A tip for those of you who want to review or currently review music, "If you listen to something enough IT WILL GROW ON YOU". You can argue that the music your doing in the review is good or at least decent. That's probably not going to be the case. So stick to a couple of play trough's before you review instead of thinking that maybe this will be the time. You learn the beats and the lyrics and it gets stuck in your head not unlike a disease. I can attest to this, as I'm currently listening to the song "Fashion Show" on this BEP album and I'm not cringing like I should be. So what do I think of "The Beginning"??
I don't hate the BEP (Black Eye Peas), I should. They stand for everything I'm against in the music industry. The issues is that they make incredibly catchy music. So catchy that I found myself attracted to songs that I should have hated. Not from a musical standpoint but from a lyrical stand point. I went into this in a lot more detail in my Kanye West review than I will in this one, but the lyrics in these rap albums are terrible. I don't even know what they are talking about most of the time. Even Fergie who sings most of the time, sings things that don't compute within my mind. So instead of my normal format of just talking about the album I'm going to break down the good and the bad in numbered format. Starting with the good.
GOOD:
1. Songs are really catchy - I already talked about this a little, but these songs seriously will haunt your dreams. You'll find yourself humming tunes very early on in the listening of the album. That says a lot for the people who made the mixes. They borrow a lot from other artist including Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes the singers of the "Dirty Dancing" song "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" and Slick Rick with "Children's Story". I'm generally not a fan of sampling though I know its a major player in the rap industry.
2. Length - The Beginning doesn't drag on like most rap albums. It sticks with a more traditional format of 12 songs for the regular version of the album. I really liked not having a ton of stupid skits and interludes which beings me to my next like.
3. Few pointless talking sections - What do I mean. Every fucking rap album ever has some stupid skit or a guy talking some sort of trash. There is some of that in "The Beginning" but not enough to annoy those who hate those things.
BAD:
1. Lyrics - Terrible Terrible Terrible. Why can't there be a rap album where I don't feel like I have to be an idiot to understand what people are talking about. I've heard all of these lyrics have been heard before. Even in the first song a guy rap's "All these girls they like my swagger, they be calling me Mick Jagger" REALLY???? Thats on a Kesha song dood. That was released this year. I hate pop and I know that. Then you get your standard rap fare with typical lines that every rap record ever has. Typical saying they are awesome type stuff with the occasional low voice thing that Ludacris started.
2. AUTO TUNE - People, for the love of GOD. Can we cool it with the auto tune. Wil I am can actually sing and he NEVER does without the auto tune. None of them sing without the aid of the auto tune. Fergie is the only one who uses her "natural" voice. I don't get a shit if you can't sing. Don't lie! Also, when you use auto tune it makes things sound like you recorded the line once and looped it. Which is what I'm sure they did on the album.
3. Fergie - Fergie is a good vocalist. She commands her voice. I have no real beef with her voice. What I have a issue with are the things she says during songs.
"Enchantée, comment allez vous? Très bien, merci. Et vous? Super good, super nice. Salt and pepper, Sugar and spice. Space sugar case to the moon let's go. Coco Chanel, Maralyn Munro.Cat walk, Fashion show. Runway, Fashion show. Tall man, Radio, G6, I don't know."
I don't know about you but to me that's terrible to read much less here her do in a fo-French accent. Anytime she strays from her original voice is really hurts the production.
I was immediately drawn to "Post Paradise". It wasn't a gradual thing it was instantaneous. Something about the sound of this type of album is what always draws me easily into it. I've been trying to figure out what it is, if I ever do I'll be sure to let you know. To the untrained ear The Holidays may come across as a My Mourning Jacket clone, and you would be right, sort of. They didn't really intend to rip them off as much as had a vocalist that sounds, at times, almost exactly like Jim James. Its uncanny, you feel like you might have started another album but its the same one. It doesn't help that the style of the band is in the tiniest way reflective of My Mourning Jackets sound. I mean, it may hint at it a little. OK I admit it, they sound to me a lot like My Mourning Jacket. That's not a bad thing though. They use it to their advantage even if they didn't know they were going that direction. Other than having a familiar sound these songs are original and really good. The songs that really stick out to me where "6AM" which was my favorite on the album and "Conga". Those songs have a strong sound... even if it is a bit "familiar". The Holidays are good at what they do and you'd be hard pressed to show me an example on their debut that I was wrong.