ShareThisBy CHUCK CAMPBELL
Sunday, November 05, 2006
"B'DAY," Beyonce (Sony Urban Music/Columbia)
Beyonce's quadruple-platinum 2003 solo debut, "Dangerously in Love," made a statement with its opening track (and first single), "Crazy in Love": This woman is an icon for the decade.
With her follow-up "B'Day," it's more like: eh.
To be fair, "B'Day's" opening track (and first single), "Dij` Vu," is one of the worst cuts on the release, a jittery bit of irrelevance featuring way too much of Beyonce's bland-rapping boyfriend, Jay-Z. Yet even taking into consideration the better songs on "B'Day," it seems the talented singer should have had the resources to pull together something more substantial than this, a sophomore effort that isn't a bomb so much as it's a serviceable completion of a chore.
Despite the singer's embarrassment of riches of A-list producers, "B'Day" struggles to find either hooks or meaning, as if the Beyonce showbiz machine is merely churning out product. That corporate manipulation is all the more blatant with an ad for a new clothing line in the CD insert and the placement of the bellowing song "Listen" on the disc, a promotion for Beyonce's upcoming film "Dreamgirls," complete with her spoken introduction.
Nevertheless, Beyonce lets us know these songs are important by blaring through them almost nonstop. And fortunately, the producers generally give the singer something nonformulaic to support her perfunctory squalls.
Special kudos go to Rich Harrison, the man behind the boards on the two best cuts. He produced the sizzling funk/rock "Suga Mama" that lets Beyonce carry on about being a Jolly Rancher and dive into a fetching refrain, and he also constructed a hypnotically weird cadence and imaginative programming for "Freakum Dress," the closest thing to a "Crazy in Love" on "B'Day."
Elsewhere, the Neptunes are above-adequate producers of a "Green Light" that hitches into the accelerating intensity of a chorus of "Go! Go! Go!" and a relatively (and refreshingly) subtle bit of disenchantment, "Kitty Kat." Also, the Swizz Beatz-produced "Get Me Bodied" meshes chants and handclaps into a military drill in which Beyonce makes a noteworthy sergeant of soul.
"B'Day" needed more such investment from its star.
Rating (five possible): 3
"PAULA DEANDA," Paula DeAnda (Arista)
If you're an executive at a place like Arista Records, you know you've got to put out stuff like "Paula DeAnda" because out of humble beginnings comes the next Janet Jackson or Mariah Carey.
And if you're a 16-year-old singer like Paula DeAnda, you play a willing pawn in the record-industry game because out of humble beginnings comes the next Janet Jackson or Mariah Carey.
So down DeAnda rolls on the assembly line as able producers such as Happy Perez and battle-worn songwriters such as Diane Warren shape the teen's sound into something glossy and palatable _ a light pop/urban blend (with scads of guest rappers) to appeal to teen and preteen girls.
Although her vocals aren't distinctive, DeAnda is a belter, and she's cute. Plus she can even claim some songwriting input into a handful of "Paula DeAnda's" 13 rote tracks. No wonder Clive Davis signed her on the spot at her audition, as the press release claims.
The teen is showing some traction: She's popular on MySpace, she's in rotation on MTV, and Yahoo made her a featured artist. Also, the gentle-bumping beat and vocals swells of first single "Doing Too Much" are a fair representation of "Paula DeAnda." If the singer can hold interest, she's got more hits in the wings _ crush-obsessed songs like the infectiously defiant "Good Girl" ("You had a good girl, but you let her slip away"), the thumping "So Cold" and the more ginger "Walk Away." There's also a splash of sass in the relatively explosive "Make 'Em Clap" and modestly celebratory "Let's Go Out Tonight."
Lesser tracks on "Paula DeAnda" mirror these themes and sounds, but duplication tends not to matter with this target audience.
If DeAnda's lucky, there will be interest in a second release. Maybe her fan base will grow, and as they age, perhaps they'll even follow her career trajectory. In a few years, DeAnda also might switch up her image into something strikingly mature. Her new songs could become nightclub fixtures, and she might even become a hit with the gays.
For now, however, DeAnda and Arista are just hoping her disposable music won't be quickly disposed.
Rating: 2-1/2
"STEP OUTSIDE YOURSELF," Over It (Virgin)
Virgin Records' new-artist initiative has included an aggressive push to grab up-and-coming, radio-friendly rock acts _ a bold move for a label whose most prominent members include Janet Jackson, Gorillaz and Robbie Williams.
Unfortunately, some of these recent signees have been bereft of imagination, including the quintet Over It, which makes its major-label debut with "Step Outside Yourself."
The Southern-California-by-way-of-Virginia band plays "pop-punk," which in fact has nothing to do with punk music and could more appropriately be described as "guitar-based pop." It's a stale genre, but hardly an extinct one.
Apart from the mundane lead vocals of Peter Munters, "Step Outside Yourself" suffers from shoddy production. Generic guitars speed anonymously by, and even the tracks with full-throttle cadence merely charge across worn-out territory.
Unintended jokes beg to be made about the song titles:
"Too Much Information?" Not enough distinction.
"Your Song?" They don't make it their own.
"The Energy?" Listless.
"Lost?" Well, duh.
Still, Over It flashes just enough spark to thwart complete dismissal _ usually in the form of short-lived change-ups like a symphonic-ish bridge here and a scaled-back close there. Late in the album the band lets loose an inventive, New Wave-esque "Mister Serious," and later still, on the penultimate track "Come Out With Your Hands Up," drummer James Ulrich suddenly makes his presence known with a rowdy, primal set.
Apparently these guys aren't incapable of branching out so much as they're unwilling to do so.
Or someone simply isn't letting them.
Rating: 2
