Blue Banisters (studio album) by Lana Del Rey

This was the second 2021 album from Lana del Rey. I was not particularly impressed with the predecessor "Chemtrails Over the Country Club", although there indeed were fine tracks like "White Dress", "Let me Love you Like a Woman" and "Yosemite".
I therefore did not have high expectations for "Blue Bannisters" when it was released later in the year. Since most reviewers rated the album stronger than "Chemtrails", and as a loyal fan I did descide buying the album, after all. Unfortunately, I must now admit that I find "Blue Bannisters" at least as disappointing as its predecessor. Virtually all songs are slow ballads, and it can be difficult to remember / distinguish the individual tracks from each other.

Honorable exceptions are "Text Book" and "Dealer", the latter with guest vocals from co-songwriter Miles Kane. However, the album's strongest track is "Thunder", which is almost classic Lana del Rey - also one of the few tracks where guitars play a significant role.

Maybe two albums in a year was, after all, squeezing the lemon too hard. A single album, with the best of the two, would have stood markedly stronger.

https://www.angelfire.com/nv/Badfinger/BANDlanadelrey.html

From Brad1770 12/08/2021 11:55

Let’s be honest 2021 hasn’t been a great year generally but definitely made better by not one but two LDR albums. Despite its Jack ‘Bleachers’ Antonof-cation ‘Chemtrails . .’ was a triumph, not an ‘NFR’ triumph but outstanding none the least

‘Blue Banisters’ is a different beast all together. More personal in nature it loosely tells the story of LDR’s life, and is more reserved and contemplative taking several spins to fully unwrap and appreciate. My one small complaint is that at 15 tracks and over an hour its got a touch of the ‘Ultraviolence’s’ about it in that it simply goes too long weighing down through the mid-section.

Oh and I actually like track 4 “Interlude - The Trio” (despite the criticism) which really is “Arcadia - Coda” - go to YouTube and watch the video for “Arcadia” then stick around for the “Interlude - The Trio”bit and it will make more sense

It will be really interesting to see where she goes from here

From mdbaxter 11/19/2021 18:18

Lana is an artist and like any artists she has flaws. There are multiple instances of gross out-of-touchness on this record but there are also moments of beauty, some within the same breath as is the case on "Text Book" and "Beautiful". The title track is an absolute triumph as is "Sweet Carolina" to an slightly lesser extent (fuck you Kevin!) while "Arcadia" is lacking, I think. The interlude is kind of embarrassing how out of place it is. The vocals sound like they were recorded in a bathroom or something which adds an element of personality to the album but also serves as a drawback technically at times in my opinion. It's similar but I don't think it's quite as good as Chemtrails. Each song has something to love but the album is a little bloated.

Good album, like most of Lana's album most songs sound the same. It was very similar to Chemtrails which is not a bad things.

Lana has definitely been keeping folks on their toes in recent years, you really just never know what’s she going to do next. Her sound is evolving rapidly and I think it’s going in a good direction. NFR is still her best work but Blue Bannisters has left me anxiously awaiting where she goes next. It shows the amount of potential she has to make music that’s completely original and interesting this far in her career. That being said I definitely feel like this album could be better, in fact I think this album had the potential to a groundbreaking landmark album but it feels like it wasn’t really given the space to grow into that. Many of the tracks sound great but not as great as they could be. I think if Lana had sat with this album for a little bit longer it would have been a masterpiece. Still a good release that I’ll come back to regularly. 8/10

From ExTeaSea 10/26/2021 23:09

Honestly I was underwhelmed by Chemtrails, it's not bad but any means. Starts off great and sadly falls into the uninspiring/kinda boring realm for me.. Blue Banisters is a vast improvement! I really enjoyed this one. It's beautifully crafted and more interesting to my ears and her vocals are wonderful.

I thought NFR would be Lana's peak but this album improves upon that in so many ways. I think not only the instrumentals but her voice here is the best in her discography. The entire album has a very distinct mood but all the songs still feel catchy and unique from one another. While a lot of her earlier stuff felt very inconsistent for me, LDR has become one of the more reliably good artists out there in the past few years.

From pjohnsongolf 10/25/2021 06:41

This is probably my favorite by her. I enjoy this a lot