Category: reviews

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

audio review : Ain’t Gone Do It | Terms And Conditions ( albums ) … Too Short + E-40

audio review : Ain't Gone Do It | Terms And Conditions ( albums ) ... Too Short + E-40

What’s odd about this project, other than what sounds like an old (2002) E-40 verse on Triple Gold, is that it has two separate titles; one for each rapper; which makes it two separate albums à la Outkast’s Speakerboxxx slash The Love Below. They do go well together; ten songs each and all; but E-40’s half is better.

Tricks, about “lames” who let undeserving hoes take advantage of their money, is one of the best songs on the whole set, mainly due to the wise decision to enhance what would’ve been another weak hook with monologues by the legendary Pimpin Ken. I Stay Up, a Zyah Belle song from Too Short’s half, is another highlight.

my rating : 3 of 5

2020

audio review : Nothing Left To Give ( song ) … Lionel Richie

This song gets good at the bridge. “So can you give it all to me,” Lionel Richie asks to a drumless ensemble of what sounds like synth xylophones and maracas, “Want to feel your energy; want to see you rock with me.” That eight-bar bit, which should be the chorus; the actual chorus is kind of annoying with Akon yelling in the background; is easily the best part of this otherwise bombastic party anthem.

my rating : 3 of 5

2009

audio review : Sons Of The Father ( album ) … YZ

audio review : Sons Of The Father ( album ) ... YZ

It sounds like this is going to be a good album judging by the first two songs. In Control Of Things, which manages a sample of Vicki Anderson’s Message From The Soul Sisters, is particularly effective. The album falters with only a few minor notables from there, including Tower With The Power; another Breezin sample; and YZ putting on his Bally Shoes to Tread Water à la De La Soul.

my rating : 3 of 5

1990

audio review : Evermore ( album ) … Taylor Swift

audio review : Evermore ( album ) ... Taylor Swift

I don’t know what made Taylor Swift think her Folklore album warranted a quick follow-up à la Justin Timberlake’s 20-20 Experience, but here it is; another album of middling folk songs.

Aaron Dessner is still at the helm; Jack Antonoff falls back for this one; so the soundscape is fittingly similar, along with that arid forest landscape Swift seems to be enamored with these days.

It’s called Evermore because “Folkmore”, while cute, would’ve induced smiles and Swift seems to take herself dead serious here. Even a song about Happiness pushes the feeling off into the distance.

To be clear, this album is mind-numbingly conventional. Swift’s singing, not her lyrics but her melodies, is bland, which isn’t to say that it’s bad. I can Tolerate It. For Evermore? That’s going a bit too far.

my rating : 3 of 5

2020

video review : 12 Angry Men

video review : 12 Angry Men

“I’m getting a little tired of this yackety-yakking back and forth,” an exasperated, though not quite Angry, man declares. It’s a sentiment you might find yourself agreeing with as you watch a movie that plays and feels like a real-time jury deliberation. It’s an intriguing concept with interesting dialogue, but it gets redundant after a while and the characterization, particularly in relation to the ending resolution, is somewhat unrealistic.

my rating : 3 of 5

1957

audio review : I Care 4 You ( song ) … Aaliyah

I don’t Care 4 the Prince-like numeration in the title; it takes away from the solemnity of the song; but damn. I would’ve swore this were a remake of some soul classic from the 1970s, but, according to the credits, Timbaland composed the beat with no samples and it’s Missy Elliott who deserves credit for the melodic vocal arrangement.

The trite lyrics, which tell a guy who’s “in pain” with heartbreak that the girl who left him must be “insane”, are the song’s one major weakness. The a4mentioned title number is a small factor in comparison. A lot of great songs say silly things though. It’s the throwback groove that comforts, along with the sweet croon of a very accommodating Aaliyah.

my rating : 5 of 5

2001

audio review : Elvis’ Golden Records ( album ) … Elvis Presley

audio review : Elvis' Golden Records ( album ) ... Elvis Presley

This might seem like just an album of Elvis Presley songs rather than an album by Elvis Presley; the third-person title reference is somewhat confusing, in other words; until you consider the title of his previous Christmas album. Then it starts to make sense. Not that a compilation of his most popular songs this early in his career has any good reason to exist other than more album sales for RCA Victor and more of an ego boost for a singer who insists on using his name with an apostrophe instead of the word “My”.

As far as the music goes, while all but one of these Golden Records are charted singles or B-sides to charted singles, about half are aesthetic hits. That’s When Your Heartaches Begin, an Ink Spots remake released a year ago with All Shook Up, is probably the best song here. It’s also the saddest as a melancholic Presley mourns over the loss of a “sweetheart” to a friend he seems to suggest was introduced to her as part of a sexual threesome. Other standouts include Anyway You Want Me, Love Me Tender and Hound Dog.

my rating : 3 of 5

1958

audio review : The Hustle Continues ( album ) … Juicy J

audio review : The Hustle Continues ( album ) ... Juicy J

This is supposed to be an official Juicy J album, but it sounds more like a mixtape than his last mixtape. The “Shutdafukup” catchphrase can be heard repeatedly and it’s annoying every time. The Logic bits should’ve been limited to the songs he raps on. That project is actually a little better than this one, mainly because of all these basic-ass hooks.

my rating : 3 of 5

2018