So Friday I asked all of you to drop some suggestions in the good ol' box. Well I'm happy to report - you guys responded nicely! Keep them coming though! Anytime you're listening to something you think I've never heard, or something that I haven't gotten to yet - drop it in there. With all the music out there, I know I've completely missed reviewing some pretty big bands/acts in the 6 months I've been writing. Anyway, first up is follower Janis! and her suggestion of Janet. She specifically put this album down, and then said do anything by her - so I'll stick with this. Now, obviously I know who Janet is. I've heard a few tracks off this record before, but never the whole thing. I was never a big fan of hers growing up, and can't say I know much current stuff by her. This came out in 1989 and is a nice 6x platinum in the states. Getting through this now, seems like I don't recall as many singles as I thought I would - which is kind of nice. The one thing that strikes me - a couple of the songs sound exactly the same. Escapade being the huge single off this record, that has virtually the same beat as State Of The World and Miss You Much. If you sit back, you could sing the same lyrics over those beats and it'd sound perfect. Personally, I hate when artists do that - but I get it. Even Love Will Never Do has a very similar arrangement. That's fairly lazy if you ask me. Anyway, this is fine. This was certainly the late 80's version of pop music, and I'm not sure it stands the test of time or not. I guess I'll let you guys be the judge of that. This is considered one of her best records ever, so I'll tell you to give it a listen - but I think it's an average record all in all. I guess I'll have to listen to more Janet to confirm my suspicion that she can do better. Happy Monday!
TRACK LISTING:
1. Interlude: Pledge
2. Rhythm Nation
3. Interlude: T.V.
4. State of the World
5. Interlude: Race
6. Knowledge, The
7. Interlude: Let's Dance
8. Miss You Much
9. Interlude: Come Back Interlude
10. Love Will Never Do (Without You)
11. Livin' in a World (They Didn't Make)
12. Alright
13. Interlude: Hey Baby
14. Escapade
15. Interlude: No Acid
16. Black Cat
17. Lonely
18. Come Back to Me
19. Someday Is Tonight
20. Interlude: Livin'...In Complete Darkness
Listen To Samples
Top 3 Tracks:
1. Escapade
2. Come Back To Me
3. Rhythm Nation
FINAL RATING:
3 out of 5 stars
did you know that janet wrote all of the guitar parts for 'black cat' herself?
ReplyDeleteI was not aware of that. Did you consider yourself a bigger Janet fan or Michael fan?
ReplyDeletejanet. no contest. janet was, after all, my second concert ever in 1994. but i do like michael jackson too.
ReplyDeleteI really dislike Michael. I enjoyed him when I was younger, but as I grew older his musical style didn't jive with my tastes.
ReplyDeleteJanet today is fairly tolerable for me. I think if what she does was more in line with today's pop - I wouldn't dislike pop so much.
So do you dislike pop more-so today because Janet doesn't so willingly follow suit?
ReplyDeleteMy pop probably doesn't really fall in line with Janet. There is a lot of pop today sung by people with no talent, but have an "image" or "persona" created that sells albums. Ke$ha today is one of the worst artists I've ever heard, and yet - her album will probably go multi platinum.
ReplyDeleteJanet had and still has talent...so she isn't my beef really. I like to see pop artists write their own stuff, have actual vocal talents and maybe even do the dancing like Michael Jackson did.
Thanks for the comment!
No problem at all.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about Ke$ha. I UNDERSTAND what other people see, but what I can't see (at least not yet) is her significance now. I hope that didn't sound too harsh but it's just how I feel. Not to seemingly jump off topic, but what distinguishes the more uptempo music from Ke$ha and Gaga, is that Gaga has more depth to me. She seems genuinely serious about this art. I think too many artists are riding on while thy can, which brings me to your point that artists should write their own material instead of leaning on what may be popular at the time.
I mean hey, I like some of it. I'm not against it, but its times like this when my preference shifts a bit.
I'm with you for the most part. I don't at all see what people find good about Ke$ha. She in terms of overall artistry, has no value for me. Her songs are bad, she can't sing all that well, she can't write and she can't dance. What's the point then? I guess her stuff can be catchy...that's about it.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree though. You have more merit as an artist when you have more skin in the game. When you can blame a writer for not selling albums, do it yourself. Although I don't like the music, I have to respect Gaga for what she's doing. While I don't think she'll have the saying power of a Janet, she'll certainly go down more memorable than even to me, Brittney Spears.