My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy - Kanye West
I was less than effusive in my comments about Kanye West's 'My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy' in my 2010 Albums of the Year entry
It went something like this
.........and you will note that there is no Kanye West here. Not because you probably own it, but because I thought my beautiful dark twisted fantasy was absolute shite. Very well (if not slightly over-) produced, but for me it does not hold a candle to his first two albums. Don't buy it. Or even steal it. Not worth it.
Well. Ahem. (*coughs, clears throat.....)
We all make mistakes don't we Kanye? Well, this is a first for me, so go easy, it is a new experience.
In light of me listening to a heap of old hip hop (Public Enemy, NWA & Wu Tang on high rotation past few weeks - results here) I thought i was in the right mindset to revisit Mr Wests 5th album and see once and for all if i could work out why music critics and publications were falling over themselves to rate this album 10 out of 10 and give it a universal album of the year tag.
Pitchfork I'm looking squarely at you. 10. Seriously?
Rolling Stone, XXL and a host of other reportedly reputable publications failed in my eyes as well.
Giving a brand new album 10 is rather pointless. Well, i suppose it serves a point, to a point that is. Giving an album 10 is saying that perfection has been achieved. Saying that every moment of the album was perfect, that there is nothing that could have been done better, no room for improvement. The reviewer loved every moment. My rateyourmusic.com page (here if you are at all interested, excuse the mess and the 1000s of missing albums) has just 25 albums rated 5 stars - in the history of music. To be fair i have not reviewed the full history of music but then again i don't think i need to. The Beatles get a few 10s, Led Zep, Radiohead. Yeah. Kanye might think he is the voice of a generation, but I'm not so sure he has scaled those lofty heights.
Giving out perfect 10s without the benefit of hindsight really only serves to generate hype in this online media age, however it also tells me that the reviewer is potentially a knobber who certainly lacks credibility.
Great artists derive a certain amount of expectation. Take Radioheads new Album The King of Limbs I was always going to get it, review it and seeing that it is Radiohead and I hold them above all others, probably love it. But when it came down to it. King of Limbs 9 out of 10. No perfection. Sad but true. When reviewing an album I really do think everyone needs to maintain a certain level of objectivity, no matter what kind of love you may have for the artist. Everyone is anonymous on the net - anonymity makes everyone a critic, or at least a reviewer with a teenage girl / Justin Beiber like love for certain artists. Reviewers encompass the positives but leave out the negative - can't see the forest for the trees. We have to separate the hype from the music, not feed the hype. The fear of being different ie. not liking Kanye, or whatever else, drives some to hype.
I'm telling it like it is.
So, my earlier comments about Kanye were possibly a little rash, however in revisiting the album many times, i can see some really good things.
The Tracks.
1. "Dark Fantasy" - Excellent. Could have done without the spoken word intro in my opinion, but a brilliant bit of work.
2. "Gorgeous" - Love it, probably my favourite track on the album, Raekwon (Wu-Tang) helps Kanye kill it.
3. "Power" - Another great hip hop track.
At this point, I think fabulous production, dark lyrics, intricate. But.......
4. "All of the Lights" (Interlude) Terrible. No Need.
5. "All of the Lights" - Things take a turn. Terrible. Heavy Auto Tune, dont like the production. Or Rhianna / Alicia Keys / Fergie.
6. "Monster" Bon Iver and Kanye? WTF i first thought. Interesting, starts well, then just ho hum from there. Meh.
7. "So Appalled" Nothing special - more ho hum. Wanted more from The RZA
8. "Devil in a New Dress" Just filler hip hop.
9. "Runaway" Yep. Fantastic. Brilliant. Wonderful. Watch the 34 minute extended film.
10. "Hell of a Life" Killer intro, not a big fan of the autotune but otherwise a good track.
11. "Blame Game" meh. Nothing.
12. "Lost in the World" I love Bon Iver. Usually. This might sell him a shit load of albums, but the song is just ordinary.
13."Who Will Survive in America" Essentially a Gil Scott Heron spoken word. pointless.
So 13 tracks - 2 are essentially interludes.
11 songs. I like the first 3, albums starts really well. Then just 2 others have merit.
Artists invariably suffer from comparison to their past works.
Kanye is a genius producer turned MC / hip hop mega star. Would Jay - Z be where he is without Kanyes production on the Blueprint in 2001? Probably, although he would only be filthy stinking rich instead of filthy stinking rich Billionaire.
Kanye used to sample heavily - yeah, no denying I loved that. He has always used string arrangements and that I love as well. The use of guitar is very evident on MDBTF. Lyrically he has always been very interesting, but i cant help but feel MDBTF is just KanyeEminem whining about how poor he is, then when he is rich & famous how hard it is to be - rich & famous. Poor guy. blah blah blah. Lyrically it is good, really good - that i cant knock. But singing? With Autotune? Artists change & evolve, its not always for the better. Just because its Kanye you don't have to give him a 10 what do you do if you like the next album more? eleventeen?
The College Dropout (2004) Insanely awesome and thoroughly mind blowing. A catalyst in the step away from Gangsta Rap with wonderful lyrics about life. Brilliant samples, use of guests, insanely good production. WOW. Changed the Game.
9 out of 10.
Late Registration (2005) Continues where The College Dropout left off, with more commercial merit. Kayne becomes a superstar with songs such as Gold Digger & Touch the Sky. Cant have enough superlatives here.
9 out of 10.
Graduation (2007) Mega Star Kayne delivers an overly produced synth heavy unspectacular 3rd album.
7 out of 10.
808s and Heartbreak (2009) Terrible. Autotune & Synth. Horrible.
4 out of 10.
and this..........
My Dark Beautiful twisted Fantasy (2010)
7 out of 10.
70%. That's about it. Basically on the strength of 5 songs.
It is a huge grandiose album, it is obviously very personal, and emotive to him. A lot of work obviously went in - but it just seems overblown. Lyrically, it is stunning in parts, very serious. He has packed all his weird and wonderful shit he has got up to (read: material) over the past 18 months into this.
But that don't make an album great.
This album does not have ANYTHING on The College Dropout and Late Registration. Nothing.
Not lyrically, not in production and arrangements, not in delivery.
The old Kanye is gone, no more rapping, no catchy as hell samples, no awesome guests - instead it is Kanye with autotune and with that Kanye has just become another hip hop artist - albeit lyrically superior. Gone is the man who inspired an entire generation of artists to step their game up
This blog is about albums - I love albums, complete albums. It's is becoming a lost art.
You cant call a few good songs on an album a perfect album.
Lets hope the slated 2011 album 'Watch the Throne' is an improvement.
Sorry Kanye - I was wrong. Its worth having - but its not a 10. Not at all.
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