Back To Basics [CD]

I have to say before i start that this normally isnt the type of artist i listen to. im very guitar driven/obsessed i love the likes of Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix and Santana. But there is something about christina that just stands out from the rest. This album is sung which such enthusiasm for the genres she clearly loves and let me tell you there is variety a plenty here. She touchs on the great classic genres such as blues and jazz, old style RnB and maybe even a hint of Gospel and 70's Disco.

this all adds up to something attractively fresh. Fresh is the key in this day an age too many of her fellow performers stickin with the same formula for guaranteed success she constantly goes out of the way to find something different which is risky but she pulls it off again. simply beautiful!

Disk One:

01:Intro (Back To Basics) - Nice little intro, nothing special but I assume she'll keep the into's coming with every album: (6/10)

02:Makes Me Wanna Pray - Love the gospel vibe, the vocals are amazing although OTT but I like: (7/10)

03:Back In The Day - One of my favourates from disk one, fresh with a great vibe - it doesn't get much better: (9/10)

04:Ain't No Other Man - I've over-exposed myself to this track now, but a great comeback: (8/10)

05:Understand - I simply love it, such a great r&b ballad a true highlight: (9/10)

06:Slow Down Baby - The most urban track and it took me a while to get into but good enough to keep on listening: (7/10)

07:Oh Mother - heartfelt and moving, prehaps my favourate from disk 1: (10/10)

08:F.U.S.S (Interlude) - Um, lyrically hillarious and loving her attitude but why is it here!? Not necessary: (4/10)

09:On Our Way - Nice vibe but kinda average for her, I can still listen too it with ease though: (6/10)

10:Without You - Loving how different it is to the rest of the disk, has that mellowness I love: (8/10)

11:Still Dirrty - has one of the most addictive beats on the album, a good carry on from a classic pop song: (8/10)

12:Here To Stay - I hope she is! Although a weaker moment, its undoubtedly Aguilera with the empowering lyrics: (6/10)

13:Thank You(Dedication To Fans...) - well I like the beginning and the parts where she sings...: (2/10)

Disk Two:

01:Enter The Circus - Just Genius: (10/10)

02:Welcome - love the lyrics, gives us a true taster of what her life is like as an entertainer: (8/10)

03:Candyman - fun, different and sexy. what more do you want from a record? Huge vocals and no doubt a future single: (9/10)

04:Nasty Naughty Boy - Oh my oh my, one of the best and most daring on the album. love it: (9/10)

05:I Got Trouble - such a great vibe, lyrically good and vocally different. thumbs up: (7/10)

06:Hurt - Christina's new masterpeice, touching and moving - ballads don't get much better lyrically or vocally: (10/10)

07:Mercy On Me - Such a good pleading for forgiveness song, something different from her which I like: (8/10)

08:Save Me From Myself - My vocal highpoint, so restrained something we aren't use to from her but it gives her a fragile edge and is just beautiful: (10/10)

09:The Right Man - Nothing wrong with this track, but I don't feel it as much as the others: (6/10)

-- Bonus Video --

A nice little extra, her relationship with her produces seem so fab hopefully we can expect more from the interesting combination of Christina, DJ Premier and Linda Perry!

Final Word:

A great effort in my opinion, the lyrics on the album are superior to most coming from artists of her generation and vocally she's on top form - superb production from DJ Premier and Linda Perry makes a varity which I love! You can tell that Christina's taken her time and worked hard to get everything as good as she could, yes a couple of duds are thrown in but the whole package is just excellent. The glossy booklet with the lyrics and great artwork makes it an album to buy rather then download!

Best Tracks: Back In The Day, Understand, Oh Mother, Candyman, Hurt & Save Me From Myself.

Worst Tracks: F.U.S.S & Thank You

If you're not someone who's willing to take Christina Aguilera seriously, look away now. The following is definitely not for you.

I resisted buying this collection for a long time, because I'd liked Stripped so much that I knew I was expecting too much for a repeat. I was right, but the outcome is not all bad.

After the Intro, Makes Me Wanna Pray kicks off proceedings with a belting gospel sound, with Christina accompanied by Steve Winwood, who people of my generation will know from the Spencer Davis Group and Traffic.

Next up, Back In The Day is a dedication to the artistes who have presumably inspired the collection, opening with what sounds like a sample from Neneh Cherry's Buffalo Stance, and with voiceovers reminiscent of Greg Osby's Honor The Example from 3-D Lifestyles, though there are probably more people get namechecks - Miles, Trane and Otis Redding to name but three. If the song is successful in turning Aguilera's audience on to any one of the people namechecked then it's all right with me.

Understand samples the bluesy 1967 recording Nearer To You by soul diva Betty Harris, in which she was partnered by Allen Toussaint, which complements the main song well, but the sample also makes you want to hear more.

Oh Mother and Still Dirrty explore subjects Aguilera has tackled before - domestic violence and hypocrisy.

CD2 opens with a couple of circus-themed pieces, the first of which bizarrely brought to mind Emerson, Lake and Palmer's Karn Evil 9 (I'm sure Christina's never even heard of it!). The second, Welcome, is a good song, and uses Aguilera's cast-iron voice to full effect.

The set then moves on to three 1940s-style bump'n'grind songs. The first of these, Candyman, sounds maybe like the Andrews Sisters, but with lyrics that would have made the girls blush. Nasty Naughty Boy is like Cab Calloway meets Marilyn Monroe. It's about as good a tribute to Cab as Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby on Joe Jackson's Jumpin' Jive (recommended to anyone who wants more of this kind of thing).I Got Trouble, reminding me lyrically of Neneh Cherry's Trouble Man, and maybe inspired by Billie Holliday, finishes off the triptych. In its day, this kind of music was considered more risqué than anything on this record would be today by a mainstream audience - jazz, like rhythm'n'blues and rock'n'roll was originally, after all, slang for sex, and polite society in the forties was bigger than it is today and didn't talk about such things. Aguilera does a good job of inserting some of the risqué flavour with lyrics like "Makes the panties drop" and "I'm gonna give you a taste/Of the sugar below my waist."

Hurt, which follows, is more in a more familiar Aguilera style, as are the remainder. A moving song, well sung as you'd expect, and the video's good, too.

There are only two low points on the collection.

At the end of CD 1 there's a rather tasteless piece of apparent self-regard; supposedly voicemessages from fans, they're kind of sickly, and in a couple of cases quite worrying, as in the case of the boy who claims that because of Aguilera he now takes no notice of what others say. Is that really what she wants to say, or is she really saying we should think for ourselves?

And the final track on CD 2 seems like Aguilera making a bid for the wedding song market: The Right Man? Do me a favour! Who's this a tribute to? Susan Maugham? Annoyingly, though, it's really well sung (well, Susan Maugham could at least sing), so it's hard to be too cross, and I wouldn't be surprised to find it's going down well with brides-to-be.

Elsewhere, I've slated Joss Stone for conservatism on Introducing, and compared her material unfavourably with Stripped. Well, Christina hasn't quite managed herself to equal Stripped but, of the four I'm giving Back to Basics, one star is for taking a risk on putting together an eclectic package which manages to combine very nicely some nods to the past and some expressions of the present. This is a bold attempt at a tribute to the people Aguilera purportedly looks up to, and you have to respect the effort. She could easily have remade Stripped and cleaned up, but instead has gone out on the edge a little. I don't know much about Christina Aguilera beyond the songs I've heard and the videos I've seen, but I'd like to think there's a sign here that she wants to be more than just an entertainer. I hope that doesn't make me delusional.