Category: reviews

audio review : Prince Of Darkness ( album ) … Big Daddy Kane

audio review : Prince Of Darkness ( album ) ... Big Daddy Kane

Big Daddy Kane is the Prince Of Darkness. “It’s a sin to be bad,” he says, “but somebody’s gotta do it.” The ominous moniker is actually a metaphor to represent his romantic allure. The Dark bit refers to his skin tone, which turn the ladies on when the moonlight is “shining on his back.”

When not in seduction mode, he’s mostly bragging to the fellows about his rap skills, which are laced with funny, sometimes corny, puns, but the best song is the least hip-hop of them all. I’m Not Ashamed, he proclaims to that one special girl over a soulful soundscape fit for Barry White.

my rating : 3 of 5

1991

audio review : Deep Down ( song ) … Paul McCartney

It’s what sounds like jazzy pipe organs; Paul McCartney was wise enough to keep them looped; along with funky drums, a Deep bassline and a lively horn section that make this song as groovy as it is.

If it isn’t party music, it’s music to prepare to party to as the old-timer announces a set of “wanna/gonna” plans that include picking a woman up and getting “a bite”, whether with or of her isn’t specified.

my rating : 4 of 5

2020

audio review : McCartney 3 ( album ) ... Paul McCartney

audio review : a Chesky Records compilation : The Vocal Collection

audio review : a Chesky Records compilation : The Vocal Collection

This is a Chesky Records compilation. Each of its eleven songs, one of which should’ve been excluded because it barely includes Vocals, is from an album by an artist on the label. That makes this a sampler of sorts. About half of the songs are good, which is more than I can say for most albums, but the best has a patient LaVerne Butler Covering an old jazz standard. “I’m watching the sea,” she sings, “for the one I love must soon come back to me.”

my rating : 3 of 5

1994

audio review : Hello ( song ) … Lionel Richie

Lionel Richie goes beyond simply admiring a pretty neighbor from afar. He’s fallen in love with her, which, as a guy who considers a girl’s looks more important than her personality when it comes to romance, I can relate to. He seems too shy to tell her though. “Hello,” he says, but only in his mind.

What he should do is play this song for her. I’m the least gay tenant in the building and I’d damn-near date him. It’s a beautiful “love” song, basically flawless as far as vocal melodies go. Even the bridge, a guitar instrumental, is a tender serenade. If it doesn’t win her heart, nothing will.

my rating : 5 of 5

1983

audio review : Gnat ( song ) … Eminem

This song starts to sound good near the end when the music makes its second change for the better. “I’m still totally inappropriate with an opioid, groping it while I’m holding it like a trophy,” the former drug addict fantasizes to a mellow thumper soon enhanced by the addition of what sounds like a small horn ensemble. The whole song should sound like that, though it’s Eminem’s lazy hook that bugs me the most.

my rating : 3 of 5

2020

audio review : Music To Be Murdered By [ Side B ] ( album ) ... Eminem

audio review : The Moment ( album ) … Kenny G

audio review : The Moment ( album ) ... Kenny G

This album begins beautifully. The first twenty seconds of the title song consist of a piano riff that is truly enchanting. It reminds me of a mix between the Sleeps score from Pretty Woman and Unchained Melody by The Righteous Brothers. It’s The Moment Kenny G begins playing his signature sax that things start to go awry. That’s not a knock on his skills; just to say that the slightly irritating sound of a saxophone playing the melodies he’s playing ruins what could’ve been a classic song.

There are none here, but The Champion’s Theme, which really should be an official sports theme, comes close. Peaking with marching band drums and what sounds like the cymbals of ancient Olympia, it is perhaps Kenny G’s greatest musical triumph. Producer Walter Afanasieff also deserves a lot of the credit. What the album would do better without are the two songs with vocals; Toni Braxton and Babyface are featured respectively; a tradition Kenny G seems stuck on.

my rating : 3 of 5

1996

audio review : Topaz ( song ) … The B-52s

Topaz’s one glaring imperfection is that, while the first chorus section lasts sixteen bars, the second one stops at eight. It’s an artistic decision that makes for an awkward progression. Swapping them would’ve been better. The cut is repeated for the third verse; it’s half as long as the others; but that one is much more forgivable.

The song, which has The B-52s soaring ecstatically thru the universe “faster than the speed of love”, is a gem otherwise. The girls; Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson; sound delightful as they harmonize nearly every vocal in their signature style. Fred Schneider, whose vocals are limited to chorus ad-libs, also adds a nice touch.

my rating : 4 of 5

1989

audio review : Cosmic Thing ( album ) ... The B-52s

audio review : Summertime ( song ) … Will Smith

It would be hard to go wrong over a sample of Kool And The Gang’s Summer Madness; a song that, in contrary to its title, could induce even the purest of grammarians to use “chill” as an adjective; in any case. Still The Fresh Prince deserves props for updating the scene from a general sense of summer to a hot day on the streets of urban America. “Girls out hunting and guys doing likewise,” he observes, “honking at the honey in front you with the light eyes.”

It’s “a groove that soothes and moves romance,” which for most of the college crowd is code for sex. Others are satisfied simply showing their fashion and beauty; “fresh from the barbershop, fly from the beauty salon”; playing basketball, eating barbeque or just partying and having fun. Will Smith and the gang; his background boys provide a fitting soundscape; cover it all, but it’s the girl singing; for her, it’s “time to sit back and unwind”; that keeps you hooked.

my rating : 4 of 5

1991

audio review : Brilliant Classics music : Viotti [ Flute Quartets Opus 22 ]

audio review : Brilliant Classics music : Viotti [ Flute Quartets Opus 22 ]

Viotti was Italian, as is the Quartet covering him on this Brilliant Classics set, but it’s an old oil painting of Westminster Bridge that sets the scene. The composer, the liner notes tell us, resided in England when this opus was probably written.

The music, which goes from placid (Andante) to lively (Allegro) over the course of nearly an hour, sounds pleasant enough to my unchambered ears. It would certainly serve as a fitting backdrop as one paddles back in time to early 1800s Europe.

my rating : 4 of 5

2020

audio review : Between Da Protests ( album ) … KRS-One

audio review : Between Da Protests ( album ) ... KRS-One

KRS-One refers to this as his twenty-third album. I don’t know. It depends on which ones you count. Not that it matters much when you’ve been dropping them for this long. KRS-One; remember he started with Boogie Down Productions; is a real pioneer in the world of rap music. The fact that he’s still doing it all these years, decades, later is a testament to his love for hip-hop, which he uses not just to boast about his own rap skills but to Teach his students (fans) about the ways of the world, particularly when it comes to society and race.

Today’s lesson has to do with Da Protests that peaked with the 2020 killing of George Floyd at the hands, or knee, of Da Police, which the race-obsessed automatically attribute to racism, even when the cop is black. The Teacha is no exception; PowerPoint the Ghetto Music album cover; but he deserves some credit for calling out democratic politicians and the media for being the hypocritical opportunists they are. “Black Lives Matter now; they all wanna use it,” he observes, “What we seeing is the corporate co-optive of another black movement.”

Boom is one of too many songs dampered at the breaks though. The album actually starts off surprisingly fresh because the first two songs showcase the “lyrical legend”; he indeed still has the skills to outrap most of these “young’uns”; without any (stale) hooks to bring them down. Perhaps he should do a whole album just rapping to the beat, which he sort of just did at his Block Party with Kid Capri. The Invaders isn’t included again, which is a relief, but at least that’s a good song; something that’s been a rarity on KRS-One albums for a long time.

my rating : 3 of 5

2020

audio review : McCartney 3 ( album ) … Paul McCartney

audio review : McCartney 3 ( album ) ... Paul McCartney

This album should’ve come out in 1990, but it’s better 30 years late than never. Linda is long gone, so this is literally Paul McCartney on his own. That means every song is by him with no other vocalists or musicians, like Phil Collins did for Both Sides, with the exception of Abe Laboriel and Rusty Anderson on Slidin.

Women And Wives; a topic Paul McCartney is well-versed in; sounds pretty enough, but the best song here is a nighttime party prepper entitled Deep Down. Led by what sounds like jazzy pipe organs, it’s the album’s royal flush, though it’s the beginning and ending Winter Birds that provide the overall theme.

my rating : 3 of 5

2020

audio review : Music To Be Murdered By [ Side B ] ( album ) … Eminem

audio review : Music To Be Murdered By [ Side B ] ( album ) ... Eminem

Whether this is a new album or the other Side of what was supposed to be his previous album is the question. It’s presented as the latter; Eminem albums don’t begin with random “love” songs; but it’s actually more of the former. Unless you include Infinite and unless I’m stretching it too far to consider the existence of Kamikaze a response to the negative reviews of Revival, which isn’t bad to me, there is no Eminem album that doesn’t conceptually connect with another.

While he should’ve upped its sixteen tracks to twenty to even it out, this Side B; a nostaglic reference to cassette tapes from the 1980s and 1990s; is aesthetically on par with side A. That means more so-so songs with verbose verses. Eminem’s quick-paced expert-level rhymes, laced with some clever but several corny similes and metaphors, are a real chore to listen to these days, though one of the album’s best songs; Alfred’s Theme; forgos a chorus. Killer is another minor standout.

Framed was a quirky Relapse, but Eminem hasn’t tapped into the “old Shady”; the one whose skills I’d put against any rapper alive or dead; for a whole song since Underground. He came damn close on that pleasantly surprising Shady XV introduction, but he’s too scared, or too politically democratic, to even call people “faggots” now for fear of being “canceled” despite bravadic claims of the contrary. He actually puts a disclaimer after a line about Migos and apologizes to Rihanna.

It’s good to hear Dre rapping again though. He also helps make a couple of these beats. Rhapsodic music fits the theme of Discombobulated, but the song should’ve kept his initial production. I would’ve also liked to hear Eminem on a beat from DJ Premier; speaking of hip-hop legends; who does provide a funky-fresh scratch epilogue to Book Of Rhymes. The rapper has a lot of those, but it seems he’s long forgotten that it takes more than rhyming words to make a good rap album.

my rating : 3 of 5

2020