foxmonkey | Early earliness, and a boatload of reviews.

Bleh. Tired and up too early thanks to the cats.

Husbandmonkey says that felines are no longer welcome in the bedroom. *My* cat is a perfect gentleman while we're sleeping. He comes in, tucks himself around my legs, and sleeps. Husbandmonkey's cat comes in and gets rowdy: purrs like a motorboat, walks on our heads (he weighs about 16 pounds) and generally tries to get us up and at 'em at 4:30 a.m. Between the hours of 4:00-5:00 a.m., he's the cat from hell, otherwise he's a big furry sweetheart. ::le sigh::

Assorted JC reviews I'll tuck in behind cuts. Most of these are from the last couple of days, though the last one is older. I don't remember seeing it, so I wanted to nab it so I'll always have it. Mmmm, JC.

Edited to add: Holy frig, didn't realize there'd been so many in the last couple of days!

Let's start off with a new one from Wales. Four hours old!

From icWales, UK.

Some Girls (Dance with Women)
JC Chasez (Jive) ** [out of five]

by Cynthia Tipples, The Western Mail
Apr 9 2004

After his recent collaboration with Basement Jaxx, JC Chasez is the latest former NSYNC member to seek solo success. He may not have as much smooth appeal as his old band mate Justin Timberlake but he does have an energetic edge and some catchy hooks that will ensure this debut single becomes an MTV hit.

From metroweekly.com.

Pin-Up Pop
Ari Gold, Matthew Duffy, and JC Chasez

By Doug Rule
Published on 04/08/2004

Pop musicland is a desert. It’s nearly barren of openly gay male solo stars. Ari Gold (Ari Gold - Space Under Sun) is one of at least two gay pin-up boys currently posturing to provide us an oasis, though his ultimate aim, of course, is crossover success in the sea of mainstream.

But Gold is trying so hard to succeed as a gay R&B/pop star on his sophomore self-released set, Space Under Sun, he loses sight of the details. He’s not paying attention to his music, creating instead an album filled with overworked song formulas. He’s also not paying attention to his vocals, contorting his talented voice so much that he repeatedly hits flat notes unintentionally.

And Gold’s certainly not paying attention to his lyrics. One of the more complex lyric lines on "Funk That Ship " really, truly goes: "Rock the boat, shake that ass, bubblelicious, automatic." It’s a Titanic of a song: It begins with a silly theme that’s never fully developed, then gets bogged down by a treading-water groove and a drowning chorus, featuring nothing but the title phrase, repeated three times. And then once more, by way of an annoying computer-distorted vocal a la Cher. That finally sinks it.

Matthew Duffy (Matthew Duffy - Here I Come)is another gay popper vying for our attention through sexually suggestive come-ons (though he keeps these studiedly gender-neutral). Duffy actually shows budding musical talent on his self-released album, Here I Come, his debut. It features one great pop song, "Take to the Sky, " and several others that are more than halfway there, including the Mirwais-styled acoustic title track.

"Take to the Sky " is candy-coated, effervescent electronica with a rising chorus, in the manner of Amber. And significantly, it’s sung with near-perfect vocals, rarely clipped by a trailing whisper or stretched to a groan due to poor breath control, which is unfortunately the case elsewhere. When he lets it be, he actually has a fine voice, dripping with sincerity like Erasure’s Andy Bell or especially Soft Cell’s Marc Almond. "Take to the Sky " could be the breakout hit he and his handlers are looking for. It should also be the template when he heads back to record his sophomore album.

Duffy spends too much time channeling the cold, distant electro-pop sound that has worked so well for others, including Britney Spears, whose breathy, whispering vocals Duffy emulates on nearly every track. It gets old very, very quick. Both Duffy and Gold inadvertently show us in American Idol fashion just how undeveloped they are as performers by picking challenging pop hits to cover. Duffy ends earning polite applause with his handling of Jody Watley’s left-field hit "Still a Thrill." But Gold gets nothing but boos for his take on Culture Club’s classic "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me, " a scandalously easy-listening track, shorn of all traces of the original’s scorned sensibility and dazzling delivery. It really hurts.

Repeated listens to JC Chasez’s (JC Chasez - Schizophrenic)recently released solo debut, Schizophrenic, demonstrates Chasez’s musical superiority. Like Gold’s effort, some of the songs suffer from undernourished or just plain unfortunate -- and juvenile -- lyrics, but unlike Gold the music nearly always shines.

Chasez’s first single, "Some Girls (Dance with Women) " is, lyrically, an irritating ploy to establish his straight male credentials. But the music sneaks up on you, forcing you to hum along. Same goes for the pandering lyrics of "All Day Long I Dream about Sex," redeemed by its fascinating acoustic meets electronica sound and an extended instrumental bridge that glistens with updated ‘80s synth-pop. (It’s not cold or distant here.) The 27-year-old is not afraid to appropriate musical sounds and styles popular during his childhood that are not top-of-the-charts now. There’s very little hip-hop here.

Chasez exudes confidence in creating pop music -- and especially playful pop music of a hot-blooded, dance orientation. You sense his smile after completing each track. Perhaps Duffy and Gold come across as too earnest because they’re too new and too untested in the pop spotlight, which certainly isn’t the case for Chasez. He doesn’t create anywhere near a perfect album, though in its way it matches his ‘N Sync cohort Justin Timberlake’s respectable 2002 debut. Chasez’s is too long, for one thing: 17 full-length songs stretched over 80 minutes is a lot of time to spend with one artist, especially on a debut. At least every track is worth listening to.

From HMV.co.uk.

Fresh from a starring role on Basement Jaxx’s awesome ‘Plug It In’, JC Chasez (that’s right the one out of N-Sync that isn’t the trousersnake) releases his debut solo single ‘Some Girls (Dance With Women)’ (cheeky!). This is a funky, fresh r’n’b monster that’ll have Timberlake sending for the Neptunes before you can say, “Justified!”. Exquisite stuff.

From Gallery of Sound.

With Schizophrenic, *NSYNC’s JC Chasez leaves his boy band past behind. Now where have we heard that before?

by Gary Graff

Justin Timberlake stepped out of *NSYNC last year to justify himself as a solo artist with a multi-platinum album and a Grammy.

Now JC Chasez, Timberlake’s bandmate and pal since their days together on the Disney Channel’s The New Mickey Mouse Club, hopes to do the same. But, Chasez claims, he doesn’t necessarily need to equal Timberlake’s success to feel that his decision to pursue a solo career is, well, justified.

"Justin’s Grammy Award-winning. He’s a superstar now; there’s no question about it," says Chasez, 28, who released his album, Schizophrenic, in late February. "My goal is just to have a successful record. At the end of the day, I can only do what I do, and I feel like I made a really good record and I’m proud of what I’ve done. And with Justin, well... He just put the time in. He had a goal and he went out and went after it and didn’t hold back. We come out of the same group and we all understand the work ethic. In my mind [Timberlake’s success] told me, ‘You know what? You’re just as capable of working that hard.’ So there you go."

Chasez says he had no real desire to make a solo album when *NSYNC decided to take a hiatus in 2002. Rather, the Washington, D.C. native (born Joshua Scott Chasez) thought he’d spend time with friends and family and "hit the reset button for a little while." But when producer Dallas Austin invited Chasez to hang around the studio when he was working on the soundtrack to the film Drumline, Chasez found himself sucked into the process, co-writing and recording the hit single "Blowin’ Me Up (With Her Love)."

"It was just something I did for fun, ‘cause I was hanging around the studio with [Austin]," Chasez says. "I didn’t think it was going to be a single or anything like that. The next thing you know, we got a call back from Fox, the movie company, saying ‘We think this should be the song for the movie’ and they wanted to shoot a video and everything. At that point I’d been off for almost a year so I figured there’s no harm in it. I can’t sit around and do nothing forever."

Chasez didn’t know how busy it would keep him, however. The song’s success led to a commitment for a full-fledged solo album—under the condition that "I just do it the way I want to do it. I told [the label] that if I’m going to do a record, I basically want to go ahead and do it on my own, and I want everybody to kind of leave me alone.’ And that’s what they did."

Chasez then "locked myself in the studio for three months," coming out only to make some cred-building guest performances on BT’s Emotional Technology album and Kish Kash for Basement Jaxx. Simon Ratcliffe of the Jaxx notes that Chasez "can sing like a dream. You find out pretty quickly that he’s not just a member of *NSYNC."

Chasez set out to prove that by co-writing all 15 songs on Schizophrenic, collaborating with producers such as Riprock ‘N’ Alex G, Robb Boldt and Rockwilder, while Basement Jaxx helped out on the track "Shake It." Stylistically, Chasez says, he wanted to make Schizophrenic exactly the kind of eclectic work its title implies.

So the album veers from cheerfully horny dance club tracks—including the first single, "Some Girls (Dance With Women)" —to romantic ballads and pieces of lush psychedelia. Chasez channels a variety of obvious influences, including Prince, Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson, while "Everything You Want" flaunts a Latin flavor.

"I just didn’t go with a formatted approach," explains Chasez, who plans to do some touring to promote Schizophrenic before going back into the studio with *NSYNC later this year. "Each song has its own life and its own personality, and they’re really different from each other. It wasn’t like I was going after one sound because I thought that was going to turn it into a hit record or it’s what everyone is banging in the clubs or what everybody’s listening to on the radio.

"I do feel like it’s an advance, musically, for me. I just did music and I pushed myself in whatever direction I felt was necessary, and I explored that to the fullest and it opened the floodgates for some really good ideas."

From Teen Now (UK), typed up by

interlock.

JC Chasez

JC's about to give his *Nsync bandmate Justin Timberlake a run for his money.

While Justin Timberlake is being touted as the new Michael Jackson, his best friend and *Nsync bandmate JC is most definitely the next Prince, the purple-obsessed pop rocker who, like Jacko, ruled the charts in the 80's.

When *Nsync, America's hottest pop property, ceased activity a couple of years ago JC - full name Joshua Scott Chasez - was quite happy to take a well earned break from the madness of touring and being one of the world's biggest pin-ups. 'I just wanted to get back to a normal life, going grocery shopping and being with my family and friends' says the 27 year old singer.

But it was only a matter of time before the *Nsync hottie decided to bust a solo move, following a call from legendary producer Dallas Austin inviting him to 'hang out in his studio, goof off and have some fun'. That 'fun' ended up forming the basis for JC's acclaimed solo album Schizophrenic, currently taking the US by storm.

JC's solo stuff is hot and has a rockier edge than Justin's. Plus it's very very sexy/ "I'm not as shy to explore my sexuality as I was with *Nsync' says the Washington-born singer, whose debut UK single Some Girls (Dance With Women) is all about watching a saucy all-girl show.

While JT may be happy to rock your body, JC's certainly pushing things a little bit further… and we're loving it.

JC's single Some Girls (Dance With Women) is out on 5th April.

And then in their music section he gets their only 5* rating:

JC Chasez : Some Girls (Dance With Women)

His *Nsync bandmate Justin Timberlake might be the king of pop, but JC looks like he could be the one to threaten that reign. JC, who was the other lead vocalist in the US boy band, delivers this simmering tune with sexy lyrics scattered over laid-back beats. It's an up-tempo hip-hop single that you'll be singing along to and a sure-fire club hit.

From Stylus magazine.

JC Chasez - Schizophrenic (Jive, 2004)

Reviewed by: Nate De Young
Reviewed on: 2004-04-08
[5 out of 10]

Taking the inevitable fall-out from his innocuous Mouseketeer upbringing and his work as second-in-command in teen-pop band*NSYNC as career move, Chasez has embraced the backlash, taken some time off from music and returned to the business with Schizophrenic, his first solo album. Chasez as a solo artist isn’t really solo, even with four incarnations of him on the album cover. Instead, the cover signifies two main ideas: the years of mall-approved happiness has developed the singer’s talents into a finely tuned automaton pop-production machine and its taught him an important lesson: appeal to as many people as possible.

Enlisting a myriad of producers (Basement Jaxx, BT, Rodney Jerkins being the most famous) and an array of styles for this purpose, Chasez most frequently pulls his strings, swoons and flirts with an imaginary listener—he’s so risqué sometimes that I need to pull a blanket over my ears and cry. I cry less when I picture Chasez the lounge singer, singing slinky renditions of Corey Hart’s “Sunglasses at Night,” with delicious lyrics like “Cause when I'm all alone / I lay awake and masturbate / I love to hear the sounds you make” as imaginary girls scream for his love (as found on Schizophrenic’s “Come to Me”).

Amazed? The Disney-graduate has obviously become sexually liberated, proving with “All Day I Dream about Sex” he can tackle an enchantingly warped faux-post-modern chain of signifiers. The Korn-trademarked subversion of a famous brand was originally ingenuous, using middle school acronyms to simultaneously “stick it” to a brand and likewise complete the “brand deity status” for another Adidas generation. Chasez proves that pop can encompass everything, wrapping a strangely chanted electro-beat around the collected pop pastiche phrase—hand claps and all. If you’ve ever heard a german Schlager song and felt intrigued by the dumb energy of it, I’d thoroughly recommend seeking it out because despite my negative associations with Schlager-music, the song’s electro-pop glosses colorfully over Chasez’s lame robotic braggadocio and invites me to play it again.

Admirable subtle touches also litter Schizophrenic, such as the lightly glitched string loop on the presumable next single, “Build My World”. The dying loop provides an element of true vulnerability to the song’s rehash of the poetic teen sentiments found in Chasez’s lyrics—“Someone for everyone but no one for me / (No one for me) / Constantly searching for the love I need to / Build my world around, around”. I’m not sure who to credit for this inspired stringed loop as the song’s credits go out to five producers (Chasez included), but the lost identity of the producer gives the song a playful ambiguity. I’ll place my bets on Robb Boldt, who I deduce must also be one the darkened replications of JC Chasez from the cover—odds standing at 2:1 if I was a gambling man.

Alexis Petridis recently claimed dance for dead, but on Schizophrenic Chasez attempts to reanimate early-80s electro, disco and new wave back into pop. “One Night Stand” proves a great example of this, digesting Giorgio Moroder and Donna Summer with playful tongue-in-cheek indifference. And, you might think that this would continue with the Basement Jaxx produced “Shake It”, as their “Plug It In” collaboration might suggest. However, for Schizophrenic, the absolute mayhem of “Plug It In” is much more restrained— “Shake It” is held to a strangely straightforward Basement Jaxx dance-blues number. What it does do, though, and does admirably is elucidate the strongest theme of the album: a recognition of the “coming-of-age” pop boundaries and just letting the groove take over.

From The Weekly News.

"Schizophrenic" by JC Chasez
By ALBERT RODRIGUEZ

If "Justified" was Justin Timberlake’s "Off the Wall," then "Schizophrenic" is surely JC Chasez’s "Sign o’ the Times." Sex-driven, slick, fun, and juicy from its skin right down to the bone, Chasez’s first solo effort, since his boot camp days with ’NSync, is this year’s coolest party record, thus far.

Chasez is all over the place on "Schizophrenic," but one area where he really gets busy is in the bedroom. He puts his mojo to work on the tripadelic, bouncy "Come to Me," where he gently samples Corey Hart’s "Sunglasses at Night," and then takes a soul-funk twirl on "One Night Stand," which borrows the chorus from Donna Summers’ "I Feel Love." He also dreams about various intimate positions, evidenced on "100 Ways," where he rides Prince’s purple coattails to an all-out kink-fest. If that didn’t tire him out, he manages to lose sleep on the ’80s new-wave throwback "All Day Long I Dream About Sex."

Another locale where you’ll likely find Chasez is on the dance floor. This boy loves to party. If he isn’t checking out the ladies at the club, as on the lesboerotic "Some Girls (Dance With Women)," he’s bumpin’ and grindin’ on the Jamiroquai-splashed "She Got Me," or slipping into his freaky deakyness on "Shake It." At times, he’s doing nothing more than just putting out some great dance sounds, as in the totally smooth "Mercy."

While all the songs on "Schizophrenic" were co-written by Chasez, we assume the sexy talk and dirty-birdy behavior came from his ready-to-play mind. Artistically, it’s impressive. Style wise, it’s sophisticated. Categorically speaking, file it somewhere between "hip" and "fun." As surprising as Timberlake’s defining debut was, Chasez’s offering couldn’t be any cooler.
He’s all grown up now, a man with a wild imagination and the testosterone to see his daydreams come to fruition. Even more fascinating is the fact that he’s got talent to match those great head-to-toe features, both front and back.

From TheStraitsTimes.

SCHIZOPHRENIC
JC Chasez
(Jive)

SCISSOR SISTERS
Scissor Sisters
(Polydor)

WHO would have thought that 'N Sync's JC Chasez and Scissor Sisters would have something in common?

The boyband bloke and the American glam disco quintet drip wanton sex and delirious camp in their respective records.

Chasez proclaims himself Schizophrenic, flitting between dancehall reggae (Mercy) and Prince-styled funk (One Night Stand) like a man on the prowl for a quick fix.

This is one Lothario who has no qualms about cataloguing his various wet dreams.

All Day I Dream About Sex is a disco-relic workout and the scurrilously-titled heterosexual wet dream called Some Girls (Dance With Women) moves with Latin sass - it's his saucy answer to Justin Timberlake's Senorita.

As for Scissor Sisters, the 1970s are big now and fully ripe for the band, which could well be four times JC Chasez in sisterly spirit. These ambi-sexual New Yorkers - four men, one woman - follow in the footsteps of American compatriots Fischerspooner and Britain's The Darkness to stir the hormones of savvy boys and girls.

While countrymen Kings Of Leon go swamp rock and beardy country, Scissor Sisters are cabaret sophisticates painting the town red.

Their stage gear inevitably involves lots of feather boa and their sound is fully-realised gay disco and sun-kissed AM rock - a cocktail of early Elton John, Billy Joel, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd (they covered the latter's Comfortably Numb in spectacular fashion).

The self-titled album is a tight-as-corkscrews, psychedelic romp through the landmarks of pink pop, echoing the monotone of Pet Shop Boys and the magic dust of John's big, fat, rhinestone-studded fun in the same measure.

Frontman Jake Shears prims and sulks gorgeously in Laura and flits between praise and disdain in Filthy/Gorgeous.

We are sure darling Chris Ho and his new band Zircon Gov. Pawnstarz will be eyeing every little move of this band.

epinions.com.

JC Chasez - Schizophrenic Turns Nymphomaniac
Feb 24 '04

Four out of five stars

Pros: Chasez can sang, risk-taking

Cons: a few fumbles

The Bottom Line: JC Chasez isn't Nsync, he isn't Justin Timberlake - he's JC Chasez and don't you forget it.

One of the inevitable perils of being a member of a boy band is that people will without doubt use that as a meter to judge your strength as an artist. While the easy thing for JC Chasez to do would have been use the Justin Timberlake method for success and go team up with the hottest producers and go the R&B route, but for the most part Chasez’ first foray into the solo field Schizophrenic is nothing like the debut album that Timberlake crafted.

Schizophrenic is a mix of synth-pop, Prince-like innuendo (some discreet some very overt) and electronic dance goodness. This is NOT NSYNC and Chasez is not going to let you think for a minute that it is. ”Some Girls (Dance With Women)” is choppy and funky and its punctuated style is slick and despite ultimately being a dance song, there are several opportunities to see what Chasez is capable of doing as a singer. On ”She Got Me” Chasez channels the spirit of Jamiroquai and shockingly enough – it works quite well. While during the glory days of NSYNC, he might have played second fiddle to the more approachable Timberlake, “Schizophrenic” makes sure JC is the star.

There are a few hits and misses though. 𤊄 Ways” conjures up images of Billy Idol circa 1983, sneer, leather jacket, tight pants and all and it feels so wrong. ”All Day Long I Dream About Sex” is so completely bad, you have to question whose idea it was to even make the track. Chasez tries real hard to pull of a British garage sound and he sounds just plain stupid. The just behind the beat of ”Mercy” sounds like a song, sung just behind the beat which doesn’t even seem credible nor does it sound good.

But despite a few fumbles, the album is solidly pleasing. ”Build My World” is a pretty song that could have been at home on Michael Jackson’s Thriller. It’s slinky and sexy and Chasez owns this track. ”One Night Stand” dangles precariously on the edge of being cheesy, but the production is so well done that you fall into the groove and get stuck. ”Come To Me” is Studio 54 in it’s heyday, coming down off of whatever binge one would have been on in those times and moments like these are why “Schizophrenic” is so good. Even the bad songs set a certain mood and very decisively at that. There is so much going on throughout the album and despite it’s missteps it still manages to sound (mostly) cohesive.

”Dear Goodbye” is the most stripped down offering from Chasez and if only for an opportunity to see that he can hold his ground against most contemporary singers – it’s a job well done. ”Everything You Want” is tropical-flavored, gritty and finds Chasez sounding quite a bit like Sting. And while it might not be common knowledge from any NSYNC project – Chasez’ vocals are diverse and he has a beautiful voice. ”Right Here (By Your Side)” could be voted song most likely to be on an NSYNC album. It is soft, pretty and absolutely perfect for Chasez. It’s sweet calypso-tinged melody is like a warm breeze and every part of it is lovely and amazing. And just in case you thought Chasez couldn’t get funky like good old JT (Justin Timberlake), there’s ”Blowin Me Up (With Her Love)”, originally appearing on the soundtrack for the movie Drumline, Chasez’ got a little bit of soul and he’s not afraid to use it.

Part of what doesn’t work for ”Schizophrenic” is that it’s 17 tracks long and just seems to go on and on. And while the overwhelming majority of the songs are really good – some of them are like the B-Side to a tape you probably wouldn’t mind if they weren’t there. But make no qualms, ”Schizophrenic” is a very solid album and good in a way that you wouldn’t expect from a member of a larger than life boy band. Chasez has without doubt distanced himself from the JC of NSYNC, he has stepped up to bat and hit a homerun.

Recommended: Yes

Thanks to

charlidos for keeping us up to date with this stuff. :-)