In case you haven't heard Justin Timberlake has a new album/cd coming out next Tuesday and if you haven't heard then, seriously, you must have no internet connection or television or possibly living under a rock in the desert, but he has been everywhere. From the Grammys to Saturday Night Live to a full week on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. I will give him kudos for making the big promotional push, in this day and age of music you really have to get out there and market yourself across as many media streams as possible to find the widest audience as possible considering music sales of most things, besides downloaded singles, are in a general decline. It's not like the heydays when an N'SYNC album could sell more than a million copies in its first few days of release. These days it really takes more, but after that, is the album any good? After the first single, "Suit & Tie", dropped I gave a snap judgement, not the full album is streaming on iTunes before its release so why not give it a live blog listen and commentary to see what he has in store for us.
1. "Pusher Love Girl"--starts, middles and ends with a sparse falsetto, which after awhile can be a bit much, like he's straining to hit the notes, but in a mellow way. Kind of reminds me of some 80's Prince circa "Sign O the Times". What's that? Someone is repeating wool! in the background over and over, kind of like that sample from the Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock song "It Takes Two", though not as irritating as that. Oh, it's a slow rap breakdown at the end that goes on and on and on...ugh this song is over 8 minutes long. Eh...not sure what to really make of this.
2. "Suite & Tie"--see previous snap on this in yet another song with a rap breakdown. At 5:26 one of the 2 shortest songs on the album though feels longer.
3. "Don't Hold the Wall"--It's a jungle groove!! The beat seems a little off and I can't quite get into it. Another rap breakdown, I think I see the common theme. Parts of it remind me of that Nelly Furtado song "Say It Right" did Timbaland produce this? A little weird it kind of changes to a faster beat at the end like two different songs. Not a lot of lyrics going on here. Yeah, not a fan.
4. "Strawberry Bubblegum"--starts off like a scratchy 70's 45 record, wait is that Barry White or the ghost of doing some sexy rap in the background? Hmmm...more falsetto. It's a slow groove with a beat, someone has been hanging around with Robin Thicke too much. Well, it ain't awful, I can see it being a big R&B hit.
5. "Tunnel Vision"--yes more rap and more weird beats, it's a little hard connecting with it. Sounds a little like "Strawberry Bubblegum Part 2" and sped up a bit. Wait, the songs changing into sort of another song with, ooh, fingersnaps and violins (or synths that sound like violins) it's another 2 for 1 song. He's definitely not making this experience easy to like.
6. "Spaceship Coupe"--hmmm....they are all starting to sound a little samey. Though this one is a little more trippy..."hop into my spaceship girl...only room for 2...to the milky way?" Wow, its now turned into a freaky 70's soul, let's get down song. I'm flashing back to "Float On" by the Floaters meets " I Want'a Do Something Freaky To You" by Leon Haywood meets "Dream Weaver" by Gary Wright. This is definitely a "they smoked some weed and wrote and sang this song" song. Maybe that's what I need to do to appreciate it more, or maybe not. Wait a prolonged guitar solo. Now its slowed way down again and sort of lulling me to sleep. It will be a huge hit...in 1975.
7. "That Girl"--he's totally going for full on 70's R&B with big band sound, like James Brown without the raspiness. I really think he believes he's black. I like Stevie Wonder's "That Girl" better. Well, at 4:47, at least it's the shortest song on here.
8. "Let The Groove Get In"--It's Latin salsa night with the Miami Sound Machine!! Ugh..how many times can you repeat the same lyric over and over? I think this entire album is trying to find that out. It's definitely his Miami club groove song but it will need a massive remix--somebody get David Guetta on the phone now! Wait there's a beat change (another common theme) now it's a little more dance music-like--again 2 songs for the price of 1, how many is that now? Still not a fan of all the falsetto. Did Jessica Biel clip his balls or what?
9. "Mirrors"--the new single which I do kind of like. It is the most radio accessible of all these songs. I think I like it because it feels like a sped up version of "Cry Me A River", which I hold up as his best song. Could be a huge club smash with a remix from say Avicii or Kaskade. Ok, this song is 8:05, too long, could lose this last 2 minutes which has turned into experimental trippy, again, which doesn't match the beginning of the song--not a fan of this part--fast forwarding.
10. "Blue Ocean Floor"--Odd. Slow. Ballad thingy. More musical trippiness. Is he going through some art-school experimental phase? It's like Enya meets whale songs. Gawd, this goes on for 7:22, I'm exhausted. I can see this being used as background music in an art house movie where a young girl paddles around the ocean in a canoe contemplating her place in life and with nature....or maybe just over the end credits.
And thank heavens that's the end. Yes, there are only 10 songs on this, but at an average length of 7 full minutes this cd clocks in at just over 70 minutes of music. And now that I think about it, this is like one of those 70's concept albums where the you listen to the whole thing to create a full experience in musicalness (hence the title of the album). It's like a Delfonics record mated with a Peter Gabriel led Genesis record, take from that what you will. So to recap--trippy, experimental, falsetto, rap breakdowns--if these appeal to you then buy this cd when it comes out. For the rest of us, maybe we should wait till it doesn't sell as well as the record company wants and he is forced to release a deluxe version with some new songs and a duet with Rihanna to boost sales. Listen for yourselves and decide.
Comments
Post a Comment