Album Reviews: Black Eyed Peas and Kasabian

Catching up on albums I skipped earlier in the year that, based on end-of-year attention (best of lists, Grammy nominations) I decided to finally pay attention to:

Black Eyed Peas - The E.N.D. (3/5)

I listened to this album on MySpace when it first came and wasn't that impressed, save for the handful of songs that sounds like they would make great singles ("Boom Boom Pow" and "I Gotta Feeling," for which nothing else needs to be written at this point). With the album being a surprise nominee for the Album of the Year Grammy, I decided to finally give it a proper listen and review.

After "Where Is the Love" became a major worldwide smash, Black Eyed Peas were perhaps wrongly categorized as a band with something to say. While their next album's biggest hit, "My Humps," went some distance to shatter that myth, The E.N.D. nails the coffin shut. No social consciousness here--just hedonistic calls to the dance floor, the party and the bedroom.

"Rock that Body" samples Rob Base's "It Takes Two," putting the late '80s house classic through a Daft Punk-style electro-pop workout. Like "I Gotta Feeling," it's produced by David Guetta, who gives the Peas a nice dance pop lift on these songs. "Meet Me Halfway" prominently features the group's female vocalist Fergie--famous in her own right after her massively successful solo bow 3 years ago--over a smooth '80s-based pop production. As if to make its source material even more obvious, the chorus contains the word "Borderline," a nod to Madonna, of course. Is great as that sounds, this song actually falls short for me. Gwen Stefani's already mined this territory more effectively.

Highly repetitive "Imma Be" sends up stuttering beats and Fergie raps. It's not my thing, although I do like the funk transition for the song's last third. "Alive" sounds like an '80s love song sent first through the auto-tune wringer and then souped up with polished synth effects. "Missing You" has a laid-back, mid-tempo vibe reminiscent of Fergie's solo hit "Glamorous," but with a busier production. "Ring-a-ling" is another exercise in vocal processing and synthesizer layering, but without a coherent melody.

"Party All the Time" is not a revival of the '80s Eddie Murphy song (done anyway a few years ago by Sharam), but the stomping dance track manages to be the only worthwhile song on the album's second half. "Out of My Head" goes for a funkier sound, but fails to take off. Both songs find Fergie talking about being tipsy and drinking too much, which isn't very clever. "Electric City" offers up waves of bass beats of profound electronic depth, but little else of interest. "Showdown" is just kind of boring. "Now Generation" refreshingly departs from much of the album's synth pop by putting forward acoustic guitar and harmonica, but really fails on the lyrical front, taking their vapidness to a new level. "One Tribe's" Rhythm Nation message lacks sincerity against all the DJing, drinking and dancing that dominate the album. If you make through to the end, since after "Party All the Time," there's little enjoyment in the album's second half, you'll get to "Rockin to the Beat," which has a "Billie Jean"-like '80s beat and vocals so processed as to render them unintelligible.

So really my opinion of this album hasn't changed. It's quite uneven, with a few standout tracks but quite a bit of hip-hop/dance pop that would provide a good backdrop to a fun house party but not a very engaging listen in its own right.

Best: I Gotta Feeling, Boom Boom Pow, Rock that Body

Kasabian - West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum (3/5)

Q Magazine named this the best album of 2009, but I don't see what all the fuss is about. It's fine, but I don't see what distinguishes this from a lot of other British rock bands, namely Oasis, who I think does it better.

The album opens with an interesting assortment of songs--the straightforward but pleasing rock "Underdog," the '60s-influenced in poppier "Where Did All the Love Go?," and the vibrant pulse of "Fast Fuse." I like "Thick As Thieves," which sounds like Oasis with a Western bent, and "Fire," which gives the album's weak second half a good does of last-minute energy. And "Vlad the Impaler" is an interesting blend of sounds from different eras--'70s scratchy effects, '80s hip-hop, and '90s electronica.

After that it gets less interesting. "Take Aim" is highly repetitive, but has a good groove to it. "West Ryder Silver Bullet" also has a Western vibe, but is slower, yet it also tosses in some Flaming Lips-like oddness in the form of a female spoken intro (that makes little sense) and some sci-fi synth effects. "Ladies and Gentlemen" is a not particularly affecting ballad with an unappealing vocal. "Secret Alphabets" shuffles along with some early '80s-styled sci-fi synths and then it slows down its last quarter for a looped strings arrangement that would have been more interesting had it delivered an actual melody. "Happiness" is the predictably lushing closer.

These aren't bad songs, but they just don't seem very interesting to me. Other acts have already explored the Ennio Morricone sound, the sci-fi synths, the '60s psychedelia. Kasabian doesn't seem to be bringing anything new to the table nor doing anything particularly impressive with the ingredients that are already there.

Best: Where Did All the Love Go, Thick as Thieves, Vlad the Impaler, Fire