Robin Thicke, Blurred Lines: Album Review

It's amazing what you can get away with when you've got
a pretty face. Robin Thicke is fueled almost completely by sex
appeal with a sprinkling of shock value.

Name: Blurred Lines
Artist: Robin Thicke
Released: July 30, 2013
Label: Star Trak -- Interscope
Genre: R&B, pop, soul
Produceers: The Cateracs, Cirkut, Dr. Luke, Jerome Harmon, Pharell, ProJay, Robin Thicke, Timbaland, will.i.am

Robin Thicke's music serves a definitive purpose: Getting girls in bed.  This in mind, it's no surprise that there is not much more than dirty lyrics, buttery-smooth voice, and club-meets-Motown undertones of his most recent album, Blurred Lines. 
Thicke is smooth. This cannot be denied. His talents lie in hooking people in with his lazy drawl and his sultry falsetto.  Not unlike other popular artists like Justin Timberlake, there's a lot of sex appeal mixed with good-boy charm.  However, unlike Justin Timberlake, sex appeal is pretty much all this guy's got.  But if you get down to brass tacks, sometimes it doesn't matter what you do, as long as you look good doing it.  And Thick is dang fine! 
Blurred Lines is campy and playful, but generic and stylistically sprawled. Thicke clumsily attempts to branch out from his token R&B crooner style into the world of pop and dance.
We are constantly getting pulled back and forth from the warm ballroom hall to the dark nightclubs from track to track.  Almost right away, Thicke stumbles from the washed-up Motown-style of "Ain't No Hat 4 That" and "Get in My Way" to the herky-jerky hodge-podge of electronic hooks in "Give it 2 U," which is a song who's highest point is actually not Thicke but featured artist Kendrick Lamar. Thicke tries to rap himself in "Top of the World," and that just didn't work.
It is important for listeners to understand that this album cannot be defined by the style (or the success) of its leading number-one single, "Blurred Lines."  Little else on the album can even hold a candle to the quality of that one opening track. I fear that many will buy this album with false expectations.  That's the curse of the single, right there.  You get ONE song to Number 1, and people assume they're all gonna be that caliber.  Unfortunately, you don't really get too much of the minimal and catchy "Blurred Lines" for the rest of the album.  Most of it is Thicke trying to be Enrique, Justin, and Bruno all at the same time.
One thing an artist must do -- especially when he's on the fringe of his field to begin with -- is to stick to his strengths.  If sex appeal was what sold his previous album Love After War, perhaps he should stick to the creamy voice and take-me-I'm-yours lyricism.  You hear this once in a while on Blurred Lines. "Ooo La La" is a decently romantic track, as well as "Go Stupid 4 U."  And I dig the minor-key ukulele in the dance ballad "Feel Good." And while "Give it 2 U" is helter-skelter in its hooks, the Deluxe Edition track "Pressure" is a little more successful in its delivery of dance-worthy beats.  Why that song couldn't have made it onto the basic album set, I do not know.
One of the highest points on this album is the final track -- and ironically the one song that isn't about sex,"The Good Life."  If this rocking waltz were on the radio, I probably would take a minute before switching the station.  Odds are this track will get lost amid the rubbish.
And then, of course, there's "Blurred Lines," the first track, and the song of the summer.  Without a doubt, this song on its own is ingenious.  It's very catchy and dang sexy, but it's also minimal, stealthy, and complex.  You don't get the initial... well... "rapyness" of the song upon first listen, and that's the genius of it! No bells and whistles on this track -- just a groovy bass and Thicke's playful tone, mixed with Pharell's jovial interjections and T.I.'s no-nonsense attitude, reels you in, cushions the blow and creates a very subtle scandal; proof that sometimes, the best way to sell sex is to patiently whisper and wait for the audience to come to you, rather than scream and shout.  The music epitomized its own lyric message: "You know you want it."
It was an obvious move to release this single - as well as it's shocking video -- as the album's sole promotion, and it's a shame that the whole album isn't this clever. Immediately following this masterpiece of a hit, you get "Take it Easy on Me," which is not only super obvious in its intentions, but generic in its electronica and Enrique-esque lyricism.  Sadly, this song is a better representation of what you'll hear for the rest of the album.  Too much of this record is just THERE, without depth and substance.
But, of course, you must consider the audience and purpose. If you want a mottled smorgasbord of musical foreplay for any occasion, you've got it here.  You've got flirt, you've got passion, and you've got downright maniacal craft. But as far as success and reception go, Thicke may end up being no more than a guilty pleasure for most. If you're looking for the next dreamboat with some significant talent in R&B, pass on this album and take a chance on JT's new disc instead.

I give this album a 5.5 out of 10.

Album Review: "The Rolling Stones No. 2" by the Rolling Stones

This album art also appears on the Stones' US release, 12 X 5.

Name: The Rolling Stones No. 2
Artist: The Rolling Stones
Release Date: 15 November, 1965
Label: Decca
Production: Andrew Oldham
Lineup:
-- Mick Jagger, vocals
-- Keith Richards, guitar
-- Brian Jones, guitar, percussion, backing vocals
-- Charlie Watts, drums
-- Bill Wyman, bass
Awards/Success: 10 weeks at #1 in the UK in 1965.
Other Information: John Lennon said of the album: "The album's great, but I don't like 5-minute numbers."

The Rolling Stones No. 2 is very similar to its preceding UK release, The Rolling Stones.  It consists of mainly R&B covers, with a sampling of works by Keith Richards and Mick Jagger.  But there are some subtle differences between the two albums -- differences that make No. 2 a more true-to-style album than its predecessor.  

For one thing, Keith Richards' guitar is more prominent in this album.  He is becoming his own voice, rather than just having a 30-second solo halfway through the song.  A good example of this can be see in the Stones' version of "You Can't Catch Me," where Keith almost duets with Jagger in a nice call-and-response pattern.  Richards will become known as a rock player, but in this album, he's a bona-fide blues musician.  Part of me really misses this guitar-playing style.

Guitar plays a very important role in the original numbers by Richards and Jagger that appear halfway through the album.  "What a Shame" begins with a catchy guitar hook, and while its blues pattern is very predictable, it sounds fresh coming from Richards.  Immediately following "What a Shame," "Grown Up Wrong" is short and placid.  On the B-side, we hear the catchy and impressive "Off the Hook," which begins with more great guitar and features Richards once again cooperating with Jagger.

This is groovy music. The B-Side is my favorite.  You've got "Down the Road Apiece," which is up-tempo and angsty, followed immediately by the cool bounce of "Under the Boardwalk."  The album ends on a high note with "Susy Q," which explores new drum patterns and more rocking guitar solos. While it can be contested that these tracks aren't really "Stony," they sound awesome nonetheless, and they can bring any listener who grew up during this age back to their youth.  

The song "I Can't Be Satisfied," while it sort of comes off a little lame, is important because of the Rolling Stones' deep connection with the song's composer, Muddy Waters.  While Jagger can't quite pull off the vocal line, there is some conviction in it.  As with their previous album, the Stones are coming into their own and realizing their own potential as carriers of the blues-rock genre into the next decade.  They have found their genre.  While these early albums by the Rolling Stones aren't that essential, they may be quintessential -- lasting pieces of history that help define blues-oriented rock and roll for the next generations.  

Hannah's rating: 7.3 out of 10.  Catchy 60's blues-rock. Not much more. 

Here's the Stones performing "Time is On My Side" on the Ed Sullivan show.  Already these boys were winning audiences' hearts.

Album Review: "The Rolling Stones" by The Rolling Stones

In their early days, producers made the attempt to have the
 Stones resemble other British Invasion bands like the Beatles with
a uniform, clean-cut dress code, but the Stones would later
shed this upper-crust look for a more loose, individualized image.

Name: The Rolling Stones
Artist: The Rolling Stones
Release Date: 16 April 1964
Label: Decca
Production: Andrew Oldham, Eric Easton
Lineup:
-- Mick Jagger, vocals
-- Keith Richards, guitar
-- Brian Jones, guitar, percussion, backing vocals
-- Charlie Watts, drums
-- Bill Wyman, bass
Awards/Success: #1 on UK Top 40 in 1964.  #11 on Billboard 200 in 1964. The single "Not Fade Away" reached #3 on the UK Top 40 Singles.
Other Information: Original songs on the album were listed under the pseudonym "Nanker Phelge."


The Rolling Stones are one of the greatest bands of all time, but few people know much about their earliest works.  There is a reason for that.  This debut album primarily consists of washed-up covers of other blues-oriented rock groups like Chuck Berry.  Members of the band are only cited under three of the tracks. But, as it is with most greats, you have to start somewhere, and this album very well epitomizes what the Stones would later be famous for in coming years.

While today's ears may not find anything impressive in The Rolling Stones, we must consider its importance in the development of this iconic band, as well as the growth of rock and roll in general.  While other British Invasion bands were creating the new pop sound, it was the Rolling Stones that brought blues into the realm of rock, and they did it through covering and copying the greats during their beginning.

My theory about covers is this: If you have something new to contribute, go ahead and sing someone else's music.  In this case, the Stones perform very popular works with a novel, white-boy, rebellious attitude. These guys were taking bold steps by singing "middle-age black music" in the '60s.  Classic jazz and blues references aplenty can be seen in this album, but amid very rock-like instrumentation and the skinny-boy drawl of Mick Jagger. This is classic blues-end rock performed by boys who seem like they already know that they're gonna be rock stars.

This album screams '60's youth mentality: playful, simple, and brash. The song "I Just Want to Make Love to You" is probably my favorite non-original track.  It's almost whiny, and sort of sums up what the Stones are all about: No work, all play. Jagger's got sass. He jeers, whines, and further murders his native dialect with great vocal splats throughout the whole album, and the guitar sort of hangs lazily at the ends of the beat without much care.

This album's sides were split between tracks 6 and 7.  The B-side begins with a smooth, sultry "I'm a King Bee" and ends with the monotonous unmemorable numbers, "You Can Make it if You Try" and "Walking the Dog."  It's in this B side where the original songwriting skills of Jagger and Richards save the day.

The Rolling Stones began experimenting with writing their own songs under the encouragement of their producer Andrew Oldham.  Even this early on, you can hear some originality and potential, though the tracks are hit-and-miss. "Little by Little" was co-written with Phil Spector and was the first song to achieve a spot in Britain's top 5 in 1964, but there is nothing too fabulous about this song; it mirrors the other tracks seen on the record. The other band-written number, "Now I've got a Witness," is unique in the fact that it is purely instrumental and features an already-impressive solo by Keith Richards, who was only 21 at the time.  One of the higher points is "Tell Me (You're Coming Back to Me)," which is the only song that was attributed to Mick and Keith on the whole album.  While "Tell Me' is a great song on its own, its originality and emotion   sort of stick out amid the other boogie-woogie sounds.  It stands as a foreshadowing of the genius that is to emerge from these two men in later years.

Honestly, The Rolling Stones is pretty typical of other blues-style elements coming out at this same time, but it's nice, once again, to get a taste of what these talented men -- particularly Richards -- had to offer at such an early point in their careers.

Hannah's Rating: 7/10  Mainly for its importance in history and for songs like "Tell Me."

Watch one of their first-ever TV spots on Dean Martin's The Hollywood Palace. Man, these guys were dreamy.