[Glitch]

RSITS was the second MO album I got, after D&D.  I was just a kid, and we
had just moved from Africa to the states so I was in a major state of shock
but so happy to have something called a music store...anyway that album is
burned into my brain from those days of flux.  I love it because it gave
voice to my feelings at the time, that my whole world was turned upside down
and nothing made sense anymore. (Yes, parents, this is what it feels like to
your kid when you move from one continent to another.)  Only much later did
the album start to make any sense to me.  Bells and Horns is one of my
all-time favorites, same with Sleep and Boxers.
I agree with Tom:

> ... but right now
> these two albums are just interacting interestingly with my mind at a time
> when I've been seeing life as a cruel joke... both these albums seem to
> get at something about the absurdity and mutability of life...

Not something I could have put into words at the tender age at which I was
exposed to Red Sails, but over the years I came to see it exactly like that.
And Breathe!  Amazing!  It's like after all the fury has spent itself, they
come through to this other place, where there is bitterness, grief, and yes,
some celebration too, but celebration in a sort of looking-backward way,
always mindful of what came before and what is to come.
Tom: life _is_ a cruel joke, but after all your anger is spent there is a
place of quiet on the other side.  It's almost worth it.
--Glitch