I hesitate to say this because my heart is so happy and upbeat now but...I am not a big fan of Outlaws of Love on the album. I LOVE it acoustic, and especially at St. Agathe, but the tenderness is gone for me on the album. It almost comes across as soothing to me when it should be raw. I am really disappointed since I thought this song was so powerful.
"I prefer folks with their own, individual point of view and the balls to verbalize it" -Adam Lambert
kay, I agree with you. The first live version of it at ST. Agathe is one of my favorite performances ever and some how I can't find the same power on the album. I still like the lyrics and all.
I hesitate to say this because my heart is so happy and upbeat now but...I am not a big fan of Outlaws of Love on the album. I LOVE it acoustic, and especially at St. Agathe, but the tenderness is gone for me on the album. It almost comes across as soothing to me when it should be raw. I am really disappointed since I thought this song was so powerful.
OMG....I feel the very same way! In fact I replaced the album version with the St. Agathe version on my Trespassing playlist.
Post by aleksandrakv on May 19, 2012 13:30:55 GMT -5
OUTLAWS OF LOVE by Adam Lambert
Outlaws of Love: the sound
Many critics, reviewers and fans have rightfully predicted that this haunting ballad will become an anthem for the LGBT community. Hopefully, other communities/ people will realize its broad message and find comfort or inspiration in it as well. There hasn't been a single review which didn't praise Outlaws of Love; even the ones who sneered at the 'dark' side of Trespassing and generally disliked its confessional ballads were very positive towards it.
Please, those of you who still haven't found a place in your heart for this song, take a look at this beautiful vocal analysis of OOL, written by Angelina Kalahari, a lyric soprano opera singer. It will take your breath away. Here is a piece of it. I find these words very true and close to my heart:
I feel this song will change the way non-fans perceive Adam Lambert – not only the over-the-top, make-up wearing, campy, sexy singer with the great voice, they must now learn to appreciate, too, the serious artist, as his fans has known him to be, from the beginning.
And thirdly, this song is a departure from anything Adam has sung before, and shows how far he has come in his artistic development and song-writing skills. This song is truly a piece of art.
The lyrics of the song are simple, clear in their message and universal in their meaning. Adam himself has referenced Romeo and Juliet, Thelma and Louise, Johnny and June... as outlaws of love and he was right: take any real or fictional couple who met obstacles on their love's journey and OOL could be their song.
But, there are a few lyrics which particularly strike me as the most powerful and pregnant with meaning:
Hey, tears all fall the same we all feel the rain we can’t change
Although the song can be universal from the viewpoint of love and emotions, this outcry for equality makes it even more timeless: the division of mankind is as present today as it has always been. Jew/ Christian, black/ white, gay/ straight, Northern/ Southern, poor/ rich... you name it... these divisions have started wars and taken lives. Some battles have been fought and won, but some have not... the one for which Adam is such a strong spokesman is still ongoing. The social relevance and importance of this battle is enormous and Adam fights it in the best way he can: with his music and lyrics and voice.
Back to the lyrics: this is not the first time Adam has drawn from literature for inspiration and reference. The outlined lyrics are just his way to portray this idea of equality, the fact that we're all the same.
This is how Shakespeare did it in 'The Merchant of Venice', where he conveyed the same idea through the mouth of Shylock, the Jew:
I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die?
The same idea. The same concept. The strong urge that Adam feels as a gay man to say that he is no different from the straight people just because he loves another human being who happens to be a man. His sexuality is not the reason which should set him apart from other people: his intelligence, talent and kind heart are and do. It is very disturbing to know that this wonderful person feels like he is being discriminated against. ( Which he is).
The similarity to 'The Merchant of Venice' does not end there. There are not such references in OOL, but, as it is a song about LGBT community, I have to point out that the play also alludes to the corporeal conundrum that weaves through Shakespeare's “transvestite” comedies where boy actors playing women cross-dress as men in dazzling doubles acts that offer up a spectrum of flexible sex-gender identities, confounding the body's “truth.”
Also, 'The Merchant of Venice' is a homoerotic play, but the homoerotic implications are conveyed rather indirectly, with special attention placed on Antonio's character and his loving friendship with Bassanio.
I don't know if Adam had this famous Shylock's speech in mind when he wrote the lyrics of OOL, but I want to believe he did. And I want to tell him that he fights his battles elegantly, smartly and intelligently. There is no doubt in my heart or mind that Adam is playing a major role in this ongoing struggle for equality and that he will end up being a winner in the end.
Last Edit: Jun 4, 2012 17:40:17 GMT -5 by aleksandrakv
Post by aleksandrakv on Jun 4, 2012 17:32:03 GMT -5
EvokeOnline:
The first song from the album to be teased was the show-stopping “Outlaws of Love”. Adam made jaws drop at one of his concert stops with the song that deals with gay marriage and equality. “Tears all fall the same” is a line that sums up the meaning for the track. The songwriting may be the most important aspect of the track, “they say we’ll rot in hell, but I don’t think we will” had me shedding tears from anger and sadness.
AleksandraKv, who are you really? Such brilliant, thoughtful, insightful commentary. You give me goosebumps up and down my arms when I read your words.
This is the Outlaws of Love blog originally posted on ALFC on August 1 and that I read on Angela Kalahari's program webcast on September 15, 2011.
Why I Love Outlaws of Love Mon, Aug 1, 2011 at 10:39 AM
Like most fans here, I was enraptured by Outlaws of Love. Tears were streaming down my face as Adam worked his magic with a song so simple, but deeply devastating in the best possible sense . This song is what some music writers call “cathedral work,” a song that resonates as though in a soaring nave, drawing attention to the emptiness that surrounds it.
The performance was amazing. The persona he presents to us is that of a simple man pleading for nothing more than basic decency. Yet it seems an act of extraordinary courage. This is a man who is willing to break for love, but not entirely. His voice captures this tension, the hurt informing the artistry, the artistry refining and elevating the hurt. We can respond to the sensitive instrument of Adam’s voice as well as to the individual drama, the story of lovers hounded by an unnamed “they” who deny people their most full-blooded possibilities.
The music breathes, rises and falls on its own, transcends autobiography or politics (such interpretations explain little and hardly matter). A straight person accepted everywhere can be as touched by the depth of feeling of this song as much as someone chewed up by rejection and discrimination. The performance is a remarkable portrayal of love, anguish, and yearning, delivered with maturity, restraint and excruciating regret. Few performers in pop music would have been able to pull off such an unpretentious, vulnerable, honest song, and fewer still would even want to.
I’m still thrilling just over the last note, exquisitely fashioned and heartbreakingly upward. He and his lover are running towards a dead end that they can see but not change. But just when we are about to succumb to despair, Adam’s voice takes us higher, telling us that this love of his will go on and on. We know, at least, that the lovers will not have to face their tormentors alone. We feel strangely hopeful that they will make it after all, that somehow it is all worth it.
Adam turned a fairground into a cathedral Friday night and filled it with a hymn of loneliness, told the truth and trusted us, his fans, to listen. What an honor. What an album of integrity and power we have in store.
Post by aleksandrakv on Jun 6, 2012 3:30:59 GMT -5
Thank you , Irish and Juniemoon!!!
AFTERELTON:
12. OUTLAWS OF LOVE
"They've branded us outlaws of love." If it's not the best song on the album, it's certainly the most important. Quieter Adam is always goosebump-inducing, and this plea for equality is heartbreaking in its sincerity. Best Lyric: "Tears all fall the same"
Post by aleksandrakv on Jun 6, 2012 17:17:50 GMT -5
Adam Lambert on Outlaws of Love:
"When I wrote this song, I was directly referring to the sadness that I felt in taking in the adversity that the gay community faces on every level: marriage, bullying, acceptance of all kinds, our presence in the entertainment community, politics, all of it....There's been a lot of music in pop lately with inspirational messages saying, 'It's okay to be different, you can do it!' But this is a song that's like, 'F***, it sucks sometimes!' It really sucks, and it makes me sad. And that's the reality of it. My last album was all about escapism, for the most part, and this album's more about reflecting on the human condition. So sometimes it's sad."[/size]
It’s been almost a year since “Outlaws of Love” has been out in public. The track’s become something of an unofficial theme both for Trespassing and for Adam’s career. You can read as much of a cultural meaning into “they’ve branded us outlaws of love” as you’d like–and it is worth noting that, as the Village Voice points out, no album by an openly gay artist has ever topped the Billboard album charts–but it’s just as applicable to star-crossed or thwarted lovers in general. It’s relatable to anyone who needs it. About the track itself, though. “Outlaws of Love” is far quieter than you’d expect from something with such a glam-metal title. Bon Jovi this is not; it’s a quiet acoustic track, built from slide guitar, percussion (at least in the beginning) no louder than a heartbeat and some of Adam’s softest vocals. The restraint’s welcome, particularly in contrast to some of the Top 40-bait found elsewhere. It makes everything here resonate far more than it otherwise might have, and it closes Trespassing with dignity and quiet reserve.
Post by aleksandrakv on Jun 6, 2012 17:38:33 GMT -5
NewNowNext:
Listen: Adam Lambert's Beautiful Gay Rights Anthem
May 10, 2012 by Mark Blankenship
Remember a few weeks ago when I wrote an open letter to Adam Lambert's song 'Never Close Our Eyes'? That track is not my jam, but like I said, Lambert still has a room in my heart.
And right now, that room is being rented by 'Outlaws of Love', a spine-tingling ballad from Lambert's upcoming album Trespassing. I just heard it a few minutes ago, and I've already got it on repeat.
On the the most primal level, I love how this song sounds. In the beginning, Lambert's voice is haunting and restrained, easing up to high notes and gently sliding off them again. That's very difficult to do, technically speaking, and it gives dynamic energy to quiet music.
As the song builds, the singing stays rich and subtle while instruments drop in one by one. A guitar arrives, then some drums. A piano joins the fray, and eventually, Lambert himself gets loud. The overall effect makes me think of someone who's trying to keep it together, who's trying to handle himself in a hard situation. But he just keeps feeling and feeling and eventually- boom. His emotions explode.
That catharsis is more satisfying because the song's about homophobia. It's a cry of support for gay people who have been told their existence is wrong. 'They say we'll rot in hell', Lamberts sings. 'But I don't think we will. We're outlaws of love.'
There have been plenty of recent songs that have delivered similar messages, but hits like 'Born This Way' and 'Firework' and 'F****n Perfect'focus on defiance and liberation. They empower us to dance our way to self-acceptance. But 'Outlaws of Love' isn't asking us to party. It's defiant, yes, but it's also wounded. And that's a real part of being oppressed.
In other words, this song is a vital new entry in pop music's ongoing conversation about letting people be themselves.
Post by aleksandrakv on Jun 9, 2012 8:30:56 GMT -5
UltimateGuitar.com Trespassing Review:
One of my favorite songs off of the album, Outlaws of Love, most certainly talks about Adam Lambert's sexuality, and acceptance of yourself and true love, no matter what anyone else thinks. In the song, he sings "tears all fall the same, we all feel the rain, we can't change," then goes on to: "we're always on the run; they say we'll rot in hell, well, I don't think we will. They've branded us enough, outlaws of love". It's a powerful ballad that I think everyone should listen to at least once. Enough said about the lyrics.
You do not have to shout but if you want to chat....
maitospf: crazyladym...happening to me too!
May 15, 2013 19:42:49 GMT -5
ayleim: Just checking - so there were NO Adam-sightings in the performance show right? Then I don't have to worry about being near the TV later tonight, I can just listen from the kitchen. :D
May 15, 2013 22:25:54 GMT -5
Q3: The second log-in is part of the security system to protect the site from hackers. If you want to avoid it, select the option to keep me logged in.
May 16, 2013 11:18:07 GMT -5
vivlite: Good to know about the log-in option..I kept wondering if I was imagining things when I had to log on twice..whew..
May 16, 2013 13:59:55 GMT -5
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vivlite: Gotta stop down here more often..
May 16, 2013 14:01:03 GMT -5
crazylady: Q3, thanks for the update on the login process! Really appreciate it!
May 16, 2013 18:20:10 GMT -5
maitospf: Yes thank you Q3. Thought I was jinked there for a minute
May 16, 2013 21:11:10 GMT -5
maitospf: Woops - sorry! jinxed (the ghosts of my english teachers would haunt me for not proofreading, so there you you go) ... 8-|
May 16, 2013 21:13:49 GMT -5
minnie12: this is great, Sauli deserves the support. There's no negativity here and that's nice.
May 17, 2013 23:57:11 GMT -5
daffywak: http://distilleryimage1.s3.amazonaws.com/49986864befe11e29d7122000a1f97c6_7.jpg
May 18, 2013 0:48:25 GMT -5
minnie12: Nice to see all the pics of Sauli and his friends. Has a lot of female friends. Goes out a lot with Ade?
May 18, 2013 23:48:39 GMT -5
blueberry: A tech question. When I post, I'm stuck in BB Code, can't get back to Preview. Any ideas? I have Preview as default in my profile, but that doesn't help.
May 18, 2013 23:56:59 GMT -5
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Q3: blueberry. there should be a two labels on tabs at the bottom of the REPLY box -- one labeled Preview and one labeled BBCode. Can you see these or are they gone?
May 19, 2013 2:08:40 GMT -5
blueberry: Q3, I can still see the labels, but when I click on the Preview label, nothing happens. And every time I start a new post, it automatically takes me to BB Code. Otherwise it doesn't matter, but posting pictures would be easier in Preview (copy+paste).
May 19, 2013 2:14:12 GMT -5
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JazzRocks: Q3 - I forgot where I click to make a contribution to Atop.
May 19, 2013 10:30:45 GMT -5
Q3: Oh in the site conversion the link to support ATop went away. I will restore it.
May 20, 2013 9:30:25 GMT -5
JazzRocks: Thanks Q3.
May 20, 2013 16:09:32 GMT -5
QueeenAl: Adaaaaam! Is in my city, breathing the same air, and tonight I will hear Love wins over Glamour LIVE for the first time! --- I think that is shout-worthy :-D
May 25, 2013 3:36:01 GMT -5
butterfly: QueeenAl, you lucky girl! Take it all!!!
May 25, 2013 4:13:20 GMT -5
mszue: grrr Q3....is there an option to this pro boards? Is there a reason you like this host? it is absolutely the worst operating frustration...there is barely a day when everything is working as it should and it has been weeks now! grrrrrr frustrating
May 25, 2013 14:20:01 GMT -5
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