It's been a while. I would like to think my absence is purely due to work, but that would only be partially true. The other part has to do with reviewing this new album by The Black Eyed Peas, The E.N.D. I planned on releasing the review a few weeks after the album dropped like with the newest U2 and Dave Matthews albums. However, I didn't have the time to listen to it all the way through until recently, or could even wrap my head it when I did.
So why have I been struggling for months trying to write this review? Well, I can't seem to tell if The Black Eyed Peas even a work of music or not. You mean like ... more than usual? Look, we can argue if Monkey Business had any aesthetic merit until the cows come home. Even so, I think this will put my frustration into words. When Billboard interviewed the band's leader, will.i.am, he said it would be breaking away from the concept of the album. He said to Billboard, "What is an album when you put 12 songs on iTunes and people can pick at it like scabs?" That is why this has been so hard. I mean, is there a point to me writing this? The way this album is constructed, all 14 songs are more or less the same song. They all are about five minutes in length. They all have some kind of moderately cool breakdown (listen to "Imma Be," in which the beat goes from the Kill Bill vol. 1 slow-mo-hallway scene to a jazzy breakdown sounding like A Tribe Called Quest Quest or Illmatic in a matter of seconds). They all have blatantly stupid lyrics, from which I will spare you from reading. They all have techno beats and Fergie singing auto-tune. The only difference is that some of these songs are better than others. How can this be? Just listen to "Boom Boom Pow" after you listen to "Alive." Yes, they are the same song. And yes, "Boom Boom Pow" sounds better for some reason. The parts of the formula above just come together for some songs better than others. The only exception to the rule is the harmonica-dominated "Generation Now," a welcomed change from the monotony of the rest of the album.
But will.i.am. gave us exactly what he promised. If this establishes a trend in the music industry, this will be the E.N.D. of the music album as we know it. We all know since iTunes burst onto the scene that there is very little need to download a whole album rather than just downloading the songs you want. Will.i.am. understands this. He understands that a song like "Ring-A-Ling" could have some appeal in small doses. However, if you listen to it on the album at track No. 8, it becomes so exasperating that you may want to throw your iPod out of the window of your car.
To sum this up, you cannot listen to The E.N.D. all the way through. Your ears will just not allow you to do so. Perhaps the individual parts are greater than the work taken as a whole, but the purpose of this blog is not to review singles. This is not an album; it's a paint by numbers kit ... and the picture doesn't match the one on the box.
1.5/5
For Your Consideration: "Boom Boom Pow," "Imma Be," "Generation Now"
For Next Time: TBA
