Track by Track review of Terius Nash's '1977' album
Thursday, September 8, 2011 || 2:22 PM
Excuse the lateness of this review, I've been enjoying this album too much to post. Props to The-Dream for once again releasing a solid album, a solid free album at that
#1 Wake Me When Its Over (WMWIO): In my opinion this is one of the best tracks on this album. I love the repetition of the word 'over' just makes it a fun song to sing, as mentioned in a previous post on my blog it really is a beautiful and sad song (5/5)*
#2 Used To Be: I actually don't like this song very much, it's a kiss off to ladies so maybe it's just bitterness, Not a huge fan but it's not horrible (3/5)
#3 Long Gone: Love this jawn, the hook is mad catchy, love the spanish guitar/zorro music or whatever he has going on. Very different coming from the dream. Love the style (4/5)
#4 Ghetto: I love The-Dream for this track, it's a freaky song but still so catchy and a bouncy, loud, banger. I coulda done without Big Sean (4/5)
#5 Wedding Crasher: This song isn't bad, in fact, I love that this is his anthem and the music is very wedding-ish. Not quite sure why I can't give it a 5. (4/5)
#6 Rolex: Props for the Rick Ross grunt sample but I gotta say that the chorus is just a lil ridiculous. I just realized this song is kinda weak. Took me a while (3/5)
#7 Silly: Not a Dream Song so no rating. Casha sounds good but I think its cuz this suits her vocal range, I'd like to see her try another cover in the future
#8 1977 (Miss You Still): I love the 'racetrack/cars flying by' beat in the back, kinda like a distant guitar, this song is heartfelt and it really got to me as I listened to it today. It's well arranged by Terius. (5/5)
#9 Wish You Were Mine: This is more like something that would be on his studio LP, it sounds like it could be a Love Vs Money throw away. I love love this song and his nonsense rambling between the verses. One thing I love is The-Dream layers stuff in songs and it makes it more enjoyable. He goes nuts. Definitely one of my favs from the album (5/5)*
#10 'This Ish Real Ninja' (G-Rated Title lol): This song is basically Pharrell and Dream poppin off at the mouth about what they have and basically doing them. Pharrell lends one of possibly the best verses in his career with the continuous use of the N-word after each bar. (4/5)
#11 Form of Flattery: Again, a new style for Dream, this song is slow but in no way is it a love song. It's more like a jab at all of those that have been influenced by The-Dream undeniably he means Drake, Frank Ocean, The Weeknd. He reminds that he's embedded and these other cats have 15 minutes. I'm sure he's not specifically speaking of The Weeknd, afterall he did give props to him in a recent interview but he is definitely poppin warning shots. I love that he says 'I wish you would roll up...' Don't test Dream's Gangsta, he's murk you in a musical battle (5/5)*
Overall: 83/100
* Tracks are my favs.
Solid effort by Mr. Terius Nash, I place this above Love King. Long King in my opinion was weak not because it wasn't good music but it didn't flow together like the other albums. I like when Dream uses a theme on his albums '1977' was a very personal breakup and bragging album. Can't wait to hear more from my boy.
Okay, so I've been out of town and here and there so please excuse my absence. But I can hit everyone up with this. Today Bey's album is out. I've had it for a couple weeks now but now that everyone can purchase it let's listen together, shall we?
Beyonce 4 Album review
1+1- This song is written by one of my absolute fav producers and performers The-Dream, I posted his demo a few post earlier. The Beyonce version has several differences in the music and also the way it's sang. (4/5)
I Care- This song is like Beyonce's rock track IMO. It's a pretty haunting song that's also catchy and really accurately portrays the emotions of her hurt woman. Her singing is just meh. I don't think Beyonce has to try very hard to sing well. She probably just phones a lot of stuff in. That's not shade btw. (4/5)
I Miss You- I kinda consider this the Frank Ocean track merely because had a hand in writing it, I like the simplicity of this song. It's not trying to do too much. I think Beyonce is doing some vocal gymnastics in the background, not really necesasry but that's her thing. I like the vibe of the song. It's cool. (5/5)
Best Thing I Never Had- This song is pop poo for the radios to play and for those fans to be satisfied. Pretty dull in my opinion. This is basically how I felt about 'If I Were A Boy' but I'd actually take 'Boy' over this song. (2.5/5)
Party- One of the stronger tracks on the album, I'm a fan of that whole 80s sound, so this works for me. Nevermind the ridiculous lyrics (which are actually laughably bad but they work). For once I can actually say I could do without Andre 3000's verse. It wasn't his best. Still this song stands out from the rest. (5/5)
Rather Die Young- I'm already thinking to myself. Is this about Jay-Z? But I'm sure not everything points back to him. This song just has a hook with her screaming growling voice shouting 'I'd rather die young!!" but I actually like what she was trying to do. It's not a stand out track but I wouldn't necessarily skip it right away (3.5/5)
Start Over - I absolutely love the beat of this song and the melodic verses but the chorus ruins it for me. I keep trying to get over it but it keeps coming back to that. Nevermind the shouting she does, the song becomes a repetitive mess (3/5)
Love On Top- Written by The-Dream, I don't know how to feel about this song. It seems like a feel good 80s song. I see what was trying to be done. So I'll give some credit for effort and also because it's The-Dream, it's still not a standout jawn even with her strong singing (3/5/5)
Countdown- This song is also by The-Dream but it's trash IMO. I couldn't get through 2 minutes of it practically. (2.5/5)
End of Time- Another standout track, and a banger that will get you dancing. I love the fancy free vibe, this is another one by The-Dream, it's catchy and addictive and should definitely be a single (5/5)
I Was Here- This is a sentimental jawn and I respect Beyonce for what she's trying to do here. It's a sweet song that does what it does but it's skippable. I'm not a big fan of songs like these so I'm a hater (3/5)
Girls Who Run The World- This song is a song that when it really gets down to it...It's not all that great. But if you're in a party it's a little greater. The lyrics are laughably penned by The-Dream. It's quotable when you need a little laugh but all in all it's a little mediocre. Still I'll give it a 4/5
Overall-- (7.5/10)- I made the mistake of proclaiming too soon on my Twitter that this album was better than 'I Am...Sasha Fierce' until I recalled that 'Sweet Dreams' one of my fav Beyonce songs was on that album. 'Single Ladies' got played out to death but it's still by far stronger than a lot of these tracks. This album didn't really flow together well for me. It's still better than Gaga's album. You can see that Beyonce is trying to cross over so she's making radio friendly songs that appeal to everyone but she does abandon a fanbase a little with that. A few of the songs are just weak, I would've liked for her to have gone the Adele route and just sang some soulful stuff on a couple songs that showcased her voice instead of Pop puffery but it's not a bad effort. I'm predicting she'll do about 300-400K, these days that's pretty good sales.
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So, Beyonce's song has leaked in HQ glory with Lil Jon' screaming over the track. I gotta say that at first I appreciated it but at the moment it's starting to wear off. I see what Bey was trying to do. I'll probably dance to it when I hear it on the radio or anywhere else but it coulda been a lot better. I like 'Pon Di Floor' in its original form now that I've heard it. 'Axx on the Floor' also used the sample so then you have that also impacting the sound of the song. I think it'll grow on everyone but I can't really say it won't get old fast. It's already getting old for me.
