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57 of 73 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Guess Who's Back!, 11 May 2009
I almost feel obliged to lay out my Eminem credentials before submitting this review. Like a great many, I was a huge fan until D12 World and Encore, both of which lost me with silly accents, juvenile subject matter and a fixation more on controversy and messing around than on creating great music. The first two singles didn't inspire me with much hope; 'Crack A Bottle' is a poor song, inflicting yet more Fiddy on us all and so radio friendly that the legends of rap must have been turning in their graves. 'We Made You' isn't much better, and it wasn't until '3AM' that I really started paying attention. I have no desire to run Eminem down for the sake of it, but I don't have any motivation to say he's great when he's not, either. I'll judge what he does on it's own merits. Besides, Eminem has traditionally released the worst songs first, and this time round is no exception.
First of all, let's discuss the production. Dre really shines on this release; the production values and beats are crisp and drives the album on. Fingers crossed the long-awaited Detox will be as easy on the ears as the production on this release. We're mercifully spared a long list of Shady/Aftermath artists so it avoids becoming a promo CD for the label's latest cash cows. We do have to endure 50 Cent reminding us all why we jumped ship after 'Get Rich', but other than that, it's just Dre on one other track and that's it.
Now, the all important question; has Em returned to the flow, the anger, the wordplay and the hook that got those with some roots in this game excited back in the day? The answer, yes and no. There are flashes of both persona's here. Yes, there are too many lyrics delivered in the ridiculous and unwelcome 'weird accent' thing he mistakenly thought was so funny throughout Encore. There's also moments during which he stretches too far to say something 'edgy' (come on - Hannah Montanna? It doesn't compare to dropping it on Moby when everyone loved him, for example). Tracks like 'My Mom' are a little try-hard too, as if he's trying to recreate the content, not just the spirit, of all those years ago.
Yet there are also moments of true brilliance here, too. 3AM is exactly the kind of opener I was hoping for; it takes no prisoners, it's clever, it paints imagery and Em's flow is insane. 'Hello' is reminiscent of 'I'm Back' from The Marshall Mathers LP, and tracks like 'Same Song and Dance' and 'Underground' are Eminem on top form. So the question becomes, can the occasional drops in standards be overlooked, or are they part of what is ultimately an inconsistent, but promising, return to the spotlight? Well, that's for you to decide. From my perspective? It's brilliant. Even the songs that don't grab you first time around grow on you on repeated play. If you can overlook the two first singles and tedious fodder like 'Must Be The Ganja', what you have here is a solid release from one of the best lyricists in the game. Crucially, the answer to the question on every discerning rap fan's lips is: yes. It is much, much better than Encore.
Relapse is Eminem giving us flashes of why he became as big as he did. Fortunately, there are more than enough flashes to make this not only worthwhile, but the return of someone who has long been missed.
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14 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Staring The Devil Down, 18 May 2009
Welcome back Mr Mathers. Five years without you seems like an age.
This return was always going to be a tortured listen.
The best of what you have given us so far in your career
has always been intelligently challenging and some of us,
this old Wolf included, understood your motivation and lapped it up !
You are after all the finest wordsmith of your generation.
The self-exorcism to which we have become accustomed continues
here throughout the generous 20 tracks (skits included) laid
out before us in your very fine new album 'Relapse'.
Booze and pills aside (even though they are clearly central
to its genesis) this project was never going to be a comfortable
ride and I'm quite sure you wouldn't have wanted it any other way.
Those demons just won't lay down.
From the nightmare-in-a-clinic opening of 'Dr.West' to the
epic closure of 'Underground' there is hardly an ounce of spare
musical fat in evidence anywhere. Just lean, mean muscle.
The existential bloodbath of '3 a.m.' grabs us by the throat
with its horrorshow imagery. The machine-gun lyrics spat out
with magisterial rhythmic venom. It's a small masterwork.
Digging over highly disfunctional family relationships has always
been a forte. Age and greater insight (together with, one suspects,
not a little therapeutic intervention) focuses his anger with
white-hot clarity in 'My Mom' and 'Insane'.
Baring witness to this kind of disclosure is a deeply disturbing
experience. Mr Mathers would appear to have looked the devil in
the face and dared to stare him down.
Many of the ideas are as dangerous as they ever were.
'Hello', the 'Tonya' skit and 'Same Song & Dance' will
certainly not endear him to the denizens of bible-belt America
and that is as it should be in every way. A cause forever just !
Penultimate track 'Steve Berman' with its "Another album about poor me"
skit nails potential critics to the wall before they have a chance to
set pen to paper (as no-doubt they will). Self-effacingly hillarious.
The production is suberb throughout.
The magical chemistry which clearly exists between Dr Dre
and our hero has never sounded better.
Were there a heaven this marriage would have been made there !
Challenging, focussed, refined and totally thrilling.
A magnificent resurrection.
Essential.
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8 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bizarre, 11 May 2009
The review before this i find most bizarre
i too have been waiting for eminem to return to his earlier albums.....not that encore was too shabby......it just wasnt up to his usual standards.
Eminem has returned here with not only the best release in the last 5 years but his greatest album so far.....its mind blowing
the only worrying aspect is how can he match it with relapse 2?!
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