SOUNDTRACK: FIONA APPLE-“The Whole of the Moon” (2019).
I’m rather a fan of a good cover song. I don’t really like when bands play covers live–I’m here for your music not someone else’s–but a studio recording is usually welcome.
It’s especially helpful if it’s an artist I like doing a song I like. Such as with this one.
I learned about The Waterboys back in college. I hung out with Irish musicians and they introduced me to Irish bands. Although we were more Fisherman’s Blues than This is the Sea, I still really enjoyed “The Whole of the Moon.”
Lyrically the song is simple but very clever. It works through many comparisons about how “I” see things less completely than “you” do.
I was grounded
While you filled the skies
I was dumbfounded by truth
You cut through lies
I saw the rain dirty valley
You saw Brigadoon
I saw the crescent
You saw the whole of the moon
I also always like the part where the line “you came like a comet” is followed by an explosion–satisfyingly over the top.
The occasion of Fiona Apple covering it has to do with the show The Affair which I’d never heard of. Evidently the season finale opens with The Waterboys’ version and ends with this new Fiona Apple version. Fiona Apple’s song “Container” is used in the opening credits, so she already has ties to the show.
I can remember “discovering” Fiona Apple through an issue of New Music Monthly about two months before her debut came out. I really liked “Shadowboxer” and then the whole album. It was quite a surprise to me when she became a huge star soon thereafter. And by the time she toured where I lived, the crowd was full of screaming girls.
Nevertheless, I have stuck with her because her music is always terrific.
Her voice has always been kind of raspy and deep–with a quirky range. But she really pushes herself on this version. She sounds worn out and it really works for these lyrics.
It stars with gentle synths and a drum pattern. After the first verse, a full band comes in, with a trippy slide guitar (rather than the 80’s synths of the original). But it stays pretty simple–this song is about the lyrics. The middle instrumental section is similarly horn-based, but with a bit of piano and more slide guitar tossed in.
As the song goes on, Apple’s voice gets more and more intense. The way she sings: “I sighed / but you swooned” will give you chills.
The Waterboys version has a cute musical ending which Apple removes. She also refrains from the comet explosion.
It’s stripped down and really fantastic.
[READ: September 23, 2019] Herbert’s Wormhole Book 3
I accidentally read Book 3 before Book 2. I am embarrassed that that happened because I am a librarian and I should know better, but I double checked to see which came out first, but I must have read a paperback reprint with a later publishing date and though that book 3 was in fact book 2.
So I read book three and on many occasions I thought “How daring and surprising and hilarious that the Peter Nelson is referencing things that we did not see.” I assumed that between book 1 and this one, the kids had had many adventures that we didn’t know anything about. They would just casually refer to them. This does happen in TV shows all the time, but I guess not in children’s books. So I should have known better, but I was excited about the prospect of this rather author twist. I do admit by the end that there were a number of things where I thought…hmmm…. this is referencing something that I think I should know about. But I was far enough along at that point not to stop.
Turns out, at the end of Book 2 (I found out later), we see that GOR-DON’s plan for destroying the AlienSlayers is not his own. It is actually the plan of an evil mastermind. An evil mastermind who we learn is called Aerostar.
But the real crisis is in the Filby household. Because Alex’s dad is going to knock down the jungle gym (that they put up for Alex just last year) to make room for a huge playhouse for his bratty little sister, Ellie (“some serious assembly required”). This will effectively destroy the wormhole! What will they do now?
Well, it turns out they won’t do anything now, because in the last book, they agreed that they didn’t want to mess with the timeline of things any further. So, after their last trip, they sent the suits through the wormhole and told Chicago to destroy them. Herbert keeps saying it is for their own good, but Alex desperately misses their travels. It turns out that Herbert does too, and he has been trying to recreate the NED suit but has never been able to. This has upset Herbert very much because he believes he is now a failure.
The next morning, the jungle gym is gone and the new playhouse is up. But the door is somehow locked and Ellie is very upset and declares that her party is over (which makes Alex a little happy). But during the night, Alex hears a loud crash in the playhouse.
Turns out that just because the jungle gym is gone doesn’t mean the wormhole is gone. And it turns out that just because you think your NED suits were destroyed doesn’t mean they were. But the second thing is much worse because it’s not Chicago who came though the worm hole, it is GOR-DON (who has, amusingly, turned a suit for a human into a suit for a squid.)
I absolutely loved all of the domestic squabbles in Alex’s house (something that wasn’t really present before). His mother and father are at odd with their respective community groups. Alex’s mom is president of M.U.L.C.H. (Merwinsville United League of Community Harvesters). Meanwhile his dad is a member of M.E.G.A. (Merwinsville Extraterrestrial Greeters Association). They both like to meet in the Public Park and they often have conflicts about that because MULCH wants garden but MEGA wants to take soil samples. If only MEGA knew that GOR-DON was in town.
It doesn’t take long for the kids to track down GOR-DON because he is hiding in Ellie’s playhouse. Ellie is treating him like a stuffed animal (she has hundreds) which is very funny and humiliating for GOR-DON. When Alex, Sammi and Herbert find him, they easily tie him up and he confesses that all of his evil plans are coming from Aerostar, “she has weapons, powers. And she’s mean.” It turns out that Aerostar has been seeking vengeance against the three AlienSlayers.
Why?
Because Aerostar was a technological wizard. She built machines that built entire cities. It was amazing technology but horrible for the environment. The cities became so polluted they were almost uninhabitable. When the G’Daliens arrived, they fixed everything and showed that their technology was better than hers. She hated them for it. And she knew that the trio was somehow responsible for the G’Daliens being there.
Alex and Herbert grab the NED suits and return through the wormhole. They are pretty exited to be back until they see all of the destruction that Aerostar has been up to since they were last there. Aerostar’s MinionBots have destroyed everything the G’Daliens built. Further, all of the G’Daliens have been shipped off to the moon (with Old Man Alex diving the ship) and all the humans are cowering in the recently destroyed Flee-a-seum.
When the boys come through the wormhole, its a MinionBot who greets them, And the MinionBot brings them to Aerostar who it turns out is 111 year old Sammi!! What??
How could she be so evil?
Well, as Old Man Herbert explained, their paths diverged when they went through the wormhole. This isn’t their Sammi, it’s a version of Sammi, and the reason she is so angry is an interesting one (not spoiled here).
Meanwhile back on Earth, good Sammi is trying to convince GOR-DON to be a good guy and defy Aerostar (whom she does not know is her old self yet). GOR-DON sees the light but then reveals that he planted some destructive man eating plants in the community garden. And they should be hatching very soon.
Back in future Merwinsville, Aerostar has captured both Herbert and Alex, but, being a super villain, she cannot finish her plan unless all three of the Slayers are there to witness it. So she must send one of them back to bring Sammi with him.
Things are pretty dire, but there’s always room for humor, like the new gadget that Herbert has created the P.U.P.E. helmet. I expect in the audiobook this is even funnier, but every time Alex giggles after saying P.U.P.E. I giggled as well. I also loved that he giant deadly alien slug is named Mr. Nibbles.
Sammi can’t stay ignorant of the truth about Aerostar for long and, in fact, once the truth is revealed Aerostar is able to use it to her advantage. Her plan is to take over present day Earth to prevent anything happening in future Merwinsville.
You’ve got to leave it to Andretti’s Pizzeria for saving the day (once again). Chicago’s dad has taken over the place and is ferrying food to the refugees in the Flee-a-seum. He has also learned a trick or two about mozzarella cheese.
In the end, a lot of things hinge on GOR-DON doing the right thing. Is there anything the kids can do to convince him that they are right and he is wrong?
I believe this is the end of the series. I thoroughly enjoyed the series, although I did find this book dragged a bit. I’m not sure why as there was nothing I didn’t like. I guess I thought I would read it more quickly.
I also assume that there is no fourth book because it has been six years since this one came out.
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