Blonde teen pop singers Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears both released their phenomenally successful debut albums in 1999, setting up a situation for easy comparison ever since. In my mind, the biggest distinction has been Britney’s quantity to Christina’s quality. Britney had released two more albums by the time Christina released her 2002 follow-up, and Britney has released a total of six discs now at the point where Christina is just getting around to her third. However, despite al of Britney’s releases, she’s managed only three #1 hits on either the Billboard Hot 100 or R&R Top 40, whereas Christina has had five, as well as a more consistent top 10 record. Britney virtually lives in the tabloid world, allowing them to report every mundane detail of her barefoot, convenience store-going life, while Christina rarely appears in the tabs and certainly never barefoot. While Britney has trashed her image, Christina has refined hers—and she’s never looked better than she does these days.
With that in mind, it’s a shame Christina’s taken a page from Britney in delivering a mammoth album of 22 songs spread over two discs. Back to Basics is not just one concept album, but two: Disc 1 is a soulful, jazzy collection of heavily retro-inspired R&B, a tribute to Christina’s musical influences produced mostly by DJ Premier, while Disc 2 is a mix of circus freakshow and ‘40s-style songs produced by Linda Perry. It’s certainly an ambitious undertaking and there are some great moments, but unfortunately at it’s length there’s a lot that could have been cut. Let’s take it disc by disc.
The first disc’s intro sets up the concept: “get inside the minds of every legend I ever wanted to stand beside.” This followed by the fairly simple, soulful piano and choir-backed “Makes We Wanna Pray,” a good but not great start.
The album picks up with the next two tracks. “Back to the Day” reiterates the challenge set forth in the intro, with Christina singing that she’s going back to where it began, name-checking artists like Lena Horne, Aretha Franklin, Miles Davis, and Louis Armstrong. It’s a fun song, with record scratching and scratchy ‘70s-sounding sampling. “Ain’t No Other Man,” the first single, is the real gem of the album. It’s a fantastic, fast, horn-laden romp of a song and Christina really sings the hell out of it. Really great.
Unfortunately, that’s the end of the really great moments on Disc 1. Other good songs include the slower ‘70s-sounding “Understand;” piano ballad “Oh Mother,” which features a great strings bridge; “On Our Way,” which has a similar piano and scratchy record sound; and mid-tempo acoustic guitar number “Without You,” which is not another Badfinger remake, but does remind me of early ‘90s Mariah Carey stuff.
The rest, while not bad, is decidedly so-so. “Slow Down Baby” is too repetitive, “Still Dirrty,” an obvious ode to last album’s single “Dirtty,” is fun but not very musically interesting, and “Here to Stay” declares she’s not going away, although at this point I’ve had more horn blasts and retro record scratchy noise than I think I can take, so I really am ready for something else.
There’s also some unwelcome egomania going on here. “F.U.S.S.” stands for “F.U. Scott Storch,” a slam against her Stripped producer who bad-mouthed her during an interview after he was passed over for production work on Back to Basics. “Thank You (Dedication)” is recordings from fans telling Christina about how much they appreciate her and how she’s changed their lives. Please.
If disc 1 suffers from too much of the same, then disc 2 has the opposite problem. It’s a bizarre mix of styles that lacks cohesion. It’s almost like disc 2 was an afterthought—a favor to friend Linda Perry, who produced all of the second disc’s tracks.
It opens with “Enter the Circus,” an intro of sorts with creepy circus music, a ringleader, and a choir of voices. It wouldn’t sound out of place on a Tim Burton soundtrack. It’s bizarre and frankly a little scary. This is followed by “Welcome,” the second intro, which continues with the circus theme, adding strings and piano. It’s one of disc 2’s better moments, but that’s not saying much.
What does work here are three tracks of varying stylistic origin, namely “Hurt,” the album’s second single. “Hurt” is an emotional pop ballad lined with lush piano and strings and a knockout vocal performance by Aguilera, who both reins herself in and lets it out on this number, an obvious successor to “Beautiful.” It’s out of place on this disc, but only because it lacks the strange artifice of the rest of the songs. Also good is “Candyman,” an energetic early ‘50s-sounding number, with horns, hand claps, and a spot-on vocal delivery. It doesn’t really fit here either, but I like it. Understated “Save Me From Myself,” is also good, featuring an unprocessed raw vocal, acoustic guitar, and some strings. It’s such a contrast to the surrounding bombast.
The other four tracks are either okay or just bad. “Nasty Naughty Boy” establishes a fun, sexy ‘40s cabaret style, but quickly wears out its welcome. “Mercy on Me” has too much production: organs, weird choir vocals, strings, etc. Dull “I Got Trouble,” another ‘40s-ish track announces its old by the underlying vinyl static (Wasn’t the purpose of digital music formats to eliminate this?). The album’s final track, “The Right Man” goes too far over the top to be enjoyable.
Back to Basics would have been a fantastic album, if it had been only half as long. Disc 1 in particular shows innovation, creativity, and class, but has too many similar songs. Disc 2 is just a mess, but does have a few salvageable moments. Aguilera deserves a lot of credit for taking some major risks on this project and for really stretching herself and the bounds of pop music. But someone should have reined her in.
Get it: Ain’t No Other Man, Hurt, Back to the Day, Candyman, Makes Me Wanna Pray, Oh Mother, Without You, Understand, Save Me From Myself
Skip it: F.U.S.S., Thank You (Dedication), and everything else on Disc 2.
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