ShareThisBy CHUCK CAMPBELL
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
"20 Y.O.," Janet Jackson (Virgin)
Janet Jackson announces at the beginning of her new "20 Y.O.," "I want to keep it light, I don't want to be serious."
Brilliant call, and she follows through, which makes the release _ a celebration of the 20th anniversary of her "Control" breakthrough _ sound every bit the party album.
Three men have key roles in the 40-year-old singer's resurrection: Her longtime collaborators Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis continue to work the magic that specifically suits Jackson's delicate delivery while her producer boyfriend Jermaine Dupri likewise jumps on board. (Incidentally, these three guys also participated in the revival of Mariah Carey last year with their work on "The Emancipation of Mimi.")
"20 Y.O." drags Jackson's career out of the doldrums, a condition induced by too much introspection, filler-stuffed releases and the 2004 Super Bowl fiasco.
The resilient Jackson (who serves as a fourth producer here) offers two of her most endearing dance songs in ages in the fluffy "So Excited" and sweeping "Enjoy." The songs' instantly gratifying choruses and naive playfulness evoke such former hits as "When I Think of You" and "Escapade."
"20 Y.O.'s" charm extends throughout its crisp 50 minutes as Jackson's textured vocals ride the propulsive boom of "Get It Out Me," shimmer in the candy-store churn of "Daybreak" and lustily slink along the stripper-song buzz of "This Body."
Inevitably Jackson indulges in sultry ballads, and she effectively swoons through "With U," "Take Care" and "Love 2 Love." But this time, she simmers in moderation, offering just enough to get listeners thinking about sex rather than deadening them with endless foreplay, as she did with 2004's "Damita Jo" and 2001's "Janet."
Ironically, the only lackluster cut here is the album's first single, the fizzy ballad "Call on Me" featuring Nelly.
The rest of "20 Y.O." glows with the renewed enthusiasm of Jam and Lewis, whose inspired production is bolstered by Dupri's modernizing touches, creating an R&B/pop/urban goulash for the singer's self-assured femininity and understated grace.
Jackson doesn't belt, she beckons. And though she doesn't dominate the songs, she's always in control.
Rating (five possible): 4
"TA-DAH," Scissor Sisters (Universal/Motown)
The Scissor Sisters barely got the party started, and now it seems like they're already getting over it.
The New York-based quintet rode tacky retro-glitz and endless '70s-referencing music on its self-titled 2004 release, which was a huge hit in the United Kingdom if only a modest one in the States.
"Ta-Dah" continues the romping, nostalgic sound, but the group cages the festivities in melancholy and uncertainty. Nothing illustrates this better than the opening track/first single "I Don't Feel Like Dancin'," which paradoxically rides a buoyant disco beat as Bee-Gees-channeling frontman Jake Shears delivers the titular message: "I don't feel like dancin', dancin'/Even if I find nothing better to do."
Yet in a way, the apparent contradiction serves "Ta Dah's" purpose. The Bee Gees sang "Tragedy" in a big synthetic whirl, after all, and the Scissor Sisters' forceful arrangements only electrify their theatrics.
No wonder the ever-dramatic Sir Elton John _ another obvious influence on the group _ is such a fan that he plays piano on both "I Don't Feel Like Dancin' " and an "Intermission" that finds Shears concluding, "We were born to die."
For more histrionics, there's a wailing guitar slicing through the New Orleans-themed "She's My Man," and an apocalyptic choir opens a "Kiss You Off" that evolves into a vibrant electronic number to service singer Ana Matronic's lead vocals.
"Ta-Dah's" quirkiness and camp eventually weigh down the proceedings with excessive cheese, but at least two late-album cuts shift gears and indicate the Scissor Sisters' ability to branch out. Shears' subdued vocals on "The Other Side," for instance, are a welcome break from his usual shrill delivery and a better fit for the surreal nature of the song, and "Might Tell You Tonight" shines with a sweetness that lightens the dark elements on much of the rest of "Ta-Dah."
So even if the band decides to issue a "last call" on its nightclub stuff, it'll find another way to woo an audience.
Rating: 3-1/2
"DREAMS," The Whitest Boy Alive (Bubbles)
Given the background of its key members, the Whitest Boy Alive debuts with a surprisingly light sound on "Dreams."
Featuring a pair of DJs _ Berlin-based Norwegian Erlend Oye (on guitar and vocals) and German Marcin Oz (bass) _ plus a drummer and keyboardist, The Whitest Boy Alive bows with an airy, unlayered counterpoint to dance music.
The transition for Oye and Oz is relatively subtle at first: The fluid opening track, "Burning," finds Oye employing unassuming vocals as he sighs about running the treadmill of life, backed by free-flowing electricity and an insistent rhythm. A funky bass creates a little tension for the subsequent track, "Golden Cage," while Oye sings about missing someone, though he wistfully adds, "I also felt this way when I was still with you."
The vision of "Dreams" continues to blur into atmospherically mellowness built on nonstimulating stretches that suggest these tracks are more like incomplete demos than finished products. A pulsing beat is about the only sign of life in the droning "Don't Give Up," for example, and the reggae inflections of "Above You" are too casual to feel fully fleshed out.
And the Whitest Boy Alive just gets paler and paler as "Dreams" flows along, first into something resembling jam-band territory on the tedious "Inflation" and then into cuts like "Figures" and "Borders," which reveal the group's penchant for jazzy minimalism.
By the time Oye sings something about going "five minutes without talking" on closer "All Ears," the Whitest Boy Alive has practically blanched into nothingness.
Nonetheless, the narcotic "Dreams" is for the most part mildly addictive, fresh and clean as it gently persuades its listeners to reflect and chill out ... at least until their consciousness fails them.
Rating: 3
