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Frank Ocean — Channel
Orange Best track: Bad Religion Worst track: Lost Rating * * *
Smashing Pumpkins —
Oceania Best track: Pale Horse Worst track: My Love Is Winter Rating * * *
Nas — Life Is Good Best track: Cherry Wine Worst track: Summer on Smash Rating * *
Album of the Month R. Kelly — Write
Me Back Best track:
Clipped Wings
Call Me Maybe Payphone Wide Awake Somebody That I Used To
Know Lights Where Have You Been Whistle Scream Titanium Blow Me One Last Kiss Legend: (CU): Climbing Up (FD): Falling Down (NM): Non-mover (NE): New Entry
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Frank Ocean is the man
of the moment. Musically, he is blessed with a smooth and languid
voice, that can effortlessly blend soul, jazz, electro and
contemporary R’n’B grooves into psychedelic shapes. Channel Orange
is soaked with shifting rhythms and pulses of sound fused with
minimalist, mid-tempo drum patterns while Ocean’s opulent singing
holds everything together. In its first moments, Bad Religion
brings Prince’s Let’s Go Crazy to mind, but the song never
pivots from its opening; it simmers but never explodes. Forrest
Gump and Not Just Money borrow their jazzy chord
progressions and unexpected key changes from the Stevie Wonder.
Channel Orange is a storyteller’s album. It’s an immensely
inclusive R&B album. Ocean runs through a gamut of stories and
situations — experiencing parenthood in Sierra Leone, the
financial privileges of life in Sweet Life, drug addiction in Crack
Rock, the language of love in Pyramids. Ocean
conveys his messages with an innocent zeal, displaying a youthful
expression that’s equally reticent and playful. White featuring John
Mayer, is the dramatic centerpiece, a stunning blues track that, for
the first time since opener Thinkin About You, places the
listener right in the centre of Frank Ocean’s pain. With Channel
Orange, Frank Ocean has proven himself as one of the most significant
artists in popular music today; his next effort will definitely have
the potential to be a genre classic.
On Oceania, the band’s
jaw-dropping ninth studio album, Corgan finally sounds comfortable
being himself again, and his reinvigorated confidence results in the
year’s one of the most outstanding rock albums. "Please come
back, please come back," Corgan cries repeatedly on Pale Horse,
the glazed ballad that recalls the instrumentally rich tracks off 1995’s
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. The album’s
highlight is the sprawling nine-minute title track, which opens with
rhythm variations on the Danny Elfman Batman theme, and then, shifts
into gear with Corgan’s aged yet ever-familiar nasal singing.
Uptempo rocker The Chimera has an infectious chorus that churns
darkly through multiple sections without losing momentum. Despite
young drummer Mike Byrne’s undoubted ability, Chamberlin’s
presence is sorely missed. He was the David Gower of rock percussion,
skillfully brushing songs to the boundaries with ease. This new found
happiness may alienate many, but Corgan’s approach and poeticism
around such alternative rock taboos is intriguing to say the least.
Pinwheels, starts like an electro-rhythm laden track, but is soon
overlaid with a wall of thick guitar harmonies, one of the Pumpkins’
oldest signature sounds. With Oceania, Corgan manages to skillfully
balance the details and contradictions that come with age, without
giving way to resignation.
On Life is Good, Nas’
10th solo studio album, he turns the spotlight on himself, detailing
everything about his divorce from pop singer Kelis (Bye Baby),
his inadequacy as a father (Daughters), and his rearing
background (A Queens Story). From start to finish, the album is
full of modestly insightful and impressive lyricism that showcases the
skill and vision that made him one of the most influential artistes in
hip-hop’s history. On Accident Murderers, longtime producer
Salaam Remi help Nas capture the street genius of the 1980s and 1990s
New York hip hop, but updated with a modern sheen. The Don is
heavy, dynamic and mellow all at the same time. It capitalises on the
incredible lyrical structures and shows you just how rapidly this guy
can punch out the syllables. On A Queens Story, a beautiful
blend of Gershwin strings and drums, Nas pays a tribute to hip-hop’s
most neglected rappers and producers who once inspired him. Of the
many guests, the late Amy Winehouse makes the biggest impression on
Cherry Wine, a jazzy centerpiece. Back When is, unsurprisingly,
a nostalgic track with Nas rapping, "to know where you’re going
you need to know where you’ve come from." Life Is Good
might not be an ‘album of the year’ contender, or Nas’s best
work, but it’s a highly enjoyable, and intelligent, listen.
Picking up where 2010’s
Love Letter left off, R. Kelly’s tuneful sequel, Write Me Back,
takes things ahead another decade, with the 1970s musical retro cues,
recalling the Philly International sound, the Love Unlimited
Orchestra, and the Isleys. The album opens with the buttery disco of Love
Is, an ode to love. His voice is as striking and authoritative as
ever. The suave dance vibe rolls into the second song Feelin’
Single, a song about meeting new people. Clipped Wings
makes up a smooth love song, taking the mood into a darker,
introspective place with fragile piano, close harmonies and Kelly
sounding truly bruised, "Oh baby, I never meant to clip your
wings, now I’m wishing you could fly right back to me." The
lowest point of the album is Party Jumpin’, which comes
directly after the smoothness of Green Light, like someone
slapping you awake. You Are My World is the album’s apex, a
veritable emotional climax. It skillfully mixes the restraint of
gospel with minimal R&B. Lady Sunday sets off on a lovely
lilting piano-driven groove, while on When A Man Lies, he
repents some of his past sins with the hilarious line, "yeah,
mirror, I’m talkin’ to you..." R Kelly further cements
himself here as one of those artists that will be long remembered.