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Pop Rock Nation

Tag: The-Dream

  • New Release of the Week 3/10/09: Kelly Clarkson

    kelly

    OK. We’re going to experiment with a new format here. I’ve been stretching to find new releases to talk about for almost the entire year now, so maybe focusing on one release would be better.

    So, yeah, Kelly Clarkson’s back. If you all remember, America’s Sweetheart went down in flames with her last album, “My December”, although truth be told, the music enclosed within wasn’t a hell of a lot different (or better, or worse…maybe a little less catchy) from the music that had rocketed her to fame a couple years prior with hits like “Since You Been Gone”. Her lyrics may have been a little angrier, but it’s not like being an angry broad didn’t help Alanis Morissette sell fifteen million records, right? At any rate, much was made of her beef with label head Clive Davis, a man who apparently had an issue that Clarkson decided to (shock, horror) write her own material without the help of song doctors. Davis worked his best “I’ll show you, bitch!” magic, and “My December” went on to sell a respectable but not blockbuster-level 800,000 copies.

    Now, if I was Kelly, I’d have been like “Look, 800K is not a bad number, especially in today’s music market. I’ll keep my publishing, downsize my fan base a little bit and keep on truckin’”. However, I’m obviously not Kelly Clarkson, because Idol #1 went back to Clive with her proverbial tail between her legs and rejoined forces with song doctors old (Max Martin) and new (Katy Perry-for true??) for her fourth album, “All I Ever Wanted”, which is out today. So far, the gambit is working: the first single, “My Life Would Suck Without You”, rocketed to #1 on the Billboard charts, even though the song itself is a lazy recycling of “Since You (or was it U) Been Gone”.  The album’s gotten decent reviews so far, which at least gives me a little hope that the remainder of the set is better than the single. Kelly begrudgingly gets my $9.99, as will her “Idol” brethren Taylor Hicks. These two start off the “Idol” release season proper with their new albums-watch out for new albums by the likes of Elliott Yamin, Mandisa, Ruben Studdard and LaKisha Jones, all before the current season ends this spring. People talk a lot of shit about Taylor, but I give him props. He seems like the one “Idol” winner who’s not interested in selling out for success. Good for him.

    In addition to Kelly and Taylor, here are a couple of other quick hits:

    The-Dream is the latest in a long line of R&B artists who are much better songwriters and/or producers than they are singers. The guy behind songs like “Umbrella” and “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” is back with his second album, which is called “Love or Money” or “Love vs. Money” or some bullshit like that. Maybe someone should change the title to “Stick to Producing, Bucko”, because The-Dream’s simplistic lyrics and barely-there singing voice don’t give me much hope for this guy being the future of R&B. Then again, his records sell, so what do I know?

    One of the guys The-Dream helped rocket to fame was J. Holiday. If you’ll remember, he had that song “Bed” a couple years ago, which mixed a Prince-style slow jam with that damn “eh” tic that “Umbrella” popularized. It was surprisingly effective, but the success of the song had everything to do with the song itself and nothing to do with the artist. So expect the sophomore slump to eat Holiday whole with his new “Round 2”. Oh, I love imaginative titles. Don’t you?

    Two words you never expected to hear in a sentence together: Chris Cornell and Timbaland. Well, guess what? The greatest rock vocalist of his generation hooks up with Timbo (I’m not going to wrack my brain to come up with a superlative in this case) for the oft-delayed album “Scream”, which is sure to piss off every Cornell fan that Audioslave (who I actually *liked*) didn’t already piss off. I think it’s hilarious when people call moves like this “selling out”. ‘Cause first off, it’s not like Cornell wasn’t already selling googobs of records, right? Second, what rock icon would take the chance of working with a commercially successful pop producer, running the risk of alienating his *entire* audience, and say “Yeah, this is gonna sell me TONS of records!”? Like, are you serious?

    OK. I wrote way more than was my original intention, so I’ll bring this column to a speedy close by saying you can get a complete list of albums that came out today right here. Enjoy.

  • The Sunday Seven 2/1/08: Make Sure You’re Sure

    Congrats to the Steelers for winning what was one of the most exciting Super Bowls in recent memory. That Springsteen guy wasn’t bad either. Let’s throw the iPod on shuffle and see if any Boss comes up:

    01: The Grand Finale by The D.O.C. feat. NWA (1989): A car crash ruined what The D.O.C.’s once promising career, shattering his vocal cords and turning his booming baritone into a rasp. While the Doc has gone on to success as a ghostwriter for the Death Row camp (and one of a laundry list of Erykah Badu baby daddies), his debut No One Can Do it Better remains one of the best debuts in hip-hop history. Ice Cube, MC Ren and Eazy-E all join The D.O.C. on this track, a classic all-time posse cut…over a live band, to boot!

    02: Make Sure You’re Sure by Stevie Wonder (1991): Can someone tell Stevie that he needs to do a standards album? This jazzy piano ballad is one of the highlights of the “Jungle Fever” soundtrack. Considering Stevie’s personal release schedule, though, it’s unlikely we’ll see any new music from him until 2016. I love me some Spike Lee, but I have never seen “Jungle Fever” (although considering my own personal dating tastes, maybe I should). I’ll rent it someday.

    03: The Happy Song (Dum Dum) by Otis Redding (ca. 1966): It’s hard to believe Otis Redding was only 27 when he died, not because he made so much music in his few short years as a musician, but because he SOUNDED so much older. The man had the soul of someone 10 if not 20 years older, as evidenced by the fact that he sings the shit out of a song that’s pretty inconsequential lyrically like this one.

    04: Daddy Called Me Niga ‘Cause I Liked to Rhyme by Young Black Teenagers (1990): YBT, contrary to their name, consisted of five white kids. Discovered and produced by The Bomb Squad, they released two pretty decent albums. The subject matter of this song is apparent from the title. Strangely, there wasn’t much of an outcry in the media when these guys came out. Can you imagine the ruckus this would cause if it were released now? Talk about progression (yes, I’m being sarcastic). Most of the YBT returned to civilian life after their 15 minutes were up, but their DJ, Skribble, wound up becoming a fixture on MTV for a while, and his latest mix CD debuted in the Top 20 on the Billboard charts earlier this year.

    There’s no video for “Daddy…”, but if you want some YBT flavor, here’s a video for you. This was the jam back in ’93.


    05: Good Thing by Fine Young Cannibals (1989): This good-natured Motown rip was a huge hit in 1989. Two things I always wondered about FYC: 1) what planet did Roland Gift come from? (he looked like a bloody alien) and 2) how come their huge album “The Raw & the Cooked” (which contains this song) never got followed up? Such are the mysteries of the music world. Anyone remember the skit from “In Living Color” called “Old Train”, where one of the Wayanses as Don Cornelius mangles the name “Fine Young Cannibals”? Finally, did Barry Gibb ever call Roland Gift and tell him he wanted his voice back?

    06: She Needs My Love by The-Dream (2007): Some producers are better off not making their own records. I’m still on the fence about The-Dream, who’s written and produced songs for Usher, Mary J. Blige, Britney, Celine Dion and Rihanna’s “Umbrella”, among others. Dream’s no great singing talent, but the 80s-tastic production (similar to modern-day Timbaland) redeems this and many of the songs on his album “Love/Hate”. This song would be just as good as an instrumental.

    07: Sleep All Day by Jason Mraz (2003): Mr. A-Z’s a little too precious for my tastes sometimes, but this remains one of my favorites from him, maybe because sleeping all day is one of my favorite things to do. This song is actually the perfect soundtrack for a mid-afternoon summer nap. I can picture the hammock now…

    As usual, I’m taking submissions from anyone who would like to participate in a Sunday Seven someday (say that five times fast). Enjoy your week!!

  • Gym Class Heroes Earn a Passing Grade with “The Quilt”

    Gym Class Heroes' Travis McCoy. photo by Cha0scontr0ll
    Gym Class Heroes

    Here’s an easy way to get me to notice your band (coincidentally, it’s also a good way to score a hit single): make a catchy single that references yet another catchy single. It’s how I became acquainted with the rock/rap group Gym Class Heroes. Their first hit single, “Cupid’s Chokehold”, not only sampled Supertramp’s “Breakfast in America”, but featured the recognizable voice of Fall Out Boy’s Patrick Stump. They followed it up by repeating the exact same formula: “Clothes Off!!” also boasted a chorus by stump and a large chunk of Jermaine Stewart’s “We Don’t Have To Take Our Clothes Off”. As opposed to outright samples, these new songs were built on the choruses of those moldy oldies, and the gambit worked-at least for me. I found myself in possession of GCH’s breakthrough album As Cruel as School Children, and actually found it enjoyable in a mindless fun sort of way.

    Fast-forward a year and a half later. GCH lead singer Travis McCoy is something of a star, the band boasts a Gold album, and they’re back with their follow up, The Quilt. This album has a much more pronounced hip-hop influence than its’ predecessor, with guest appearances from the likes of Busta Rhymes and production from beatsmiths Cool & Dre. Nevertheless, McCoy has more charm and variation in subject matter than the average commercial emcee, so it’s not what you would consider the typical hip-hop album in 2008. It also boasts more than its’ share of influences from other genres-featuring bits of emo-ish rock, ska, and plain old pop.

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