I want to like Beyonce. Really I do. She’s fantastic looking. She has a fantastic voice. However, over the course of four Destiny’s Child albums and now three solo albums, she’s mostly struck me as the musical equivalent of a ton of pretty wrapping paper with no gift inside. All style and no substance. As a songwriter, she’s not especially insightful, and it doesn’t really seem like she inhabits the songs she sings the same way some less talented but more believable vocalists do. So, to make a long story short, just about every album Beyonce has been a part of has been a case of unfulfilled promise and ultimately a frustrating listening experience.
Wondering why Blueprint 3 has been bumped into 2009? So am I. Hopefully it’s so Jay-Z can go back to the lab and stop teasing (if that’s the correct term) us with hot garbage like his latest song, History.
I respect that the song was written in response to Barack Obama’s historic presidential victory. I respect that Jay recites lyrics off the top of his head. But I think that a) he should have gone back to the lab and thought the song out a little better, b) he really needs to start writing his lyrics down, and c) T-Pain? REALLY?????
Check the song out and let me know what you think. He sounded inspired on American Gangster, bought got weighed down a little by mediocre production. Here, he sounds like he flushed the eye of the tiger down the toilet.
1) Dream on Dreamer by The Brand New Heavies (from Brother Sister, 1994)
After Soul II Soul hit in 1989, there were a bunch of British groups that came out with the same soulful, jazzy vibe.The best among the rest was The Brand New Heavies, who had the benefit of the lovely N’dea Davenport as lead singer. This was probably their biggest pop hit. N’dea made an awesome solo album around 1999 or so, which you should definitely find if you’re an R&B fan, and the Heavies soldiered on for a while with Siedah Garrett (of MJ “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You” fame) before welcoming Davenport back into the fold. Also worth checking out is the album “Heavy Rhyme Experience Vol. 1”, which features the band vibing in the studio with a who’s who of early Nineties East Coast hip-hop.
2) Pretty Fly (for a White Guy) by The Offspring
(from Americana, 1997)
Y’know, on one hand I find this song incredibly funny, but on the other it’s like, geez, The Offspring were kind of a one trick pony, weren’t they? Well, I shouldn’t say were, as they just took a spin at the top of Billboard’s Modern Rock charts with their latest single, but if you’ve heard one Offspring single, wouldn’t it be safe to assume you’ve heard ’em all? C’mon Dexter Holland. You have a degree in microbiology or whatever. You should be smart enough to vary your sound up a little. Then again, it still sells, so maybe he *is* the smart one.
I want to like Beyonce. Really I do. She’s fantastic looking. She has a fantastic voice. However, over the course of four Destiny’s Child albums and now three solo albums, she’s mostly struck me as the musical equivalent of a ton of pretty wrapping paper with no gift inside. All style and no substance. As a songwriter, she’s not especially insightful, and it doesn’t really seem like she inhabits the songs she sings the same way some less talented but more believable vocalists do. So, to make a long story short, just about every album Beyonce has been a part of has been a case of unfulfilled promise and ultimately a frustrating listening experience.