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The Fountain Of Useless Knowledge

Registered: 09-2003
Posts: 5670
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posticon I review Kanye West


I got into a discussion with a guy (on another forum) about rap, and he challenged me to listen to Kanye West's "My Dark Twisted Fantasy" album because he was sure I would think it was a masterpiece.

So I listened and I reviewed it as fairly as I could. Here's what i wrote.

-----------------------------------


Ok, I gave it a proper listen -- by myself, head phones on,
eyes closed, no interruptions, the way I always listen to new albums. And now
I'm listening a second time and writing as I listen. These are my impressions
as someone who has never knowingly listened to a Kanye song all the way through
(if at all) and never listens to rap through choice.

First, I have to confess that I'm not aware of what Kanye
actually does -- I know he raps and assume he writes the raps, but I don't know
if he also sings, plays any of the instruments, or writes any of the music. So
sorry if I mis-attribute to him.

So: I liked a more of it than I expected to. There are a lot
of good musical ideas here. The problem is, none of the ideas are sustained for
the length of a song, and a collection of isolated bits don’t make a good song.
And every song has a fatal flaw, which is... well, I’ll get to that as I go
deeper into the songs.

The first track ("Dark Fantasy") starts really
well, an intriguing spoken word intro that I can't place the source of but feel
that I should. And then some beautiful chorused vocals. And then the flaw shows
itself: the male vocal (or rap, if you wish) that I assume is Kanye. It's
just... tedious. There is no dynamic variation in his voice. No variation in
pitch, volumes, tempo, rhythm. And without all
those things, no emotion. It's like listening to a robot. I tried
concentrating on the lyrics, because I got the sense that they were probably
saying important things, but my attention -- even with headphones on and my
eyes closed -- wandered off. All I hear is:

ner ner ner ner ner ner ner ner ner ner ner ner

completely unvarying. The chorused vocal come back in and
out, but the vast majority of the song is just... boring. I can't think of a
better word. I'm not going to say "bad", it's just boring.

 "Gorgeous" suffers from the same deficits in the
rap, but doesn't have any musical interest to save it because the sung choruses
are as bland and unvarying as the rap.

"Power" is more rhythmically interesting, it has
actual drum breaks and more than one rhythmic idea going on at the same time.
Again, decent musical ideas but again the rap is just monotonous. It feels like
he's putting more energy into it but he still doesn't understand dynamics.
Which is weird, because the music says otherwise, so he's either making a
deliberate decision to make his voice monotonous, or he can;t sing any other way,
or he’s not actually the composer of the music.

There’s a weird sample of King Crimson’s 21st Century Schizoid
Man, and I don’t understand why. It repeats the one line “21st Century Schizoid
Man” over and over, but without context it’s pointless. What makes 21st Century
Schizoid Man a great song is the instrumental interplay and the song dynamics.
If you want to steal from it steal those, not a random lyric. You might as well
be shouting out any four random words, why bother sampling?

“All of the Lights (interlude)” is a beautiful (though
short) piece for strings and piano, and again he’s proving that he is actually
a decent composer. It doesn’t go anywhere, it’s over before it develops, but
that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I feel more emotion in this instrumental than
in any of his raps so far. It’s probably my favourite thing on the album.

“All of the Lights” is back to form. It’s rhythmically
dynamic and has an exciting, busy arrangement. It makes me tap my feet. Then
the vocal is ... boring.

“Monster” has a decent rhythm but it’s unable to break out
of the rhythm, it only does one thing and it does it for six monotonous minutes.

“So Appalled” is back to the monotonous rhythm (I’m talking
about the music now, not the rap: the monotonous rap is a given). Up till now
one thing that has (pleasantly) surprised me is that every song has had a
different character from the last, but with this one I’m starting to think I’ve
heard it before.

“Devil in a New Dress” ... ok, I’m running out of different
things to say, because the songs now seem firmly stuck in a formula. Unvarying
rhythm: dum dum dunk dum dum dunk dum dum dunk. Unvarying vocal: ner ner ner
ner ner ner ner. I’m sorry, but that’s actually what it does. I wouldn’t
complain about the rhythm or the vocal if they ever did something different,
but they don’t. There’s just not enough complexity in the songs to warrant five
or six minutes length. Again I’m feeling a bit guilty that I’m not taking in
his lyrics, because the bits I pick up seem interesting, but honestly if he
wants me to listen to them then he needs to pep up his delivery a bit. Just
break the flatness for one burst of emotion so I felt that he meant it.

“Runaway” and now we’re back to another one of the great
musical ideas I mentioned at the start. The minimal (not minimalist, minimal)
piano is beautiful. Then when the rhythm comes in, it’s another mid-tempo
shuffle but it sits well under the piano. The singing voice isn’t really to my
taste, but at least he’s injecting some life into it. It’s a pity he stops
singing and goes back to the monotonous chant in the mid section, but apart
from that the song works pretty well. It’s a longish song, though, (about 9
minutes) and I did think that after 9 minutes of unvarying shuffle I might be
beating my head against a wall, but he throws a surprise and the last 3 minutes
of the song are instrumental with the piano now supplemented by synthesised (I
think) strings. Overall a decent piece of music, dragged down somewhat by the
mid-section.

“Hell of a Life” and unfortunately we’re back to form,
though he’s trying out some more interesting synthesised sounds. Weirdly this uses Black Sabbath’s Iron
Man as the vocal melody for the chorus, but manages to strip it of all energy.
Kanye, if you’re using rock songs as inspiration then don’t you think they
should, you know, "rock"?

“Blame Game” I like the piano on this again, it’s not as impactful
as on Runaway but it’s pleasant. But again back to the mid-tempo unvarying
rhythm. His singing has picked up slightly -- no I take it back, he’s back to
rapping. Actually for the last two minutes of the song (I’m not sure if it’s technically
a “rap”, on a rock album I would call it a “spoken word section”) I take back
what I said about the emotion of his voice. He suddenly finds some energy and puts
some passion in his delivery. Unfortunately he seems to have saved it for a
comedy monologue. I wish he had put the same passion into some of the serious
parts of the album.

“Lost in the World” starts with very nice blended vocals, it’s
a beautiful passage that’s another of the album highlights. Then it does the clichéd
(it would be clichéd in a rock song, honestly all the bad rocks songs do it)
break into a driving drum break, which at least brings some energy to proceedings
even if it is a clichéd construct. The whole song is quite well constructed,
nicely layered sounds and rhythms. I wouldn’t call it a great song, but it’s a
decent effort.

“Who will survive In America” continues the big rhythm from
Lost in the World but the vocal has a completely different characteristic (again,
he shows that he understand composition if he tries) and the spoken-word lyric
here is great, it’s another passionate delivery and the content is powerful --
yes, I actually took in the content, because he delivered it in a way that
engaged me.

So that’s it. Conclusion? Well I honestly do think he’s a talented
composer -- there are enough good musical ideas here to show that. I just think
he needs to give his music to singers who can give his lyrics the emotional
impact they probably deserve, and also be a bit more adventurous with his rhythmic
structures.

---
"Music, shorn of labels and standing alone, when it is conceived, composed and performed with love and integrity, can elevate us all."
Jon Lord 1941 - 2012
29/1/2016, 22:37 Link to this post Send Email to David Meadows   Send PM to David Meadows
 
RatBatBlu Profile
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Purple fan

Registered: 08-2012
Posts: 6675
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Re: I review Kanye West


Kanye West?

Never heard of her.
30/1/2016, 0:22 Link to this post Send Email to RatBatBlu   Send PM to RatBatBlu Blog
 
purpletemple Profile
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Purple fan

Registered: 09-2003
Posts: 8972
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Re: I review Kanye West


quote:

RatBatBlu wrote:

Kanye West?

Never heard of her.



I heard he wants to make a tribute album to Bowie, and that Bowie are pissed off.

I don't care, I 'm not gonna waste my time listening to rap.

Run DMC was fun, Public Enemy were good (but hardly my cup of tea).
RAtM and Kid Rock are as far as I'll go.



---
"Did you know you have hairs up your nostrils?"
30/1/2016, 16:33 Link to this post Send Email to purpletemple   Send PM to purpletemple
 
RatBatBlu Profile
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Purple fan

Registered: 08-2012
Posts: 6675
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Re: I review Kanye West


quote:

purpletemple wrote:

I heard he wants to make a tribute album to Bowie, and that Bowie are pissed off.




Thankfully it was just a hoax but it didn't stop someone from setting up a petition on change.org

It got a couple hundred thousand signatures in a couple days emoticon

30/1/2016, 21:31 Link to this post Send Email to RatBatBlu   Send PM to RatBatBlu Blog
 
purpletemple Profile
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Purple fan

Registered: 09-2003
Posts: 8972
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Re: I review Kanye West


quote:

RatBatBlu wrote:

quote:

purpletemple wrote:

I heard he wants to make a tribute album to Bowie, and that Bowie are pissed off.




Thankfully it was just a hoax but it didn't stop someone from setting up a petition on change.org

It got a couple hundred thousand signatures in a couple days emoticon




After all, his name is on the front cover of Ziggy Stardust!... emoticon



---
"Did you know you have hairs up your nostrils?"
31/1/2016, 20:27 Link to this post Send Email to purpletemple   Send PM to purpletemple
 
paice30 Profile
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Purple fan

Registered: 07-2005
Posts: 734
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Re: I review Kanye West


quote:

RatBatBlu wrote:

Kanye West?

Never heard of her.



Sounds like a mosquito borne disease or something.
4/2/2016, 2:25 Link to this post Send Email to paice30   Send PM to paice30
 
purpletemple Profile
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Purple fan

Registered: 09-2003
Posts: 8972
Reply | Quote
Re: I review Kanye West


quote:

RatBatBlu wrote:

Kanye West?

Never heard of her.



That's her... emoticon

http://s1.thingpic.com/images/dE/Q6eaVxZXfj33xLeqRH7WuHDM.jpeg

---
"Did you know you have hairs up your nostrils?"
4/2/2016, 17:04 Link to this post Send Email to purpletemple   Send PM to purpletemple
 
Dartagnan Profile
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Registered: 09-2003
Posts: 2539
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Re: I review Kanye West


quote:

David Meadows wrote:

I got into a discussion with a guy (on another forum) about rap, and he challenged me to listen to Kanye West's "My Dark Twisted Fantasy" album because he was sure I would think it was a masterpiece.

So I listened and I reviewed it as fairly as I could. Here's what i wrote.

-----------------------------------


Ok, I gave it a proper listen -- by myself, head phones on,
eyes closed, no interruptions, the way I always listen to new albums. And now
I'm listening a second time and writing as I listen. These are my impressions
as someone who has never knowingly listened to a Kanye song all the way through
(if at all) and never listens to rap through choice.

First, I have to confess that I'm not aware of what Kanye
actually does -- I know he raps and assume he writes the raps, but I don't know
if he also sings, plays any of the instruments, or writes any of the music. So
sorry if I mis-attribute to him.

So: I liked a more of it than I expected to. There are a lot
of good musical ideas here. The problem is, none of the ideas are sustained for
the length of a song, and a collection of isolated bits don’t make a good song.
And every song has a fatal flaw, which is... well, I’ll get to that as I go
deeper into the songs.

The first track ("Dark Fantasy") starts really
well, an intriguing spoken word intro that I can't place the source of but feel
that I should. And then some beautiful chorused vocals. And then the flaw shows
itself: the male vocal (or rap, if you wish) that I assume is Kanye. It's
just... tedious. There is no dynamic variation in his voice. No variation in
pitch, volumes, tempo, rhythm. And without all
those things, no emotion. It's like listening to a robot. I tried
concentrating on the lyrics, because I got the sense that they were probably
saying important things, but my attention -- even with headphones on and my
eyes closed -- wandered off. All I hear is:

ner ner ner ner ner ner ner ner ner ner ner ner

completely unvarying. The chorused vocal come back in and
out, but the vast majority of the song is just... boring. I can't think of a
better word. I'm not going to say "bad", it's just boring.

 "Gorgeous" suffers from the same deficits in the
rap, but doesn't have any musical interest to save it because the sung choruses
are as bland and unvarying as the rap.

"Power" is more rhythmically interesting, it has
actual drum breaks and more than one rhythmic idea going on at the same time.
Again, decent musical ideas but again the rap is just monotonous. It feels like
he's putting more energy into it but he still doesn't understand dynamics.
Which is weird, because the music says otherwise, so he's either making a
deliberate decision to make his voice monotonous, or he can;t sing any other way,
or he’s not actually the composer of the music.

There’s a weird sample of King Crimson’s 21st Century Schizoid
Man, and I don’t understand why. It repeats the one line “21st Century Schizoid
Man” over and over, but without context it’s pointless. What makes 21st Century
Schizoid Man a great song is the instrumental interplay and the song dynamics.
If you want to steal from it steal those, not a random lyric. You might as well
be shouting out any four random words, why bother sampling?

“All of the Lights (interlude)” is a beautiful (though
short) piece for strings and piano, and again he’s proving that he is actually
a decent composer. It doesn’t go anywhere, it’s over before it develops, but
that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I feel more emotion in this instrumental than
in any of his raps so far. It’s probably my favourite thing on the album.

“All of the Lights” is back to form. It’s rhythmically
dynamic and has an exciting, busy arrangement. It makes me tap my feet. Then
the vocal is ... boring.

“Monster” has a decent rhythm but it’s unable to break out
of the rhythm, it only does one thing and it does it for six monotonous minutes.

“So Appalled” is back to the monotonous rhythm (I’m talking
about the music now, not the rap: the monotonous rap is a given). Up till now
one thing that has (pleasantly) surprised me is that every song has had a
different character from the last, but with this one I’m starting to think I’ve
heard it before.

“Devil in a New Dress” ... ok, I’m running out of different
things to say, because the songs now seem firmly stuck in a formula. Unvarying
rhythm: dum dum dunk dum dum dunk dum dum dunk. Unvarying vocal: ner ner ner
ner ner ner ner. I’m sorry, but that’s actually what it does. I wouldn’t
complain about the rhythm or the vocal if they ever did something different,
but they don’t. There’s just not enough complexity in the songs to warrant five
or six minutes length. Again I’m feeling a bit guilty that I’m not taking in
his lyrics, because the bits I pick up seem interesting, but honestly if he
wants me to listen to them then he needs to pep up his delivery a bit. Just
break the flatness for one burst of emotion so I felt that he meant it.

“Runaway” and now we’re back to another one of the great
musical ideas I mentioned at the start. The minimal (not minimalist, minimal)
piano is beautiful. Then when the rhythm comes in, it’s another mid-tempo
shuffle but it sits well under the piano. The singing voice isn’t really to my
taste, but at least he’s injecting some life into it. It’s a pity he stops
singing and goes back to the monotonous chant in the mid section, but apart
from that the song works pretty well. It’s a longish song, though, (about 9
minutes) and I did think that after 9 minutes of unvarying shuffle I might be
beating my head against a wall, but he throws a surprise and the last 3 minutes
of the song are instrumental with the piano now supplemented by synthesised (I
think) strings. Overall a decent piece of music, dragged down somewhat by the
mid-section.

“Hell of a Life” and unfortunately we’re back to form,
though he’s trying out some more interesting synthesised sounds. Weirdly this uses Black Sabbath’s Iron
Man as the vocal melody for the chorus, but manages to strip it of all energy.
Kanye, if you’re using rock songs as inspiration then don’t you think they
should, you know, "rock"?

“Blame Game” I like the piano on this again, it’s not as impactful
as on Runaway but it’s pleasant. But again back to the mid-tempo unvarying
rhythm. His singing has picked up slightly -- no I take it back, he’s back to
rapping. Actually for the last two minutes of the song (I’m not sure if it’s technically
a “rap”, on a rock album I would call it a “spoken word section”) I take back
what I said about the emotion of his voice. He suddenly finds some energy and puts
some passion in his delivery. Unfortunately he seems to have saved it for a
comedy monologue. I wish he had put the same passion into some of the serious
parts of the album.

“Lost in the World” starts with very nice blended vocals, it’s
a beautiful passage that’s another of the album highlights. Then it does the clichéd
(it would be clichéd in a rock song, honestly all the bad rocks songs do it)
break into a driving drum break, which at least brings some energy to proceedings
even if it is a clichéd construct. The whole song is quite well constructed,
nicely layered sounds and rhythms. I wouldn’t call it a great song, but it’s a
decent effort.

“Who will survive In America” continues the big rhythm from
Lost in the World but the vocal has a completely different characteristic (again,
he shows that he understand composition if he tries) and the spoken-word lyric
here is great, it’s another passionate delivery and the content is powerful --
yes, I actually took in the content, because he delivered it in a way that
engaged me.

So that’s it. Conclusion? Well I honestly do think he’s a talented
composer -- there are enough good musical ideas here to show that. I just think
he needs to give his music to singers who can give his lyrics the emotional
impact they probably deserve, and also be a bit more adventurous with his rhythmic
structures.



That's the best review I've ever read!

Seriously though....

---
"I play the way I do because it allows me to come up with the sickest sounds possible. That's the point now isn't it?"
Jeff Beck
26/2/2016, 10:08 Link to this post Send Email to Dartagnan   Send PM to Dartagnan
 


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