November 12th, 2007
16. The Verve, Urban Hymns (1997)
By the time Richard Ashcroft's heroically druggy band hit its commercial peak with 1997's Urban Hymns, it had already seen its share of critical acclaim, but it had never tasted much commercial success, something the band's knack for overdosing and breaking up on tour certainly didn't help. Enter "Bitter Sweet Symphony," which topped the charts and led to a high-profile legal row with The Rolling Stones (followed by a second breakup) that made Urban Hymns a household name, eventually leading it to be fêted as the "16th greatest British album of all time" by Q magazine. All well and good, except that between the hypnotic opener "Symphony" and the Madchester rock of "Come On" there are plenty of wanking, self-indulgent ballads (beginning with the saccharine, mood-killing "Sonnet"), middling adult-contempo rock, and go-nowhere drone experiments that no amount of E could make tolerable. "The Drugs Don't Work," indeed. Cut those out, and the remaining songs comprise a hazy swan song that doesn't detract from the stone-cold-classic opener—though it still doesn't compare to the intensity of A Northern Soul.
The EP version: 1. "Bitter Sweet Symphony"; 2. "The Rolling People"; 3. "The Drugs Don't Work"; 4. "Catching The Butterfly"; 5. "This Time"; 6. "Come On"
17. The Streets, The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living (2006)
Following a masterful concept LP like A Grand Don't Come For Free would be hard for any artist, but The Streets (a.k.a. British rapper Mike Skinner) didn't win any favor with his adoring critics or fans by releasing The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living, the briefest—and most slapped-together—album of his career. While getting swept up in the ins and outs of being a success is almost always a career-killer (see also: Eminem, Jay-Z's Kingdom Come), Skinner took it one step further, rapping about tired rock-star tropes and bullshit minutiae like trashing hotel rooms, buying expensive cars, and dealing with bootleg merchandisers. The whining, "this is how your sausage is made" approach comes off as just plain uninspired. (Compare the weak songs to the hilariously detailed self-satire of the title track and the mean-spirited fun of "When You Wasn't Famous" to see where Skinner should have drawn the line.) Mike: Save that inside-baseball shit for your mix-tapes and stick to cocaine, ripping on Americans, and fucking up with girls, and you'll be fine, mate.
The EP version: 1. "Prangin' Out"; 2. "War Of The Sexes"; 3. "The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living"; 4. "All Goes Out The Window"; 5. "When You Wasn't Famous"; 6. "Never Went To Church"; 7. "Two Nations"
18. Andrew W.K., I Get Wet (2002)
The easy shorthand for one-man party/rage/philosophy machine Andrew W.K. is "the guy who writes all the songs about partying." That isn't exactly true, but those are the songs—most from his debut album, I Get Wet—that still ring proudest and truest. The positivity and super-production can be overwhelming, so compacting Wet to its bare essentials makes for an incredible, quick punch. ("I Love NYC" is plenty exciting, but it all gets to be a little too much.) Add the version of "We Want Fun" from the Jackass soundtrack to the party tunes, and you've got the perfect introduction to Andrew's wild world.
The EP version: 1. "It's Time To Party"; 2. "Party Hard"; 3. "Ready To Die"; 4. "She Is Beautiful"; 5. "Party Til You Puke"; Bonus Track: "We Want Fun"
19. 50 Cent, The Massacre (2005)
Production by committee, bloated run times, and shameless demographic pandering rarely lead to tight, cohesive albums, but in the hands of an artist with 50 Cent's sneering charisma, they can lead to at least an EP worth of terrific material. Trim the abundant fat from 50's wildly uneven 2005 solo sophomore effort, The Massacre, and it leaps from high to high, from the gritty atmospherics and hood-noir vividness of "In My Hood" (with its smoky saxophone and cinematic imagery) and "I'm Supposed To Die Tonight" to the woozy horns and lopsided aggression of "Gunz Come Out." The hyper-soulful "Ski Mask Way" chills things out before the mellow autobiographical sweep of "Hate It Or Love It" ends things on an appropriately reflective note. It's all killer with no filler, unlike 50's bloated, schizophrenic proper albums.
The EP version: 1. "In My Hood"; 2. "I'm Supposed To Die Tonight"; 3. "Gunz Come Out"; 4. "Ski Mask Way"; 5. "Hate It Or Love It (G-Unit Remix)"
20. Kanye West, Graduation (2007)
Graduation represents Kanye West's shortest, most stripped-down effort to date, but the super-duper-extra-special EP version strips it down even further, preserving the terrific singles "Can't Tell Me Nothing" and "Stronger" while cutting the awkward introspection (and just plain awkwardness) of "Big Brother" and "Homecoming." After the chest-beating swagger of the first two singles, the lush, intimate "Everything I Am," "Flashing Lights," and "I Wonder" maintain the original album's bipolar swings from swaggering bravado to anguished soul-searching while cutting out the ambitious misfires (Chris Martin singing the hook on a song about Chicago? WTF?), clumsy choruses, and water-treading that keep Graduation from hitting the giddy heights of West's first two albums.
The EP version: 1. "Stronger"; 2. "Can't Tell Me Nothing"; 3. "Flashing Lights"; 4. "Everything I Am"; 5. "I Wonder"
21. The Afghan Whigs, 1965 (1998)
The Afghan Whigs' failure to get huge back when Nirvana and Lollapalooza were helping bands of their ilk blow up remains a mystery, but 1965 proves that the Cincinnati-born outfit went down swinging. However, unlike the group's preceding conceptual masterpieces—1994's Gentlemen and 1996's Black Love—its swan song doesn't beg to be listened to from beginning to end. Though leader Greg Dulli has said that it's his favorite Whigs albums and believes "there's not a stinker on that record," 1965 is one of the most top-heavy releases of all time. From the ecstatic opener "Somethin' Hot" to the bump-and-grind of "Crazy" (whose opening borrows the "Who's hot, who's not?" line from "Mo Money Mo Problems") to the heavily grooved "66," the first half burns with sexuality and big choruses, all triumphantly delivered by alt-rock's sexiest motherfucker. The other half—most of which finds guitarist Rick McCollum showing up as co-writer—doesn't lose that lovin' feelin': "I knew a girl, extraordinary / suggested something, unsanitary" goes "Neglekted." But musically, it feels tacked onto what could have been a perfect EP.
The EP version: 1. "Somethin' Hot"; 2. "Crazy"; 3. "Uptown Again"; 4. "Sweet Son Of A Bitch"; 5. "66"; 6. "Citi Soleil"
« Previous | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
- Comments