E-40 showed us his Ghetto Report Card, Ball Street Journal and Block Brochure, so why not his D-Boy Diary? It’s an interesting read if you focus on the verses; he’s still a charismatic rapper; but you’ll have a hard time finding a good song among the 42 presented here. Too Many dumb hooks over cookie–cutter trap beats; All Day being an impressive exception to the latter.
my rating : 2 of 5
2016
![video review : Independence Day [ Resurgence ]](https://marcellee.com/posts/59152.jpg)
This isn’t just Independence Day without Will Smith, which would be bad enough. It’s Independence Day without the humor, wit, suspense and entertainment; a sequel so lackluster it feels more like a TV knockoff than a sequel. Most of the main characters are back, but the nostalgia is wasted. Rain, the token Asian, is cute, but the new people are just cardboard cutouts.
The plot, which introduces an ally alien sphere, is surprisingly stupid. Even worse is the dialogue, which goes from just being flat to laughably awkward as it wedges in quick-cut plot points. “Can you believe it,” a hospital worker says to a patient who appears to be sleeping, “You’ve been in a coma for 7300 days.” One more day and he could’ve slept thru this cinematic disaster.
my rating : 2 of 5
2016
The third story is a thrill, at least compared to what came before it. It’s about a Zuni fetish doll that comes to life and tries to kill a woman named Amelia. She’s played by Karen Black who also stars in the other two stories, neither of which induce a single scare, let alone Terror.
The first, about a college student having a sexual relationship with his teacher, is interesting until the stupid ending. The second, which I do commend for being bold enough to include as a plot device a daughter sexually seducing her father; again with the sex; is stupid from the start.
my rating : 2 of 5
1975
Papa Bell is cool. It’s named after a Negro baseball player from nearly a century ago, led by bouncy island strings and like something from Graceland. The rest of the album is like something from Wasteland. That is to say that the decline of Paul Simon as a songwriter, which began after The Capeman; his best album as far as I’m concerned; continues. It’s as if he’s forgotten how to make good songs, let alone more classics.
He’s still one of my favorite songers, but I’d rather him retire than tarnish his legacy any further. Wristband is conceptually akin to The Afterlife from his last album and just as silly. Street Angel brings some interesting hip-hop effects, but structurally the song is a mess. The Werewolf is a grower, but In A Parade never stops sounding stupid. Two short interludes on an album barely over a half-hour long reek of laziness.
He sings of “words” and “melody”, but it’s the latter that’s the problem. Paul Simon is still a wordsmith. It’s the way he sings those words that, more than anything else, make his new songs boring and mundane. The Capeman must’ve robbed him. I can almost count on one hand the good songs he’s released since then. Cool Papa Bell is one of them, yes, but good songs on a Paul Simon album are supposed to be the rule, not the exception.
my rating : 2 of 5
2016
Troy Puyear :
I will never argue with anyone’s right to offer an opinion, but I vehemently disagree that Paul has “forgotten how to make good songs.” I also find it interesting where people place the cutoff of when he last made good music. This reviewer says The Capeman was the last good one; a commenter says it was Rhythm of the Saints. My good friend Jim says that You’re the One was Paul’s worst album since Hearts and Bones, whereas another friend believes that Hearts and Bones was vastly underrated.
My point? Paul’s style is roving and eclectic, just the way he likes it. Am I a musical “homer,” supporting Paul in everything he does? No. I love most of his music, but there are definitely songs I dislike very much. But one thing I believe unshakably: whether you enjoy a Paul Simon song or album, or whether you feel like he swung for the fences and missed cleanly, he is still out there making relevant music that will make people think, make them feel, and make them smile and tap their feet. The man is a legend, but more importantly, I think he still has the talent and desire that got him here in the first place.
art 87 :
i agree with all the negative reviews. after Rhythm of the Saints, PS has forgotten how to write a melody. i listened to this lp twice and although the rhythms & drumbeats are striking, some good lyrics, the lack of melody makes this lp dull & unenjoyable.
Eric J. Anderson :
You are spot on in your review. My only quibble is that I think So Beautiful or So What is a fine, fine album. Second-tier compared to Rhythm of the Saints or his first four or five solo works, but still excellent. But Stranger To Stranger sounds like b-sides, experiments (failed experiments, mostly), and stuff not good enough for the previous album.
Michael Wilson :
Take a look at the review history of Marcel and you’ll soon discover why his review of the new Simon album isn’t relevant.
david ticehurst :
He sings of “words” and “melody”, but it’s the latter that’s the problem. Paul Simon is still a wordsmith. It’s the way he sings those words that, more than anything else, make his new songs boring and mundane.
I agree. In recent interviews Paul Simon spoke of the importance of sound. He has forgotten or chosen to ignore the importance of melody or song. Several of the songs on this CD are virtually spoken and yet the duet with Dion shows that when he wants to Paul can still sing and sound sublime. The words are as ever exquisite, intelligent and thought provoking. But the sound is bland and tuneless. It is as if Paul wants to be seen as a cool guy almost rapping. His words on his albums continue to sparkle but since Capeman onwards the melodies have disappeared.A huge disappointment for what will probably be his last album given the time it takes him to craft his material.
L. Jones :
Songers?
Mitzi2013 :
Really…Negro?
Masta Ace apparently doesn’t care what I have to say. I’ve been complaining about his concept albums ever since he’s been releasing them and he still hasn’t changed a thing. This one, which takes us back to 1980; the year he started high school; serves as a sort of sequel to Son Of Yvonne, which features beats by MF Doom. The sole producer this time is Kic Beats. His aren’t as funky but it’s pure (sample-free) hip-hop nonetheless. Masta Ace used to be a better rapper, but that’s not even the problem here. It’s the weak breaks and annoying skits, the latter of which fails the flow of the album by never letting more than three songs play without interruption. Fats Belvedere, from A Long Hot Summer, is also back, for whatever that’s worth.
Let me be clear. The skits are well-produced and might be suitable for, say, a dramatized audiobook, but when there are so many; some over a minute long; on an otherwise normal rap album, they tend to irk. Young Black Intelligent, on which Ace successfully transports back to the younger fresher rapper he used to be, is a good song with replay value, but you shouldn’t have to skip the proceeding interlude to get to it. There’s nothing wrong with an album having a concept, but Ace takes it too far. By the time you get to Outtakes, literally outtakes of the skits being recorded, you’re thinking of throwing the tape in the garbage like they did De La Soul Is Dead. Either that or trim the skits, leaving an album that sounds unfinished without them.
Even with them, The Falling Season sounds, at times, like an assignment left incomplete. Mothers Regret and Coronation both have potential, but neither offer anything substantial during the breaks. Not every song needs a chorus, but there should be something to hold them down when the verses stop. Passersby trying to console a crying drug addict or a staff member reading names at a high school commencement ceremony isn’t enough. How much better would these songs be with catchy vocals going in the background? “Catchy” is the key word. High School Shit, a thematic rendition of Be True To Your School, has a hook, but it’s basic and sort of wack. Say Goodbye is even worse. Mathematics, Ace rhyming math terms, is just silly.
What he should do, or what he should’ve done a long time ago, is free himself from all these restrictive concepts and simply rap. That, and an ear for catchy hooks, is all he’d need to make another solid album, à la Take A Look Around. That one, his debut, also has its flaws, but its one Reminisce song is still better than the whole Falling Season. Masta Ace, now 49 years old, reminisces about being a high school student on almost every song here; Me And AG, on which he mentions “Uber-driving”, is one clear exception; and that cheats fans out of what is supposed to be his new album. Nostalgia is fun and all, but he’s already done a project like this. I’m starting to wonder if it’s just another case of an old school rapper being stuck in the past.
my rating : 2 of 5
2016
Never trust a ho. A supposed survivalist foolishly breaks this vital rule of the game. It’s a blunder that, in a story less inclined to political correctness, could’ve made for some interesting conflict. Instead cliché romance develops. There’s a third person in the mix; the woman’s pimp mom; but she’s disposed of in a most unconventional way. This is a movie that’s merely endurable. The best part is when Mia Goth shows her tits.
my rating : 2 of 5
2015
Max B is in prison for life, so, instead of coming to the Good Music studio, he gives a shoutout over the phone. That’s too bad. His catchy hooks might work wonders for this album. Maybe not. The Weeknd sings a hook that, over a minimalist synth, sounds marvelous and Kanye West can barely make a good song out of it. The problem with FML isn’t the verses; West actually does a notable job there; it’s the jarring minute-long coda tacked onto the end. It seems to be there for no reason other than random change. Those of us who consider it a change for the worse are left distracted and disappointed. Scatterbrained artistic decisions like that are what’s troubling in The Life Of Pablo.
It’s presented as another Kanye West album, but it sounds more like a collection of demos. There are simply too few songs to justify the amount of interludes and the like. Of 18 tracks, little more than half pass the three-minute mark and some of those don’t quality as proper songs. Not that an album has to have songs, but since there are; No More Parties In LA would’ve easily fit My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy; it makes for an awkward mix. Worst of all is that not much of what’s going on sounds good anyway; let alone beautiful. West, as musically talented as he may be, hasn’t put his skills on display since 2010. That’s about six years ago. At that point, he’d been making good albums for about six years.
I forgot about 808s And Heartbreak, his first downward spiral, but he’s hit a new low with this Pablo set, which begins enchantingly enough. He’s always allowed his Christian views to seep into his music, but Ultralight Beam, featuring a monologue by Kirk Franklin, takes things into full gospel mode. It’s one of the best tracks though, one of only a few; Real Friends and the aforementioned FML included; that stand-out among all the messiness. The old Kanye wouldn’t have made a wack song like Facts or included a wack Freestyle on one of his albums. The old Kanye didn’t rap to kick/snare drums this basic. Dare I say the old Kanye would never make music this soulless; no stupid religious puns intended.
No, I’m not one of the people he’s mocking on the Love Kanye bit. I don’t “miss” the old Kanye. I like most of his albums, four of seven, but I was never a big enough fan to miss him. The old Kanye; the one who apparently died not long after the release of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, probably his best album; was a lot better than the new one though, at least when it comes to songs and albums. If his previous release, Yeezus, wasn’t almost as bad, which it is, I’d have a hard time even accepting The Life Of Pablo as a Kanye West album. That’s how far he’s fallen aesthetically. Even his rap skills have taken a dive. Perhaps it’s time for him to consider going back to school. They say it’s never too late.
my rating : 2 of 5
2016
A man and woman lose their kid. That’s not a euphemism for death. They literally lose him at a gas station one day. The presumption is that he was kidnapped; the premise for a potentially engrossing story; but director Reed Morano ruins it by skipping to the boring epilogue. That means we’re forced to watch the parents mope as uneventful month by uneventful month goes by.
The movie focuses more on the woman, played by Olivia Wilde, as she goes down a spiral that is odd and a little absurd. Eating old cookie crumbs, smoking crack, having sex with strangers; her naked ass in the sex scene is the best part; and stalking little boys may be a part of her personality, but it seems unlikely simply losing a child of her own would make her do such things.
my rating : 2 of 5
2015
I don’t know who my Top 5 rappers are, but if it’s limited to popular names as such lists tend to be, Eminem is number one. Jadakiss doesn’t make the list. He’s nowhere near. That’s despite the fact that he insists, over and over again, that he’s one of the five best. It’s a matter of opinion, so the debate is all in fun, but he has a lot of nerve making such a bold claim in such a bold way when, in my opinion, he might not even rank in the top 50.
His bullheaded arrogance may be forgiven if this were a great rap album or at least a good one. It’s far from it. Too many so-so beats, weak hooks and, yes, dull verses. Jadakiss used to be a better rapper. Listen to his first album. He still has that signature monotone delivery and makes sure to rhyme the last two or three syllables in every bar, but he rarely has anything clever or interesting to say anymore. And he needs to stop with that retarded laugh.
my rating : 2 of 5
2015
A potentially enthralling concept; an Earthling gets stranded alone on another planet; is ruined by hackneyed movie-making. The biggest problem is that in a story that relies on tension and suspense, there is little to none.
Nasa astronaut Mark Watney is left for dead on Mars after a botched expedition, but you never get the sense that he’s in any real danger. Even if you did, you probably wouldn’t care. His character is mostly irritating.
my rating : 2 of 5
2015
It’s marketed as a Mens shirt, but, as far as normal fashion goes, it’s more suitable for a woman. The collar is huge, the front pocket is distracting and the back hook is unnecessary; it would be better as a plain shirt; but those are relatively minor complaints.
The main problem is that the thin material it’s made of is so prone to wrinkles that even trying to iron them out is a frustrating experience. Forget taking your shirt off, tossing it somewhere and putting it back on later because you’d have to iron it all over again.
my rating : 2 of 5
![audio review : Regulate : G Funk Era [ Part 2 ] ( EP ) ... Warren G](https://marcellee.com/posts/51831.jpg)
This release, presented as the sequel to Warren G’s Regulate album, reeks of desperation. Fans who haven’t checked for him in years, decades even, will be inclined to give it a listen for the name alone. He’s apparently banking on that.
Part 1 is regarded by many as the best rap album of 1994, but that album, while short, is a normal one that features Nate Dogg only on its title song. Following it via an EP with prehumous Nate Dogg vocals on every song makes no artistic sense.
It’s a hasty attention grab made worse by the fact that My House, in which G mimics R Kelly’s Woman’s Threat, is annoying during the breaks and the final song, about murderous set-up hoes, is conceptually an inappropriate way to end the set.
my rating : 2 of 5
2015