for that song to be on that album and, any later, emotionally the intent (aka anger) would not have fit Monster, in my opinion, of course.
I’m thinking out loud this out loud so don’t shoot the messenger, but right now I feel like this song would have had a perfect place right after Drive and right before Try Not to Breathe, pushing Sidewinder one song back. I think it might have been a compliment to Try Not to Breathe.
was so great to finally be able to hear “devil” after 20 years of just reading about it. lovely little tune and easy to hear its potential. that said, i can’t picture a finished version fitting the vibe of automatic at all. (nor replacing “ignoreland,” are y’all nuts? )
Controversial take coming up - it would’ve been great on New Adventures in Hi-Fi. There’s a jet-lagged, staring into the dark of a random hotel room at 2:00 in the morning, slightly lost quality to it that would work a treat after Departure.
The Automatic demos are soooo good. Really shows how completely on top of their game the four guys were at that time. Bill’s Acoustic is another one I always go back to.