Haiti Mon Amour – Jay-Z, Bono, Rihanna – I really and sincerely believe I have never hated a song more in my life. I think they infect each other. Bono is the king of self-importance, Jay-Z makes a career of self-love, funny when you’re in your twenties, less so when your forty. And Rihanna, still recovering from that piece of scum Chris Brown beating, caught the self-serving bug. I Stick em altogether and stick a fork in em.
The High Road – Broken Bells – Lessee here, take the bloke who wrote “Caring Is Creepy” and add the man behind “Run Away” and The Grey Album and what you get is this crappy piece of product. What on earth were these cats thinking. Oh, wait, like the guys above they were too busy congratulating themselves to think. Look: anger may be an energy but lethargy ain’t a religion.
Fistful of Tears – Maxwell – Maxwell? Maxwell? Ugh. Start with the fucking title and go from there. All popular music starts with a melody and without it you have an uphill battle, if you ever listen to Miles Davis playing “My Funny Valentine” you’ll see how art and commerce connect. But unless your name is D’Angelo you shouldn’t take seven years off and reimagine yourself an artist. Except for Common who reversed the trend by imagining himself a pop star and still didn’t manage to sell out. Maxwell bombed and deserved to. If Teddy and Marvin can take off their shirt and sell the sizzle, why he’s making like Erykha Badu’s bosum buddy beats me. Have you looked at her sales figures lately? This entire album was a disaster that please nobody except for a a handful of rock crits. PS Sure “Pretty Wings” was better but so what?