Posts Tagged ‘Maxwell’

New this week—3/28/10

Sunday, March 28th, 2010

Justin Bieber—“U Smile”
#27
Musically, this is the most pleasant thing Bieber has done since “One Less Lonely Girl”, but it’s still bland, and also a bit creepy. Bieber’s genuflection to his fan base is about as abject as can be, and the lack of emotional edge in his voice makes him sound more like a willing robot than a real live boy. For now, his tweener fans will remain steadfast, but sooner or later they’re going to want an idol of actual flesh and blood. If Bieber’s lucky, his handlers will eventually provide material that has some. If not, by this time next year we may have forgotten all about him.

T.I.—“I’m Back”
#44
I can understand T.I.’s desire to announce his freedom as loudly as possible, but this is over busy and confused, the bragging lost in a blare of baroque synths and vocal overkill. It’s impressive in its way, but it’s too much, and it gets wearing.

Spose—“I’m Awesome”
#54
Not the next Weird Al by a long shot. The lyrics are grade school level, and the only thing I find funny is the intentionally incompetent scratching—and even that feels forced and obvious.

Usher—“More”
#76
So intent on being on top of the trends that he renders himself unrecognizable, this is where Usher jumps the commercial shark. Combine this with his stint as a mentor on American Idol next week and you have the epitome of an imploding career. Good thing he’s got Justin Bieber as a back-up.

Disney’s Friends for Change (featuring Joe Jonas and Demi Lovato)—“Make a Wave”
#84
Since this sort of “I’m going to save the world by changing myself” rhetoric is Disney’s musical stock and trade, it makes sense that this would be less self-congratulatory and insipid than “We Are the World”. Only slightly, though. I’m also willing to bet that, unlike “We Are the World”, participation was not voluntary. Because nobody’s as self-congratulatory as the mouse.

The-Dream—“Love King”
#92
Though his talent is obvious, I’ve had my doubts about The-Dream’s (self-proclaimed) genius. This goes a long way toward dispelling them. “Love King” is so full of subtle, almost subliminal twists and turns in melody, rhythm, and harmony that every time I listen some new, wonderful touch reveals itself. The neatest trick, both artistically and commercially, comes at the end, when the volume for the last minute of the song drops by nearly half. It doesn’t fade, it just drops. What better way to get radio to play a five minute track than provide DJs with a full minute designed for them to talk over?

Maxwell—“Fistful of Tears”
#96
Maxwell’s material is so subtle that if you’re in the wrong mood, or unless, as on “Pretty Wings”, he hits everything just right, he has a tendency to fade into the background. Here, the line about nearly being driven insane trying to keep his girl from going crazy gets your attention, but the rest drifts a little too far into the ether. Maxwell’s musical and emotional obsessiveness is fascinating, but I’m not sure it’s enough to make him consistently compelling.

George Strait—“Gotta Get to You”
#100
It’s impossible not to admire Strait’s craftsmanship and taste—there’s not a single false step on this record—but as he ages each record seems to be another half-step toward muzak, and this one is a full step. With music this bland his self-assurance takes on a feeling of condescension, as if the success of his seductive moves is a forgone conclusion. Maybe it is, but being so obvious about it suggests that on some level he’s just as crude as any other good ol’ boy.

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New this week—2/28/10

Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

Christopher Wilde
“Hero”, #57
“StarStruck” #77
“Something About the Sunshine” (with Anna Margaret), #81
Christopher Wilde, in case you’re not a connoiseur of the Disney Channel, is the name of the fictional teen heart-throb in Disney’s latest made-for-TV tweener extravaganza, StarStruck. The actor who does the singing here is Sterling Knight, who the folks at Disney are no doubt hoping will become a real heart-throb. As Disney soundtracks go, these three songs are above average, less cutesy than the Hannah Montana or High School Musical numbers, without all the cloying lyrical uplift. They’re also more mature. “StarStruck” includes a line about girls who want to take Christopher out on a date and make him holler, which in the Disney universe is as close as you can get to an NC-17 rating. Disney is obviously beginning to realize that the audience for its teen fantasies is older than it was when High School Musical debuted four years ago. Those tweeners are into their mid- to late-teens now, and they want a little romance, and even a suggestion of sex, with their song and dance. But even though these are more adult than the standard Disney fare, they’re also not up to the best of the non-soundtrack material that Disney artists like Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, and Aly & AJ have put out the last couple of years. “Starstruck” moves along nicely, but it has nothing new to say about fame (Lady GaGa would seem to have a lock on that theme at the moment), and though I like the bouncy/stretchy sound effects on “Something About the Sunshine”, it’s obvious they’re there to hide its other weaknesses. So I’ll give Disney an A for effort and for upping their game, but only a B for the results.

k.d. lang—”Hallelujah (Vancouver Winter 2010 Version)”
#61
A few weeks ago I was complaining about Justin Timberlake’s attempt to recontextualize this song after the earthquake in Haiti. But this, performed by Lang at the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics (and what a celebratory piece of work it is!) is even worse. Verse by verse, Lang drains every ounce of meaning out of the song, and then bathes the final chorus in one of the most banal string arrangements I’ve ever heard. Even at the peak of her popularity I thought Lang was overrated, but I never thought she’d get as bad this.

DJ Khaled featuring T-Pain, Ludacris, Snoop Dogg & Rick Ross—”All I Do Is Win”
#64
The frustrating thing about DJ Khaled (aside from his fuzzy, overloaded, melodramatic beats) is that he’s a one-idea man. That doesn’t need to be a detriment—a lot of DJs have made great records with less than an idea—but Khaled’s depends entirely on the guests he finagles into rapping on his productions. The result is an often irritating variation in quality, not just from record to record, but within each record itself. In this case, he gets a mediocre but passable hook from T-Pain, a slightly above-average rap from Ludacris, and an unintelligible, below-average rap from Rick Ross. Then, just as you’re getting ready for the wind-down of another tepid Khaled production, Snoop Dogg steps up to the mike, and in four lines blows a hole in the middle of the record. I’m not familiar enough with Snoop’s stuff to know whether he’s used these lines before—all I know is they’re better than anything else I’ve heard Snoop come up with, and just about any other rapper I can think of, as well. It’s not just a matter of the shock of Snoop’s laid-back style compared to the others’, either, because every time I listen to this record that verse seems even more powerful, more portentous, more menacing. The only thing I can compare it to is Lil Wayne’s rap on Khaled’s “We’re Takin’ Over” a couple of years ago. Exactly why Khaled’s productions should be so inspirational to these guys I have no idea. Maybe there’s more to those beats than I’m picking up on.

Usher—”There Goes My Baby”
#71
The best thing Usher has done in years (he appears to have been listening to a lot of Ne-Yo and Maxwell), but still far short of whatever mark he’s aiming for. Whoever or whatever made him decide to cut short the middle-eight, which would have brought the song to a higher level, should be booted out of his entourage, or his head, as quickly as possible.

3Oh!3 featuring Neon Hitch—”Follow Me Down”
#89
You knew once they stopped being offensive they’d be boring, right?

Mariah Carey featuring Nicki Minaj—”Up Out My Face”
#100
Over the last few years Carey has been making the best music of her career (not a great leap, I know)—just in time for her audience to dry up and everyone under the age of 25 to start ignoring her. Judging by this record, which is only slightly above average but which she obviously had a great time making, and by reports of her recent concert appearances, she doesn’t really care. Good for her. That’s the sort of attitude that could make her even better.

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New this week

Saturday, October 3rd, 2009

Alicia Keys—”Doesn’t Mean Anything”
#60
I love the jittery piano rumbling that goes on underneath the arrangement, the sort of subtle touch that suggests Keys may have some musical smarts after all. But this sounds a hell of a lot like “No One”, only less intense, and with no real hook. Which means, unfortunately for Keys, that it may well live up to it’s title. Not to worry, though: a career in soft jazz awaits.

Glee Cast:
“Taking Chances”, #71
“Somebody To Love”, #85

In a way it’s unfair to review these records: they were obviously put together very quickly (the arrangements are the barest accompaniment and nothing more), the singers aren’t professionals (or at least not professional singers), and the audience buys them more as a souvenir keepsake than for the music. But here they are, creating a small extra revenue stream for the show, and as long as they turn up on the Hot 100 I feel duty bound to tell you what they’re like. They’re awful. I never thought it would be possible to miss Celine Dion, but I do, and as for their version of Queen’s (as opposed to Jefferson Airplane’s) “Somebody to Love”, I found it impossible to listen a second time. Aping Grace Slick, as horrifying as that sounds, might actually have been a better choice.

David Nail—”Red Light”
#95
There’s a decent breakup song buried in here somewhere, but I dare you to find it under all the country bombast. Nail isn’t a bad singer, either, but he’s trying so hard to be heard above the noise that you’d never know it.

Maxwell—”Bad Habits”
#96
This is the opening cut of Maxwell’s BlackSummersNight trilogy, and it sounds like it. It’s a microcosm of the album as a whole, more an overture designed to introduce the various themes than a complete unit in itself,and it doesn’t quite work as a single. That build through the first couple of minutes sure is something, though; I could listen to that forever.

Pink—”Funhouse”
#97
Pink has been milking Funhouse the album for so long I’m beginning to wonder if she’s going through some sort of extended mourning period for her marriage, one that feels like it’s never going to end. I suppose the title of this song is intended ironically, which might explain why it isn’t much fun at all, but doesn’t explain why it’s a banal pastiche. It’s got energy, for sure, just no brains.

Craig Morgan—”Bonfire”
#98
The mix of Hank and AC/DC Morgan brags about here might have been surprising four or five year ago, when Big and Rich did it, but now it’s just another modern country cliche, to go along with the beer and the pickup trucks. And the loud. Don’t forget the loud.

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New This Week

Saturday, May 9th, 2009

My intention from now on is to provide short reviews of every record to hit the Hot 100. Most of these will only be a sentence or two. Some, as you can see, will be longer. It all depends on whether I can think of much to say about records I’ve only heard two or three times. Luckily, this week is a pretty good crop. I only count three clunkers among a whole batch of good to near great records, including a couple of potential top tens. Makes it easy to start this whole process off. Here’s hoping next week doesn’t kill it.

Katy Perry–”Waking Up In Vegas”
#65
Nowhere near as titillating as “I Kissed a Girl”, or as catchy as “Hot ‘n’ Cold”, but nowhere near as awful as “Thinking of You”, either. This is a little clunky, and reaches for effects Perry doesn’t know how to pull off yet, but it isn’t horrible, and it offers the same idiosyncratic lyrical quirks that made even “Thinking of You” an interesting listen. I know a lot of people were hoping that Perry would be a one shot, and I thought the same myself at first, but now I think she’s in it for the long haul. I wouldn’t base that judgment on this record alone, but remember she also co-wrote Kelly Clarkson’s “I Do Not Hook Up”, the best song to hit the Hot 100 so far this year.

Fall Out Boy–”America’s Suitehearts”
#78
Yes, Patrick Stump can sing, and, yes, occasionally Pete Wentz gets off a good lyric, but that’s it. The rest is self-important bombast and overkill. Come to think of it, so are Stump’s singing and Wentz’s lyrics most of the time.

Gorilla Zoe–”Echo”
#82
Strange to say, what this most reminds me of, aside from Timbaland’s “Apologize” of course, is the British high-gloss pop-band Prefab Sprout. Those airy synths, the half-spoken, half-sung lyrics, the slight burr in the voice. Paddy McAloon would have made that chorus soar, though, instead of the little sing-songy thing we get here. Still, a good record, and one that demonstrates that Zoe has far more range than I would have guessed from his previous singles.

Maxwell–”Pretty Wings”
#89
More Al Green than even the latest Al Green, this is so subtly crafted and so unassuming even in its massive artistic intentions that what you think of it may depend on how much you’ve missed Maxwell rather than the song itself. It may also depend on how much you’ve missed classic soul horn charts. I say welcome back to both.

Billy Currington–”People Are Crazy”
#90
I like the title hook, but this take on the legend of Howard Hughes and Melvin Dummar is too lacking in relevant detail to get over (though leaving a six-pack on the grave is a nice touch). I suggest renting a copy of Melvin and Howard instead.

Hurricane Chris–”Halle Berry (She’s Fine)”
#91
The only real joke here is how often Chris repeats Berry’s name. The rest is crude celeb fantasies that reduce Berry to just another stripper, which makes me think the only thing they’ve seen Berry in is The Last Boy Scout. But it’s still pretty funny.

Chrisette Michele–”Epiphany”
#92
This is subtle enough to slide right past you at first, but give it a few tries and it grows on you quick. Ne-Yo provides the hook (a great one) and, I’m willing to bet, a lot of advice on how it should be sung. Michele sounds cool and in control, and never oversings or pushes the emotions. Nowhere near as adventurous as Ne-Yo’s own records, but then, the songs Smokey Robinson wrote for others were never as adventurous as the one’s he recorded himself. Ne-Yo isn’t in Smokey territory yet, but he’s getting closer all the time. I have a feeling he’s just hitting his groove.

Toby Keith–”Lost You Anyway”
#97
It wouldn’t make any difference how good I was to her, Toby laments, she’d have left me anyway. That’s ’cause she knows you’re lying, Toby, it’s ’cause she knows you’re lying.

Charlie Wilson–”There Goes My Baby”
#98
I had no idea the prettiest girls hung out at Macy’s, but Charlie Wilson says so, and he was in The Gap Band, and they knew where all the pretty girls were, so it must be true. Oh, and ladies, if you need your hair done, he has a cousin. I’m not sure if this is intended as parody, but Wilson sure sounds like he’s having fun.

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