It is not that Nothing But the Beat is substantially worse than One Love, it is worse but not substantially. It is that it is a stylistic dead end.
Conceptually, major pop playas sing over electronic 4 to the floor beats, it isn't bad at all. It is so good in fact that pop DJ David Guetta has made himself a lot of money, a superstar and an in demand producer of the first order. Not just a producer a la Dr. Luke, but a SUPERSTAR.
So why is Beat a little DOA?
Because hedonism and beats will only get you so far when the pulse of your music isn't quite there. "Without You" -a full blown ballad featuring Usher, should be the emotional lynchpin to the album but it is just a lame rewrite of "With Or With Out You", Nicki Minaj's over ripe "Turn Me On" shows just how far she has fallen since "Monster", Jennifer Hudson is seriously misused on "Might Of Your Life".
Those were all missteps, though with the exception of Usher, they would work on the dancefloor.
Much better is "Sweat" -Snoops best moment in years, "Titanium", a highblown disco ballad, And his reuniting with Will I Am on " Nothing Really Matters" -perhaps the single most thrilling call to dance since Britney's earlier this year. But it sure ain't "I Gotta Feeling". And there's the rub. If you aren't moving forward, you're moving backwards, It is that simple. A huge call to nothing but beats, and it isn't the smash it should be.
Indeed, it reminds me of Black Eyed Peas The Beginning. Both of these (even if they're not) suffer from the sophomore jinx. They entice without surprising, and sometimes they don't entice.
Grade: B+