Chocolate Factory – R. Kelly – before all that godawful stuck in a wardrobe crap, Kelly was seconds away from being a modern day Stevie Wonder with a larger libido and maybe a tenth the talent (which means he was great), and this was the lead song off the album that made us take R. Kelly seriously for a year or so. A masterful Wonder redux, a beautiful soul song of faith in love and metaphor – A
Despite R Kelly playing a weird sex-predator doctor and a naked Gaga masturbating in newspapers while being shot by Richardson, there’s nothing there really more shocking than in your usual shitty sexually-charged video. So may be the rest of the clip got wilder
A little on the lame side right? I’ll give em Eminem and beyonce but after that, ugh, it seems to go one forever, talking loud but saying nothing. When does 2014 kick in here?
The “and I’m sticking to it” has more stickiness than the rest of the album combined, which is why it was a minor hit, though it doesn’t explain why Black Panties, is Kelly’s bestselling album in years. Maybe the album cover does that – B+
Beyonce is head and shoulders above the rest with a ridiculous 750K + units moved at fifteen bucks a pop and no overhead, no publicity, all digital. Brooks is quite impressive with his non-digital release. It might be more last hurrah than new paradigm but as hurrahs go, I’m impressed.
Kiss Me Last – We The Kings – A “Save The Last Dance For Me” for the 21st century and as sweet an idea as pop music can throw up, in a world of black panties, it is so innocent and emo in name, in nature it is pure pop for now teens – A-
Some people have so much confidence it is scary, but sometimes it doesn’t serve them very well! This past week, R. Kelly dropped an album, ‘Black Panties’, and I have zero opinion about it because I can’t stand the guy (and his music).
Give Me Strength Sessions ’74-’75 – Eric Clapton – The sessions from one of the great albums of the 1970s, a height of spirituality and passion Clapton has never come close to before and since and anything that adds to the story including a 1974 concert, is more than welcome – A
Not much going on here so if it boils down to R. Kelly versus Childish Gambino, there is no real choice though I might say that if Kelly ever had the opportunity to be more than an r&b bangerz machine, to be a Stevie Wonder like melody machine, that train left when he wouldn’t get out of the closet 10 years ago.
