― stevie, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 16:39 (6 years ago) Permalink
― The Brainwasher, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 16:41 (6 years ago) Permalink
― stevie, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 16:41 (6 years ago) Permalink
― lex pretend, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 16:57 (6 years ago) Permalink
― s1ocki, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 03:43 (6 years ago) Permalink
this album is really likeable!
― s1ocki, Monday, 21 May 2007 03:48 (6 years ago) Permalink
On Saturday it took me the best part of an hour to get past "Gotta Work" on the album because I played it 16 times in a row. MY GOD it's brilliant - the most inspired use of a seemingly hackneyed sample ever! The way she sings "damn!" as though gleefully shaking off a feather brushing against her right cheek! "1 Thing" in Technicolor! A destination reached! And she sounds so happy and forceful at the same time! IT'S THE GREATEST POP RECORD EVER!!!!!!!!!
But the album is all great. The track which samples Duck Rock makes me swim. "Take Control" is awesome (hey, Tom Ze)! Even when we get into the slow jams there's always imagination at work ("Crush" is nearly Cabaret Voltaire) and the songs themselves are very strong ("All Roads").
I have to sit down and write it up properly, but for now it's the best pop R&B album - certainly, the only one to have reached that close to me, and possibly into me - since Brooke Valentine's Chain Letter.
In places it's like Michael Jackson AND Madonna born again. Or at least how they would have sounded with Jam and Lewis at the controls.
― Marcello Carlin, Monday, 21 May 2007 07:27 (6 years ago) Permalink
duck rock? which track is that? and which duck rock track?
― pisces, Monday, 21 May 2007 08:08 (6 years ago) Permalink
"Some Like It," "World's Famous."
― Marcello Carlin, Monday, 21 May 2007 08:15 (6 years ago) Permalink
'hate2loveu' is the highlight for me.
― stevie, Monday, 21 May 2007 08:42 (6 years ago) Permalink
it must be a great album if there's been all this talk and no mention of Make Me Believe. Some Like It is great too, with the spoken/sung parts and the "...make it take it easy, won't be sorry boy believe me..." where it matches the melody.
― jergïns, Monday, 21 May 2007 14:25 (6 years ago) Permalink
The horns on "Make Me Believe" are great but my favourite is "Crazy Wonderful". Laidback Amerie is just as good or maybe even better than 1Thing Amerie, which explains why Siik Remix was so sick. But it seems everyone has a different favourite on this album.
― danzig, Monday, 21 May 2007 21:06 (6 years ago) Permalink
Not out until August 21 in the US? Jeezum crow.
― jaymc, Wednesday, 18 July 2007 19:48 (5 years ago) Permalink
By far the best song on this is the accusatory ballad "Paint Me Over".
I like the rest of it but I share some of rtc's renovations.
― Tim F, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 02:56 (5 years ago) Permalink
Nice to see Marcello giddy.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 03:00 (5 years ago) Permalink
Also "All Roads" is much better than you probably think it is.
― Tim F, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 03:00 (5 years ago) Permalink
"Crazy Wonderful" is so great
― groovemaaan, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 08:09 (5 years ago) Permalink
why did i ignore this thread till now?
this is so good.
― gr8080, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 08:17 (5 years ago) Permalink
Some Like It is the one I feel most inclined to skip, apart from Somebody Up There and whatever the slow jam is called, as both of those are outright terrible.
Paint Me Over took a while to click with me but it's great.
― Matt DC, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 11:13 (5 years ago) Permalink
Also worst sequenced album of the year - mix the ballads and bangers up, don't cynically front-load everything uptempo.
― Matt DC, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 11:14 (5 years ago) Permalink
"Some Like It" is pretty dire, actually. I casts quite a shadow over the rest of the hyper-eighties tracks.
― Tim F, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 11:42 (5 years ago) Permalink
renovations! ur too kind old boy.
at least no one really reps for 'some like it'... i could take a cricket bat to 'gotta work' and its fans quite frankly
― r|t|c, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 12:08 (5 years ago) Permalink
that 'streets alone' is probly the track i still listen to most after 'take control' is probably a measure of how far i've copped out of thinking about this album since.
― r|t|c, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 12:10 (5 years ago) Permalink
Ha ha did I write "renovations". of course I meant "reservations". Weird.
Yeah I'm not really into "Gotta Work" either. Its hyper-ecstatic desire to impress is perversely boring.
― Tim F, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 12:18 (5 years ago) Permalink
the Sam & Dave lift is boring and i don't think it's a patch on '1 Thing' but it's OK.
― blueski, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 12:25 (5 years ago) Permalink
So does this actually come out today, or has it been delayed again?
― jaymc, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 13:04 (5 years ago) Permalink
I thought it did (and posted so on the rolling R&B thread), but I guess Wikipedia faked me out as no other websites are confirming it. I went to pick up some new releases yesterday (at a store that puts out the Tuesday releases on the shelves on Monday) and it was nowhere to be found. Damn! Even if the album is as flawed as people here are saying, I could really use a halfway decent female R&B album this year.
― Alex in Baltimore, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 13:19 (5 years ago) Permalink
Good Girl Gone Bad is halfway decent, but not R&B enough I guess.
― blueski, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 13:39 (5 years ago) Permalink
Yeah, I think Rihanna officially turned in her R&B card when she got an Aeon Flux haircut and recorded the Republica b-side that is "Shut Up And Drive."
― Alex in Baltimore, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 13:44 (5 years ago) Permalink
Album of the year.
― The Reverend, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 15:26 (5 years ago) Permalink
I love "Crush" and "Take Control" but I just can't get into the "1 More Thing"s, at least when she's chirping those high notes. Not sure why I find it so grating when it defines the pleasure principle for some many others.
― da croupier, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 15:28 (5 years ago) Permalink
Tim F OTM re: "Some Like It"
― da croupier, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 15:40 (5 years ago) Permalink
"Shut Up & Drive" is great, either in spite or because of it's Republica b-side sounding-ness. Rihanna's album is exactly halfway decent, although I'm not sure exactly what would improve it. I think it's perhaps a bit less than the sum of its parts.
xp: If anything on the album is "1 More Thing", it's "Take Control". As far as the chirpy high notes go, Amerie doesn't have the greatest chops, per se, but she knows how and when to force beyond her comfort zone for maximum impact. It's very thrilling, as Lex put it, when she goes all out. These moments never seem forced, though. They seem to happen as she gets caught up in the moment. This isn't to say that there isn't any artifice behind that phenomenon, but just to say that she's very good at hiding/selling it.
Also, OMG the harmonies & vocal production on this record. I love cool vocal production.
― The Reverend, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 15:40 (5 years ago) Permalink
You all love "Some Like It".
― The Reverend, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 15:41 (5 years ago) Permalink
More seriously, does it really matter whether "Some Like It" is "pj-approved Adventurous Pop"? Does that have any bearing whatsoever on how good or bad the song is? Worrying about something like that seems pointlessly self-conscious to me.
― The Reverend, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 15:44 (5 years ago) Permalink
If anything on the album is "1 More Thing", it's "Take Control".
Are you actually saying "Take Control" sounds more like "1 Thing" than "Gotta Work"?
― da croupier, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 15:46 (5 years ago) Permalink
I went to pick up some new releases yesterday (at a store that puts out the Tuesday releases on the shelves on Monday) and it was nowhere to be found.
OK, I really wanted to buy this album, but this is ridiculous. Someone Sendspace it to me already.
― jaymc, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 15:49 (5 years ago) Permalink
At least as much so. When I first heard "Take Control", my first thought was that she was trying to remake "1 Thing". By the time I heard "Gotta Work", I just kinda expected it. (xp)
― The Reverend, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 15:51 (5 years ago) Permalink
At any rate, I like "Take Control" (the idiosyncrasies of which eventually made themselves clear) more than "Gotta Work". On second thought, you're probably correct (assuming your thesis is that "Gotta Work" sounds more like "1 Thing" than "Take Control" does; you haven't explicitly stated that).
― The Reverend, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 15:54 (5 years ago) Permalink
It's implied by my disbelief in your rather adamant "if <i>anything</i> on the album...," (italics mine) though. You seemed to be ignoring the drums, horns and vocals on "Gotta Work."
― da croupier, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 16:06 (5 years ago) Permalink
haha but then I forgot there weren't horns on "1 Thing," so I'll shut up now.
― da croupier, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 16:08 (5 years ago) Permalink
My problem with Some Like It is it's a bit disjointed and therefore doesn't quite take off.
― Matt DC, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 16:09 (5 years ago) Permalink
Yeah, the drums and vocals are similar (horns? um... {xp nm}). The guitar hook on "Take Control" is a big part of what made me think of it as a retread.
― The Reverend, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 16:10 (5 years ago) Permalink
The disjointed feel of "Some Like It" is a large part of its appeal for me. I love how it just shoots off on random tangents, barely bothering to patch them together.
― The Reverend, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 16:12 (5 years ago) Permalink
"1 Thing" is so shrill and splashy that I think I just assumed there was a brass section blowing out my eardrum as well.
― da croupier, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 16:13 (5 years ago) Permalink
I was disappointed by how soon I lost interest in "Gotta Work" – it's too damn relentless, like Sparkle Motion or something.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 16:15 (5 years ago) Permalink
I didn't put that very well, but I don't know how to state it better at the moment. (xxp)
Completely understandable.
― The Reverend, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 16:16 (5 years ago) Permalink
I dunno. The whole first half is pretty damn relentless, but that's a positive in my book.
― The Reverend, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 16:17 (5 years ago) Permalink
Actually, "Gotta Work" is probably my least favorite song of the first half.
― The Reverend, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 16:19 (5 years ago) Permalink
"Crush" & "Crazy Wonderful" prove that Cassie album tracks are much better with someone capable of displaying emotion.
― The Reverend, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 16:30 (5 years ago) Permalink