holy shitski that new common record sucks!

I really like about half of it (I Got A Right Ta in particular is grebt, especially Pharrel's Tom Waitsy chorus) despite Common being an abysmal rapper. The rest though, ranges from okay to really fucking horrible... especially that Hendrix tribute. Is there no way we can petition the UN to make putting Bilal on a track illegal under international law?

(BTW, same thing w/Talib Kweli's new one except I broke down and bought the album...it's now sitting in the bins of Disc Replay)

also that video where he pulls the dylan/inxs thing with the deaf girl is just atrocious

I think Questlove is what happened, not Badu (actually I think she does amazing vocals on her track, they don't sound at all like her).

But I have to admire the balls. Who else has ever done an actual psychedelic rock hip-hop record? Psychedelic hip-hop, sure, but not psychedelic rock hip-hop.

I think it's a not-so-hot hip-hop album but a really great musical album, although I admit that I'm very much in the minority on this one. but I think it's a case of breaking eggs to make omelettes and trying new recipes even if they taste weird, and Com laying back a little on the rhymes and trying to be more of a musician

but yr probably right that he's not supposed to do that, boo hiss, rappers who try new stuff must be punished

Repeat after me: ELECTRIC.... WIRE.... HUSTLER.... FLOWER... !!!

there's nothing wrong with "nu-soul" except d'angelo, who's overrated. and there's Nothing Wrong With Badu, except if you like everything nice and safe

which I don't think you du

other than that i'm down the middle

(I like D'Angelo)

and I liked all the songs on the d'angelo album but that sound was just too swampy for me to wade thru; I have it on my 'try again' rotation

i like d'angelo, i like badu, i like some roots, i've liked the jill scott singles (if not the album), ditto angie stone, i think india arie is a completely waste of space and i'm indifferent to the rest.

however, i think the whole nu-soul vibe (did anyone else see that VH1 special...pass the sick bag) is at best sleepy, at worst nauseating

That's exactly why I liked it.

(i liked blu cantrell more)

one is great, one is kinda terrible, both are attempting to push things forward. except, of course, one is attempting, and the other is "attempting."

and yet Questlove is the reason for both. what, in fact, gives?

ps d'angelo is fantastic and the swampy sound rules!

I love love love Voodoo. I saw him play live at Radio City when that came out and he was like the reincarnation of Marvin Gaye and James Brown, no lie.

which doesn't mean everyone's not wrong and I'm not right. but maybe. I dunno. I'm prejudiced, here, because I think that Common is writing a huge musical autobiography in installments and I'm interested in it and I think it's written well (with some ridiculous parts) and with a great soundtrack. most people here are not as interested as I and nickalicious are. [stuart smalley voice:} and that's...okay.

and yeah jess me got no love for india.arie / I really wanted to but hell if I wanted eh stevie wonder I'd just listen to 'conversation peace' again

?uestlove on okayplayer msg board a week after the albums were released: "i'm beaming, like a proud papa who's just given birth to twins."

incensed fan: "then i hate to be the one to tell you this, but one's retarded and the other's stillborn."

And his response?

although that was a pretty funny line, I laffed

What's funny is that my favorite thing about both records = the more-consistent-than-ever-before lyrics, something entirely overlooked in every review I've read of either record, good or bad.

ned: i don't think he responded

In re ECircus: I'll just fess up: my fave records are the ones that are so absurdly ambitious that they fall down sometimes. I like the 5th Dimension and Pizzicato Five and mid-period ELO and shit like that too, because the svengalis involved are all clearly off their rocker and are trying to make Every Single Kind of Music in the World fit on one record. which they don't, really...except to me. So yeah, anyone who dislikes Electric Circus on any grounds, that's cool, I know where you're coming from. But to me this shiz is unhinged genius--and so is the idea of Com trying to out-cute BSB and NSync by holding up placards on a deaf girl's lawn. If he becomes pinup material this is a better America...but the very idea is so insane that I love it.

I also think Like Water for Chocolate and Resurrection are great, but One Day It'll All Make Sense didn't. (bad news when your best track doesn't feature you at all. why'd he include that 'my city' thing? that kid rips it up. plus: Lauryn Hill, ew.)

Now that 'true confessions' time is over, I'll get my ass to work.

It's nice to hear a hip hop record where I can admire the non-sampled guitar playing as much as the vocals. That's certainly not very common.

Neudonym - I'm with you on appreciating the insane over-ambition of the album, you have to love its demented sense of mission. just wish the songs were better!

*I don't actually know how he tastes.

i don't think it's the badu that common's been listening to, i think it's Outkast. this record seems like a direct outgrowth of the sound they've been perfecting. longer songs, real instruments layered on top of looped beats. none of the singing bothers me. it usually does when there's an r'n'b singer on top of a hip hop song. even the song w/Mary J,,,, i used to hate it before i heard the album. i still don't believe it's single worthy. it's way too slow, but it totally fits in with the flow of the album. and it's such a beautiful beat. i guess i understand why it's the single, it's all lovey dovey and mary J = sales. i think the one thing that bums me out about the album the most is common's rapping. i haven't discected all of his lyrics, but usually they leave me hoping for more, and his voice is starting to not be my favorite. but since the music on the album is so great, i can usually look past that part.

and i feel no shame.

(this may be an xxxageration)

(as in trying to "be good", to himself, to others...outkast let that come out as necessary)

listen I'm missing deadlines so I shoulda shut up a long time ago but here's my piece then I'm gone for a few hours ("not long enuf!" "shut up"): Common has always been about one man's internal struggle between the 'ghetto' and the 'new man.' outkast has that as a built-in dichotomy so they get to appeal to both without making a decision. Common might be 'boring' to some people because of this, but I'm more impressed with him for making a decision and sticking with it to its inevitable conclusion, and he's not afraid (as I think outkast ultimately is) to lose any of his audience.

(a love bite)

As for the music: Quest never sucks but he is hit or miss.
_Phrenology_ lives up to the hype, cause of the production,
Cody ChesnuTT and the fact that Black Thought is finally
coming into his own.

EC has some good stuff but ? plays it way too safe.
Psychedelia is about laying it on thick, craziness,
not being perfect; the music here is way too clean
and simple.

And just to toss in on the other Okayplayer albums, Quality is one of my favorite albums of the year (Kweli always has a couple boring tunes, but the good stuff is really good) and I thought Black Thought went to shit on Phrenology. Technically competent of course but no fire, few memorable lines, boring as hell for the most part.

But anyone who was really bowled over by Phrenology and thinks it's a huge step forward for hip-hop should take up the Matos challenge.

Oh, and Squirrel_Police (or however yr spelling yrself now): what the hell is wrong with drifting all around the beat like a drunken policeman? (great simile by the way...best copywrite that so it can't be bitten)

(all rights reserved for this and any of my answers)