The only thing this review really made me want to do was to listen to the album and decide for myself. People who review music don't like it when an artist they have some affinity for doesn't tick all the boxes they've come to expect them to. By any standard, Beck's worst song must be, in some way, better than almost anyone's best song. I don't know that he's trying and failing to recapture something of himself, but the author of this article certainly wants to take Beck to task for not doing enough ticking of boxes. Me, on the other hand? If Beck only ever ticks the boxes I want him to, he would be an endless bore. Even if it turns out that loving this record will christen me vapid and airless, everything I know about Beck makes me want to dismiss my expectation and give him the chance that the Kanye-of-50-producers couldn't.
Amrit, where's the love? Can I get a little HT brotha? Shit. The Music Slut via Loudersoft. That's what "Thanks LS!" means in his post. Let's hug it out.
http://loudersoft.com/4005/the-roots-lovely-love-my-family-yo-gabba-gabba/
It's been cleared up. More to the point, in the song "Controversy", he sings the question, "I don't understand/All the things people say/Controversy/Am I black or white/Am I straight or gay/Controversy". A guy who sang those words, I'm willing to believe was misquoted.
Of course, he goes to Perez Hilton to make it clear that he was 'misquoted' and is 'very angry'. I would be, too. Link sanitized for anyone who won't click for Perez:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/17/prince-talks-religious-co_n_144338.html
He built his entire career around questioning the macho dickbaggery of the world around him and directly explored androgyny. Along with millions of other people around the world, I paid a lot of hard-earned money to subscribe to Prince's musical world views over the years. If there's a valid reason for me to feel cheated, you'd better believe I want to know about it.
On repeated readings, I don't see him as haven really taken a position about the whole thing. He places all the hard work on his interpretation of God without judging anyone.
Pointing to the Bible with the same hand you've been pointing to your dilznick with for 30 years as a musician smacks of irony and hypocrisy. But that closing paragraph where he talks about the stalker, see that's the real shit.
Prince has been doing the same thing effectively since he started in the music industry: keeping people guessing. We can call him crazy or whatever else, but he's playing some chess that we can't even understand. He's already got us checkmated, we just don't know it yet.
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