Category: reviews

audio review : A Long Hot Summer ( album ) … Masta Ace

audio review : A Long Hot Summer ( album ) ... Masta Ace

The title is appealing because, while I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing a hot summer nearly every year of my life, long ones are something I long for. Time flashes by for adults, so the Long Hot Summer Masta Ace presents here is a fictional one in which he plays the role of himself, a rapper named Ace, on tour with an annoying drug dealer named Fats Belvedere. There lies a major problem.

This is a concept album that too often abandons its music for storyline interludes. There are several and every one takes away from what, with some chorus enhancements, could’ve been a season favorite. Ace’s rhymes aren’t nearly as “amazing” as he boasts, but they don’t disappoint. Neither do the beats, an impressive soundtrack of Brooklyn baps, most of which are lush enough to daydream to.

my rating : 3 of 5

2004

audio review : The Raw And The Cooked ( album ) … Fine Young Cannibals

audio review : The Raw And The Cooked ( album ) ... Fine Young Cannibals

If we’re talking meals, this second serving is about as good as the first. The middle portion; three songs in a row starting with Tell Me What; isn’t as filling, but it’s a tasty meal nonetheless. Delicacies include She Drives Me Crazy and As Hard As It Is. The latter is a heartbreak ballad that conjures 1950s soul. I’m Not Satisfied and The Man I Used To Be are also notable for Roland Gift’s ingenious ad-libs at the ends.

my rating : 4 of 5

1989

video review : Gravity

video review : Gravity

The setting is a visual marvel. “You can’t beat the view,” astronaut Matt Kowalski comments in regard to seeing Earth from space, but soon disaster strikes. It comes hard and fast. A girl Mission Specialist named Ryan, the only other main character, goes flying. She begins to drift away uncontrollably, into the darkness, as the level of suspense goes into full thrust.

It’s a nightmare scenario that should’ve served as the plot’s gist, but it takes an imaginative storyteller to keep an audience engaged from there, so we’re taken into more familiar cinematic territory and that aforementioned level of suspense starts to descend. In a sense, we’re following the wrong character, though Sandra Bullock (still) looks sexy in spandex.

my rating : 3 of 5

2013

audio review : Rap God ( song ) … Eminem

Eminem isn’t really a Rap God. The title is just a metaphor. Rappers have been calling themselves “King” since Run-DMC’s second album. They’ve been calling themselves “God” for a long time too, as Wu-Tang fans can attest, but the boastful declaration has received a recent surge in popularity. Kanye West’s Yeezus album, released a few months ago, includes a song entitled I Am A God. Jay-Z is also one on his album. It’s a new trend among popular rappers. What separates Eminem from the rest is that he generally raps better than they do. So when he follows along and calls himself a God, which the most religious of his detractors will probably consider blasphemous, it’s a little closer to the truth.

The problem is that the song doesn’t really match the claim. Not to say that it’s a lackadaisical affair. It seems Eminem put a lot of effort into composing these verses, the third of which lasts for nearly sixty bars. It’s just that rhyming a complex array of words at Supersonic speed doesn’t compensate for a lack of clever or otherwise interesting things to say. The “Columbine” line is a nostalgic highlight; listen for the gun sound effect; and the Ray J bit is sort of funny, but most of this is just a long-winded Eminem rapping to a generic beat produced by someone he should’ve passed for DJ Premier. The hook is weak too. The song, based on the concept alone, would’ve been better without any breaks.

my rating : 3 of 5

2013

audio review : The Marshall Mathers LP 2 ( album ) ... Eminem

audio review : Cold Wind Blows ( song ) … Eminem

Listening to this first song on Eminem’s Recovery album for the first time might make you think it’s going to be a good album. You’ve heard him rap better; this new shouty vocal delivery is fatiguing; but there are some clever lines blown about here and there.

“These are shoes that you can’t fill,” Em delcares, “The day that happens, the world’ll stop spinning and Michael J Fox’ll come to a standstill.” Even better is the cold-catchy chorus. The bridge the song ends with sounds even better. He should’ve switched the two around.

my rating : 4 of 5

2010

audio review : Recovery ( album ) ... Eminem

audio review : The 20-20 Experience [ 2 of 2 ] ( album ) … Justin Timberlake

audio review : The 20-20 Experience [ 2 of 2 ] ( album ) ... Justin Timberlake

This isn’t really a sequel. It’s more like the second half to a set of songs that were supposed to stand on their own. The first Experience wasn’t originally presented as an incomplete project, in other words, so this part 2, released just a few months later, comes across as a tacked-on bonus of sorts. What Justin Timberlake should’ve done was limit the Experience to one album of the best, or most fitting, songs from the two. It’s not as if most, dare I say any, of the 21 are too damn good not to have been released.

Timbaland does a commendable job of providing a sleek soundscape; listen in high-end headphones for small but pleasant surprises in the mix; but Timberlake’s vocals, essentially the songs themselves, are consistently lackluster. The soul dance vibes of Take Back The Night does channel Michael Jackson’s Off The Wall, as noted by many listeners since its first single release, but it would’ve been one of that album’s worst songs and I don’t even consider Off The Wall one of Michael Jackson’s best albums.

If the original 20-20 Experience album was, in fact, supposed to be the only one, that would explain why most of these songs sound like rejects from a slightly better album. Even the song sequencing, which puts a ten-minute vampire ode at track two, seems somewhat random. The fact that every track has to do with girls and romance isn’t so much of a problem, because the first Experience was the same way, but there should be some kind of conceptual clue in the set title. The 20-20 Love Experience perhaps?

my rating : 3 of 5

2013

audio review : Love Inc ( song ) … Booka Shade

The concept is cliché and a little annoying. “Love”, as described by what sounds like a girl’s voice at the beginning, is a vague term that doesn’t really mean much outside of its literal meaning of strong like. What’s annoying is how people try to annotate it into something deeper.

There’s also a joy theme happening here. It reveals itself just before a build-up that peaks the song out with an exuberant hornscape. I would’ve liked to hear the “happy” sample continue thru those refrains instead of stopping before they end, but it’s a likable song nonetheless.

my rating : 4 of 5

audio review : Love And War ( album ) … Tamar Braxton

audio review : Love And War ( album ) ... Tamar Braxton

Tamar claims she has a man who thinks she’s the Prettiest Girl in the world, even when she “ain’t got no makeup on”, but that’s hard to believe. He may tell her that in order to taste some of her Hot Sugar, but I doubt he really thinks that and I doubt she really thinks he thinks that. You can see her face on the album photo and the mere fakeness of it suggests she’s suffering from a serious self-esteem problem. If that isn’t the case, there should be a logical answer as to why she hides her face under so much make-up, alters it with cosmetic surgery and has pictures of it altered with visual effects, and I can’t think of what (else) that answer might be.

To be fair, my little psychological diagnosis extends far beyond this particular Braxton. She is, in part, a product of her society. So she makes romance albums in which almost every song is about sex or “Love” like most other urban pop singers. Whether you like what you hear when you press play or not; it begins with a sample of a Mtume song and a quote from a rap song that sampled that song too; you have to give her a low score in the category of originality. She does better in voice. I’d rather hear her than her huskier sister Toni. But there’s not much happening here in regard to overall talent. The worst songs include Tip Toe and Pieces.

my rating : 3 of 5

2013

video review : Stand Up Guys

video review : Stand Up Guys

The Guys this movie centers around are old crime buddies reunited after one, Val, is released from a 28-year prison stay, so the plot comes across as an epilogue. Their most thrilling days are far behind them, but still they manage to get into plenty of mischief in just a matter of hours. The gist is that Doc has been ordered by his crime boss to kill Val by 10-AM, something he’s only reluctantly going along with in order to save his own life. Val killed the boss’s son before going to prison, and the boss wants revenge, so if Doc backs out, he too will be killed.

That revelation brings with it a certain level of underlying tension, despite the fact that Doc immediately admits to Val what’s going on the moment he gets suspicious enough to ask about it. And tension, however weak, is a good thing. The problem is that the plot, which often runs in real time, has nowhere to go from there. 10-AM is the deadline and Doc makes it obvious he’s going to wait until then to do it, but the random things they do in the meanwhile; this movie is much better at drama than comedy; only strains the plausibility of the plot.

my rating : 3 of 5

2012

audio review : Feels Like Home ( album ) … Sheryl Crow

audio review : Feels Like Home ( album ) ... Sheryl Crow

Sheryl Crow has become a country girl since moving to Nashville a few years ago, so the title of this album can be taken literally. It’s twelve songs that are more than a little a bit country. The singer, whose brand of pop rock never really fit snug in a particular subgroup, embraces her new world with open arms.

The problem is that, genres aside, she isn’t making good music anymore. The closest thing here is an Easy summer romancer that begins remarkably similar to Tom Petty’s Free Falling. Other songs, like Waterproof Mascara and the bombastic Give It To Me, are molded with flat melodies and cornball lyrics.

my rating : 2 of 5

2013

audio review : Plan Of Attack ( song ) … Sadat X + Masta Ace

Masta Ace is a better rapper, but Sadat X’s voice and off-kilter delivery outshines him here. “Make my own rule book,” the Nubian says, “Verse and a cool hook.” He’s right about the hook. It’s the catchiest part of the song.

The beat, a New York borough banger, is produced by Marco Polo. My only real complaint about the song is the placement of the DJ-Premier-like scratch break after Ace’s verse. It should go straight to the chorus like X’s.

my rating : 4 of 5

2012

audio review : The Electric Lady ( album ) … Janelle Monáe

audio review : The Electric Lady ( album ) ... Janelle Monáe

This is a continuation of her Metropolis series, but, without the Overtures and Interludes, it would be a normal Janelle Monáe album and I’d prefer it that way. The concept, which has her playing an android character named Cindi Mayweather, is silly and seemingly pointless. The radio bits, led by the voice of an annoying DJ, are especially distractive. Not that the songs themselves are without fault.

They are technically engaging. The songstress has a knack for crafting original music that recaptures the vibes of 1970s and 1960s soul. It’s Code sounds like a lost Jackson Five ballad while Look Into My Eyes channels Lena Horne. But they don’t have the memorable melodies to match. This Electric Lady, even with guest vocalists like Erykah Badu and Prince at her helm, thrives on style over substance.

my rating : 3 of 5

2013