I find it difficult to say anything definite about this album. <\/p>\n
\u201c!!!!!!!\u201d is a 30-second track that is in debt to Bad Brains and similar artists. I once appreciated it as a strange ditty, but the track is getting on my nerves as I write this review. <\/p>\n
I initially thought \u201cWater\u201d was a failed attempt at progressive rap. I now believe the entire song is engrossing. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Considering how much trash lead emcee Black Thought can talk, it\u2019s cool that The Roots are willing to recognize 230 rap artists in \u201cWAOK (Ay) Rollcall,\u201d but how about an actual song? (I\u2019m thinking of Tupac\u2019s \u201cOld School.\u201d)<\/p>\n
I might have given this album an A- weeks ago. Another week I would have given it a C+. My final grade is B, but don\u2019t let the rating say anything more than this: I\u2019m not sure how one should take Phrenology<\/i>. Even though I\u2019m relieved that I purchased the album at a considerable discount, I can\u2019t imagine not owning it. <\/p>\n
Indeed, \u201cThe Seed (2.0)\u201d is one of the best songs of the 2000s, featuring an impeccable beat from Questlove (who also did a good job of producing Phrenology<\/i>) and a cool guitar riff from Cody Chesnutt, whose playing evokes a hint of indie rock behind the funk. For the vocals, Black Thought and Chesnutt merge rap and soul with rock n\u2019 roll attitude. It\u2019s almost like they made \u201cThe Seed (2.0)\u201d for music lovers, but the song is too damn catchy to be pretentious. \u00a0<\/p>\n
On the same album, we get \u201cBreak You Off,\u201d which isn\u2019t a bad song so much as the unfortunate track that had to follow \u201cThe Seed (2.0).\u201d Listening to the latter is an invigorating experience, but \u201cBreak You Off\u201d is a little boring, dragging at seven minutes plus and failing to keep up with the times. <\/p>\n
I\u2019m disappointed Ursula Rucker isn\u2019t used more on the album (she only speaks on two brief tracks), but at least the album\u2019s first song, \u201cRock You,\u201d kicks you in the teeth with its industrial heaviness. Hell, I can\u2019t really complain about the album\u2019s first half. It\u2019s not until I finish listening to \u201cWater\u201d that the album becomes a chore. \u201cQuills,\u201d \u201cPussy Galore,\u201d and \u201cComplexity\u201d are decent songs, but they seem lazy compared to the experimentation of earlier tracks. Unfortunately, I\u2019ve never been interested enough to finish the spoken-word conclusion, \u201cSomething In The Way Of Things (In Town),\u201d and even though that one hidden track with Talib Kweli is somewhat cool, I don\u2019t like hidden tracks because, well, they\u2019re kind of stupid. In this case, awkward silence doesn\u2019t improve an album, even if you throw in a neat song after one minute of nothing. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Despite its faulty structure and some bland or annoying songs, Phrenology<\/i> is a rewarding experience. Not even the worst song is truly bad (unless you count \u201c!!!!!!!\u201d as something more than a silly experiment), and the liner notes are among the best I\u2019ve seen (a Roots hallmark). I will continue listening to it, and who knows? I might finally see it as the masterpiece or misfire that it is. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":26329,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6822],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-41864","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-the-roots","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/73"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41864\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=41864"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=41864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}