Calgary Sun and Washington Post.
Mar. 3rd, 2004 06:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
foxmonkeyHonestly, why can't I be rich? What that means in English is: I'm crampy, I'm tired, and I don't want to go to work today, but I must.
And now, two reviews!
From the Calgary Sun.
Second-rate Prince
by Darryl Sterdan
* * 1/2 out of five
So if his NSYNC bandmate Justin Timberlake was accused of ripping off Michael Jackson, then Chasez is clearly channelling '80s-era Prince on his solo debut.
Which isn't to say Chasez is nearly as talented as The Purple One in his prime. Not even close.
Neither, however, does Chasez completely embarrass himself with this slick-sounding, wide-ranging collection of R&B, pop, new wave, disco and reggae.
It's the subject matter that mostly offends as the sex-obsessed singer gets down and dirty on songs with titles like Some Girls (Dance With Women), 100 Ways, Mercy, If You Were My Girl, Shake It, One Night Stand and Come To Me.
But it's the less obvious hot-and-heavy songs — with the exception of the clap-happy Something Special — that stand out here.
Highlights include She Got Me and Right Here (By Your Side), which both recall Jackson-meets-Jamiroquai; or even three bordering-on-cheesy ballads, Build My World, Dear Goodbye and Lose Myself, which at least show off Chasez's sweet pipes.
Listening to that bunch, you can't help but wonder how much better an album this might have been had Chasez had some decent material to work with.
At the other end of the spectrum is the absolute worst song on the 17-song disc: The pseudo new wave-synth number All Day Long I Dream About Sex .
No word yet on whether Chasez will tour on his own.
The next one is a really good review, but bewilderingly enough, the reviewer says that JC "doesn't have much of a voice." WEH? But I'm beyond tired of trying to figure these things out.
Justifiable Optimism for JC Chasez
By Joshua Klein
Special to The Washington Post
Wednesday, March 3, 2004; Page C05
Even at the peak of its popularity, 'N Sync earned as much ridicule as adulation. While the pop culture phenomenon played packed stadiums and sold millions of records, a sea of detractors merely scowled and predicted the boy-band bubble was about to burst. They were right, of course, as groups like 'N Sync and Backstreet Boys inevitably folded or went on hiatus. But Justin Timberlake's massive solo success belied the notion that 'N Sync comprised nothing but talentless puppets, and now fellow former 'N Sync-er JC Chasez is hoping to replicate JT's redemption act.
Chasez's aptly named solo bow "Schizophrenic" shares much with the blue-eyed sci-fi soul of Timberlake's "Justified." But JC uses his band mate's declaration of independence -- a focus on funky, ultra-syncopated rhythms and falsetto vocals -- not as a template but as a starting point, launching into a dizzying array of styles, beats and mood swings with a carefree zest that all those 'N Sync millions no doubt affords. The Chasez cameo on last year's Basement Jaxx album was no fluke, as the singer seems just as eager as that London dance duo to push the boundaries of pop music.
Granted, Chasez's freewheeling music isn't quite as delirious as Basement Jaxx's, though the group's principals do help out on the wonderfully busy "Shake It." The rest of the tracks are mostly split between producers Robb Boldt and Riprock 'N' Alex G., with Chasez often credited as well. But since his collaborators are hardly known as pop pioneers, one must assume Chasez played an active role in keeping such songs as the disco throb of "All Day Long I Dream About Sex" and the deceptively tricky single "Some Girls (Dance With Women)" so off-kilter.
The song titles pretty much say it all, because Chasez doesn't have much more than sex on the mind. But it's sex of the playful Prince variety. "One Night Stand" -- with its arrogant seduction scenario -- and "100 Ways" -- a hyperactive and lascivious ode to emotional honesty and, um, adventurousness -- find Chasez getting his freak on (though, for anyone uncomfortable with the thought, "Lose Myself" is a slightly more standard-issue ballad). Chasez may not be much of a singer, but he makes up for any deficiencies with his gleefully eccentric delivery and a string of creative did-he-just-say-that come-ons.
The restless style-hopping does at times feel like a distraction, with the relentless shifting of gears at best somewhat disorienting and at worst simply exhausting. A few songs, the jingle-like "Something Special" and the dancehall affectation "Everything You Want," are a little too anonymous for an album whose stated goal is the exact opposite. Yet one of "Schizophrenic's" many pleasures is the way Chasez sounds more interested in making music he enjoys than making machine-line disposable pop for the charts. If variety is the spice of life, then "Schizophrenic" is something of a sampler plate, but one can't help but be impressed at what Chasez has cooked up.
And now, two reviews!
From the Calgary Sun.
Second-rate Prince
by Darryl Sterdan
* * 1/2 out of five
So if his NSYNC bandmate Justin Timberlake was accused of ripping off Michael Jackson, then Chasez is clearly channelling '80s-era Prince on his solo debut.
Which isn't to say Chasez is nearly as talented as The Purple One in his prime. Not even close.
Neither, however, does Chasez completely embarrass himself with this slick-sounding, wide-ranging collection of R&B, pop, new wave, disco and reggae.
It's the subject matter that mostly offends as the sex-obsessed singer gets down and dirty on songs with titles like Some Girls (Dance With Women), 100 Ways, Mercy, If You Were My Girl, Shake It, One Night Stand and Come To Me.
But it's the less obvious hot-and-heavy songs — with the exception of the clap-happy Something Special — that stand out here.
Highlights include She Got Me and Right Here (By Your Side), which both recall Jackson-meets-Jamiroquai; or even three bordering-on-cheesy ballads, Build My World, Dear Goodbye and Lose Myself, which at least show off Chasez's sweet pipes.
Listening to that bunch, you can't help but wonder how much better an album this might have been had Chasez had some decent material to work with.
At the other end of the spectrum is the absolute worst song on the 17-song disc: The pseudo new wave-synth number All Day Long I Dream About Sex .
No word yet on whether Chasez will tour on his own.
The next one is a really good review, but bewilderingly enough, the reviewer says that JC "doesn't have much of a voice." WEH? But I'm beyond tired of trying to figure these things out.
Justifiable Optimism for JC Chasez
By Joshua Klein
Special to The Washington Post
Wednesday, March 3, 2004; Page C05
Even at the peak of its popularity, 'N Sync earned as much ridicule as adulation. While the pop culture phenomenon played packed stadiums and sold millions of records, a sea of detractors merely scowled and predicted the boy-band bubble was about to burst. They were right, of course, as groups like 'N Sync and Backstreet Boys inevitably folded or went on hiatus. But Justin Timberlake's massive solo success belied the notion that 'N Sync comprised nothing but talentless puppets, and now fellow former 'N Sync-er JC Chasez is hoping to replicate JT's redemption act.
Chasez's aptly named solo bow "Schizophrenic" shares much with the blue-eyed sci-fi soul of Timberlake's "Justified." But JC uses his band mate's declaration of independence -- a focus on funky, ultra-syncopated rhythms and falsetto vocals -- not as a template but as a starting point, launching into a dizzying array of styles, beats and mood swings with a carefree zest that all those 'N Sync millions no doubt affords. The Chasez cameo on last year's Basement Jaxx album was no fluke, as the singer seems just as eager as that London dance duo to push the boundaries of pop music.
Granted, Chasez's freewheeling music isn't quite as delirious as Basement Jaxx's, though the group's principals do help out on the wonderfully busy "Shake It." The rest of the tracks are mostly split between producers Robb Boldt and Riprock 'N' Alex G., with Chasez often credited as well. But since his collaborators are hardly known as pop pioneers, one must assume Chasez played an active role in keeping such songs as the disco throb of "All Day Long I Dream About Sex" and the deceptively tricky single "Some Girls (Dance With Women)" so off-kilter.
The song titles pretty much say it all, because Chasez doesn't have much more than sex on the mind. But it's sex of the playful Prince variety. "One Night Stand" -- with its arrogant seduction scenario -- and "100 Ways" -- a hyperactive and lascivious ode to emotional honesty and, um, adventurousness -- find Chasez getting his freak on (though, for anyone uncomfortable with the thought, "Lose Myself" is a slightly more standard-issue ballad). Chasez may not be much of a singer, but he makes up for any deficiencies with his gleefully eccentric delivery and a string of creative did-he-just-say-that come-ons.
The restless style-hopping does at times feel like a distraction, with the relentless shifting of gears at best somewhat disorienting and at worst simply exhausting. A few songs, the jingle-like "Something Special" and the dancehall affectation "Everything You Want," are a little too anonymous for an album whose stated goal is the exact opposite. Yet one of "Schizophrenic's" many pleasures is the way Chasez sounds more interested in making music he enjoys than making machine-line disposable pop for the charts. If variety is the spice of life, then "Schizophrenic" is something of a sampler plate, but one can't help but be impressed at what Chasez has cooked up.
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no subject
Date: 2004-03-03 04:11 am (UTC)Seriously. LOL
And you and I both know that JC can sing, jeez.
no subject
Date: 2004-03-03 04:27 am (UTC)I don't get it. I think they want something easily categorizable and standardized, and this disk doesn't give them that option. And that's *so* narrow.
no subject
Date: 2004-03-03 04:50 am (UTC)