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Therefore, and presumably with fear of past failure never far away, Will and company have followed monstrous success with an album that sounds like 2009’s Boom Boom Pow and I Gotta Feeling megahits got fed into a new software program that breaks songs into robot parts and reassembles them into infinite copies made slightly different by tiny details – a Chic sample here, a KC And The Sunshine Band melody there, a tweak of the ubiquitous auto-tuner everywhere. The Beginning is a depressing listen, not because the music’s that bad, but because it implies that even the most successful pop producer on the planet can’t afford to indulge in anything that might be construed as intelligent or interesting, lest the masses run away screaming in terror. It betrays a contempt for its audience, and disquietingly low levels of self-belief on the part of corporate American pop.
You want details? Okay. Twelve songs called things like Don’t Stop the Party, Just Can’t Get Enough and… Lord help us… Love You Long Time. Beats shamelessly purloined from five-year-old electro-house tunes. An entire lyric sheet consisting of lines about being in clubs cribbed from older, cooler records. Fergie increasingly reduced to an Auto-Tuned vocal effect. The bit from Dirty Dancing in pre-ordained chart hit The Time (Dirty Bit) which sounds like cheeky pop hooliganism until you listen to the album and realise that BEP are not being ironic. Dirty Dancing fits the audience demographic, pure and simple. And one suspects that if someone at the label told them that Black Lace and The Birdie Song were the nostalgic faves of American Idol fans, Will would be hooking those babies up to something The Chemical Brothers left in a skip before you could say, "But wasn’t Boom Boom Pow actually quite brilliant?"
Beware pop geniuses – hanging out with Cheryl and Simon can seriously damage your talent.
--Garry Mulholland
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Customer Reviews
For many it was a nice surprise. For others it was the kiss of death;
a downward spiral to oblivion. I loved it to bits!
'The Beginning' invites us to yet another big night out. It's party album.
From the opening bars of 'The Time (Dirty Bit)', which cheekily
incorporates the sublime chorus of disco classic '(I've Had The) Time
Of My Life', we just know that we're going to be having a good time!
The manifesto laid down by 'The E.N.D,' is refined and distilled still
further. Sometimes it's pared down to the barest of bones.
'Love You Long Time' for example relies on little more than the
simplest synth and percussion arrangement to make it's mark.
Stark, unadorned yet nonetheless utterly addictive! Perfect pop.
'Someday' gets a bigger, broader production. The addition of guitar
adds a little welcome texture to the mix. It's a terrific tune.
Just when I thought I was getting a bit tired of electronic vocal
treatments I found myself listening with revitalised ears. B.E.P. do it
better and fresher than most. Having good voices to begin with helps!
With 'Whenever', however, we come to the warm, beating heart of the album.
It's stunner! Fergie nails the beautiful melody to the mast with classy aplomb.
Surely this lady possesses one of the finest voices of her generation!
'Fashion Beats' is a delightful cut-and-paste piece of disco heaven.
You can almost smell the cloud of Poison and Kouros filling up the dance floor!
'Do It Like This' is silly in the nicest possible way. A jar full of sticky sweets.
Bad for your teeth but impossible to keep still to for more than five seconds!
Final track 'Play It Loud' does indeed benefit from being played...erm...loud!
An uplifting, generous, rich and endlessly rolling anthem to greet the sunrise.
'The Beginning' made me smile so many times my jaws ached.
Glorious Stuff!
You ever get bored and its not just the frst 5 songs you listen to, all the tracks are great
I love those voices, music and instruments, its music for my blood type :-)
Well, it has not been removed from her CD player in her car since I gave her it. Read more
The Time
Love You Long Time
XOXOXOX
The rest for me a frankly a little bit... Read more
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