Britney Spears - Blackout

there was a marching band only on the title track. the rest of the album is just very good songwriting, with a particular weird sheen to it all...so where Rumors is good and solid pop songwriting, Tusk is good and solid WEIRD pop songwriting

Cool, maybe I will check it out.

If you've only heard the three singles on the comp, jaymc, you haven't heard Tusk; it's much weirder.

I think there are five songs on the comp: "Tusk," "Think About Me," "Storms," "Sisters of the Moon," and "Sara." I just listened to all of them, and they're all pretty good, but "Sara" is especially sweet.

"Sara" is my favorite Nicks song ever, and indicative of how the album sounds.

Awesome. My favorite Nicks song is "Dreams," and I think "Sara" has some sonic similarities -- the hazy, languid quality of her vocals meshing with those crisp drums is key.

yea i need to check this album out too. (Tusk)

so Break The Ice is happening for me now.

I wouldnt say that Tusk sounds that much like "Sara". If I had to choose a representative sample, I'd probably go for "Think about Me".

The 90s techno synth on Break the ice is so great (the beat and melody/singing too). You want to hear the track blast in a rave in some suburban boarded up factory !

absofuckinlutely

FAR ! (fancy a rave)

Well, I learned to love Rumours when I was around seven and I bought Tusk about a year ago, so that's why I said Tusk. Also, they're both batshit brilliant pop albums where the dislocated fragmented nature finds an almost conceptual base in the Britney and Lindsey chaotic lives of the artists.

On my Radar is kind of a crowd pleaser, it's funny. i mean i think it's great and all but it was definitely a bit of a grower for me.

it's 8am and i want to put this on. i tink it's because my radio alarm went off this morning with an alert that brit's in the hospital

again

girl needs to chill

Finally coming around to heaven on earth, reminds me a bit of The One of Kylie's new album,

yes!

It's in the echoey piano part.

echoey piano is one of my new favorite elements in a song.

Sorry.
But no part of Blackout comes anywhere near to the brilliance that is The One
I picked up Blackout cos of the love on this thread, but after a week, I'm still not getting why this has been met so positively.
Caveat : There is a strong case that in a few weeks I wil regret this post.

yea

it took me a little while with this album!

Really? I was hooked when they posted those samples on people! Piece of me was the one that jumped out and just sounded tremendous at first, but now I don't see it as being as good as , say , Break the Ice. Yeah, the One is pretty fantastic. The new Janet single has this same feel, but it doesn't have the heart. I guess Kylie takes it on that one though, but this album is an incredible machine.

I find Blackout cold and distant.
I feel hugged and loved by X.

yea i need to hear The One.

Blackout is cold to me too, but that's what i like about it -- it's like she is cold and she wants you to know or something. i know, deep.

well, this DID sound big to me at first -- but i didn't really get the subtlties in it until a bit later.

There's so many warm facets to Blackout though. The more I listen to it the more Britney's voice becomes the golden key to getting it. It makes all these nice warm effects when its multitracked that are just so soft. It cuts throught the metallic beats or at least drapes itself over them.

xpost, yeah like harmonies on Radar are just so subtle at first but they eventually dominate the song. And on freak show, just the way she moves around the speakers is entrancing, its like a Yes record, you could watch her voice bounce around the room for hours.

Has there been a bad remix of "Piece of Me" done yet? The three I've heard so far (Boz O Lo, Tiesto, Bimbo Jones) are ridiculous good.

i COMPLETELY agree, IKR. her voice. the layers, the production, the way they soften it so MUCH, just cascades over the treble-heavy beats. one of my favorite examples of this is the chorus of Perfect Lover. "you're the best -- you got me obsessed." they make her sound like honey.

freakshow is amazing. and yes, i love the dancing between speakers -- one night, i caught myself actually leaning toward one speaker and then the other as i was listening.

my favorite part in piece of me is when she says "please"

yum

i think that's what i meant by subtlety -- i didn't get this at first.

i love piece of me a lot.

it is funny tho how the chorus vox are so much higher than the rest. sounds a little like my speakers are fucking up sometimes. still amazing.

true to form i am so late with this album. i gather everyone's past it now. oh well.

better late than never.

I'm not past it. I listen to it all the time. I'm still holding out hope that "Toy Soldier" (or "Radar") will be a single and a gigantic hit.

i love Toy Soldier. Radar isn't a single? what HAS been released as singles? Just Gimme More? Or Piece Of Me too?

"Gimme More" and "Piece of Me" have been released as singles. "Break The Ice" is rumored to be the next single (a mistake, I think), but I haven't read anything official.

i don't know, Break The Ice is intensely hot.

it's all in the "hot hot hot hot"

I looked it up and it seems Jive HAS confirmed "Break The Ice" as the next single. It's being released to radio tomorrow, in fact!

I know a lot of people love it, but it hasn't really grabbed me. I usually skip it to get to the songs I really love though, so maybe I'll come to like it more if I give it some proper attention.

it didn't grab me at first either -- ooh tomorrow!

Why Should I Be Sad is so great, and sad

Yeah, as I said before on this thread, it's a great and beautiful track. one of the best and most touching britney's tracks ever IMO. also, one of the best things the neptunes have done these last years.

very touching, AND catchy, which is a great combination

yup.
one of the great things on this album is there's no real slow, romantic whatever song (which always suck, at least on britney's previous albums). only bangers, dark synth pop. and then this final track that's sad but not in an obvious way. more like a beautiful spleen (ah, this description could be the title of a Suede song !).
I still listen to this album on a regular basis. still brilliant.

yes, no sappy songs. just that token of sweetness.

Somehow, it seems to diminish each song when they become a single, this is such an album

what just became a single?

break the ice?

ah yah i knew about that, i didn't know if there was another one. i love hearing Break the ice on the radio, taking it out of the album is funny =P

i can't believe Break the ice didn't do any better placement-wise

After not being particularly enthused by singles Nos. 1 & 2, I have to say that "Break the Ice" is awesome.