Musical Clean Up

Super exciting Saturday night catching up on shit work, got to happen sometimes... Using the opportunity to listen to some albums that have been sitting on my harddrive far too long without being properly listened to. The reviews:

[va] red hot and riot:
The latest in the Red Hot series is a tribute to the late great Fela Kuti. Well tribute is stretching it, more like a pale imitation. Most of it sounds like over produced and smoothed over Fela. A waste of great talent. Like the albums of Fela's son Femi, this would have been much better if it was recorded live. Sounds like the producers spent hours stripping out all the raw soul from the sessions.

[yeah yeah yeahs] fever to tell
Hot, hot, hot. Not sure what's happening to me, along with the White Stripes and the Rapture, this is the third contemporary rock band I actually enjoy. Third in a decade. Had only browsed through this album, yet it sounded intimately familiar. Catchy, yet raw, with real emotion bleeding through the tracks. Good stuff.

[baby] birdman
Shit I can't imagine how out of control it would be if Manny Fresh actually made a record with a super talented MC. As always his beats shine. And Baby is a decently talented MC, a bit of New Orleans freak shines through in his birdcalls and flow. But like all Cash Money MCs he doesn't have jack shit to say. I have a pretty big tolerance for bling bling and gangsta talk, but how many times can you rhyme about the size of your tires? Yet another collection of 4-5 star Manny Fresh beats marred by 3 star rhymes. There is an Cash Money instrumental album I saw once and have never tracked down since. If you see it grab it quick.

[johnny cash] the essential johnny cash 1955 - 1983 (3 discs)
The name says it all. This is the shit, extra premium.

[ginuwine] the senior
The nastiest. I love this mofo, he's dirtier then both R. Kelly and Prince at least for the moment. Who else has the balls to sing "Is there any more room for me in those jeans"? As always this album is hit or miss. But the hits hit so sweet. Pick hits, Hell Yeah, Get Ready, In Those Jeans, Sex, and the Hell Yeah remix featuring a very drunk R. Kelly.

[lil kim] la bella mafia
Speaking of nasty, Lil Kim is the queen bee of course. And this album has her on some ridiculously raw beats. Hot shit. When it hits of course, like every 16 track hip hop CD there is a lot of filler here.