Classic Album: Timbaland – Shock Value

Released February 4, 2007

1. Oh Timbaland
2. Give It To Me ft. Justin Timberlake & Nelly Furtado
3. Release ft. Justin Timberlake
4. The Way I Are ft. Keri Hilson & D.O.E.
5. Bounce ft. Dr. Dre, Justin Timberlake & Missy Elliott
6. Come And Get Me ft. 50 Cent & Tony Yayo
7. Kill Yourself ft. Attitude & Sebastian
8. Boardmeeting ft. Magoo
9. Fantasy ft. Money
10. Scream ft. Keri Hilson & Nicole Scherzinger
11. Miscommunication ft. Keri Hilson & Sebastian
12. Bombay ft. Amar & Jim Beanz
13. Throw It On Me ft. The Hives
14. Time ft. She Wants Revenge
15. One And Only ft. Fall Out Boy
16. Apologize ft. OneRepublic
17. 2 Man Show ft. Elton John

Occasionally I’ll find myself on the Wikipedia page that lists Timbaland productions, just scrolling through in awe of his consistent track record. The list of classics (both according to popular opinion and in my own head) he had a hand in is seemingly endless: ‘Pony’, ‘The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)’, ‘Word Up!’, ‘Try Again’, ‘Get Ur Freak On’, ‘We Need A Resolution’, ‘Work It’, ‘Cry Me A River’, ‘Dirt Off Your Shoulder’, ‘Pass That Dutch’, ‘Promiscuous’, ‘SexyBack’, ‘Say It Right’, ‘Innocence’, ’4 Minutes’, ‘Give It Up To Me’… I could go on and on. His work with Missy Elliott alone would be enough to make Timbaland a legend.

The Timbaland story has two clear peaks: from about 1996 to 2002, where his work with Missy, Aaliyah and others helped define hip-hop and R&B for those years, and then the resurgence from 2006 to 2008, where he became bigger than ever thanks to three very important albums: Nelly Furtado’s Loose, Justin Timberlake’s FutureSex/LoveSounds and Timbaland’s own Shock Value. While the former two routinely get called two of the best records of their decade, Shock Value is actually my favourite, for being more diverse, more interesting and for having more top-quality songs.

It was, of course, Nelly and Justin who ushered in the Shock Value era with ‘Give It To Me’. The sparse Timbaland single saw the three artists take stock of their triumphs over the past year, each brushing off rivals in a cool, swift fashion that saw whoever they were responding to (rumoured to be Scott Storch, Fergie and Prince for Tim, Nelly and Justin respectively) nicely taken down a peg or two. The song itself represents much of the album: out-of-the-ordinary production (this is Timbaland, after all) and a big chorus.

One thing about Shock Value is that it is quite long, even to the point that it could do without a couple of the less impressive tracks. It manages to mostly avoid fatigue by splitting itself up into sections: the first five tracks are commercial R&B hip-hop numbers with some big name guest stars, the next three are a harder, more vicious style of hip-hop, the next four are pure “urban” with a few experimental moments, and the final five tracks are what I call the “rock era”, which saw collaborations with a few artists known more for pop-rock than R&B.

The Nina Simone-sampling ‘Oh Timbaland’ is a great introduction, allowing Tim a moment alone to set the dark tone for the rest of the album. ‘Give It To Me’ follows, then ‘Release’, a standard but enjoyable track with Justin Timberlake that could have easily replaced one of the less stunning moments from FutureSex/LoveSounds. What comes next, however, is one of my favourite songs of all time and one that I’ve basically been obsessed with non-stop since it was released. ‘The Way I Are’ is a towering masterpiece, the melody, the production, the delivery, everything coming together to form both an album centrepiece and a classic single.

‘Bounce’ is another personal favourite, bringing together Dr. Dre and Missy Elliott to give two amazing guest verses (“Sum Yung Ho” and “HOLD UP, HELL NAW, LIKE BRITNEY SPEARS I WEAR NO DRAWERS” are highlights), Justin again singing ridiculous lines such as “bounce, like your ass had the hiccups”, and thirty seconds of outro that sounds like an array of pig noises. ‘Come And Get Me’, with 50 Cent & Tony Yayo, is a nineties-influenced hip-hop track, while ‘Kill Yourself’, ‘Boardmeeting’ and ‘Fantasy’ each push the album forward nicely while never reaching the highs of the first five songs.

The slight downward slide is completely turned around by ‘Scream’, the album’s other R&B classic, and another one I’ve been consistently obsessed with since 2007. Smooth and seductive, it features Keri Hilson and Nicole Scherzinger fighting to see who can drop it like it’s hotter. With one of those choruses that are so good they feel as if they could just repeat forever, ‘Scream’ is the epic, almost six-minute triumph that emerges as one of the finest moments in the careers of all involved.

The “rock era” is indeed a great one, and could almost be half of a completely different album. The quick, frantic ‘Throw It On Me’ with The Hives throws us headfirst into it, then She Wants Revenge and Fall Out Boy enter with collaborations that are both fascinating and genuinely excellent.

It was the Timbaland mix of OneRepublic’s ballad ‘Apologize’ that would give Shock Value its biggest hit. The haunting production was reminiscent of an even slower ‘Cry Me A River’ and it was the song that would propel Ryan Tedder into the international spotlight for the first time. A piano/beats piece with Elton John called ’2 Man Show’ closes the album, and Shock Value is done. Four amazing singles, a whole host of great album tracks – this was a fully realised and satisfying project.

What happened next? Hard Candy, Ashlee Simpson, Duran Duran, Chris Cornell and the so-disappointing-it-hurts-to-talk-about Shock Value II. But although Timbaland may not be flavour of the month anymore, Shock Value stands tall as one of the best pop albums of 2007 and a snapshot of a time when this sound was exciting and inescapable.

Classic Album: Janet Jackson – Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814

Released September 19, 1989

1. Interlude: Pledge
2. Rhythm Nation
3. Interlude: T.V.
4. State Of The World
5. Interlude: Race
6. The Knowledge
7. Interlude: Let’s Dance
8. Miss You Much
9. Interlude: Come Back
10. Love Will Never Do (Without You)
11. Livin’ In A World (They Didn’t Make)
12. Alright
13. Interlude: Hey Baby
14. Escapade
15. Interlude: No Acid
16. Black Cat
17. Lonely
18. Come Back To Me
19. Someday Is Tonight
20. Interlude: Livin’… In Complete Darkness

In terms of her career, Control is easily Janet Jackson’s most important album. But without a blockbuster follow-up, she could have been regarded as a one album wonder, a lucky success in an area where most other Jackson siblings have failed. Jermaine, LaToya and Rebbie all had the odd hit single here and there but they could never sustain momentum for a huge album campaign. With her breakout record Janet established herself as a commercial force, and with Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814, her sprawling, adventurous concept album, produced by Jam & Lewis and issued in September 1989, she established herself as an icon.

So here’s the deal: the Rhythm Nation is an artistic collective who sing and they dance and they don’t do drugs. They are anti-bigotry and pro-knowledge. They dance with nunchucks and chairs and they do really high kicks and they all dress alike.

“We are a nation with no geographic boundaries
Bound together through our beliefs
We are like minded individuals, sharing a common vision
Pushing toward a world rid of colour lines”

The album cover saw Janet wearing the key earring, still symbolising her Control, but her style was quite different, influenced by military uniform and her face had become thinner and more severe. In the booklet of the album we see her in a variety of poses, all pronounced and stern, looking more than ever like her brother Michael.

‘Rhythm Nation’, the title track, opening song and mission statement, is the best song Janet has ever done. The frantic beats, the message, the determined vocal performance, the lyrics and the explosive chorus – she would never top this. There are few moments in pop music as thrilling as the transition of the dance breakdown into to the final choruses, complete with Janet going nuts over the ad-libs, as if she was in a trance brought on but just how beyond amazing this song is. And that’s not even mentioning the incredible video.

The opening trilogy of socially conscious songs is completed with ‘State Of The World’ and ‘The Knowledge’, both of which explore themes that draw on themes that remind me of Public Enemy, albeit in an obviously more commercial style (Chuck D would go on to feature on ‘New Agenda’ from 1993′s janet., which could have been a Rhythm Nation outtake). ‘The Knowledge’ takes the military theme one step further with the classic call-and-response section (“BIGOTRY! NO! ILLITERACY! NO!”). This sequence of tracks would not only break new ground for protest pop, it would go on to heavily influence Michael Jackson’s 1991 album Dangerous, which was heavily inspired by this sound and had its own trio of similar songs: ‘Black Or White’, ‘Jam’ and ‘Why You Wanna Trip On Me?’.

“Get the point? Good. Let’s dance.”

It was hardly going to be doom and gloom forever, though. Within seconds we’ve gone from ‘The Knowledge’ into ‘Miss You Much’, a joyous love song that is a deeper, harder version of Control‘s ‘When I Think Of You’. It still makes use of the new jack swing beats but puts a lighter spin on them. ‘Miss You Much’ remains one of Janet’s classic singles, and was the first Rhythm Nation number one.

‘Love Will Never Do (Without You)’ is a change of pace, a sunny, pure dance-pop track that was engineered for radio and feels exciting no matter how many times you hear it. The opening seconds are among the most gloriously eighties moments that I know of. Such blissful sounds coming after the punch in the face (in a good way) of the opening songs comes as a welcome shift and makes sure this album is diverse and never gets bogged down in its own importance.

We’re back to protest songs now, but this is more ‘Heal The World’ than ‘Scream’. ‘Livin’ In A World (They Didn’t Make)’ is a understated power ballad, if such a thing exists, and feels a bit like an expansion on that “I believe the children are our future” bit from Whitney’s ‘Greatest Love Of All’. The gunshot sound effects and newsreader interlude in this song walks a fine line between genuinely affecting and over-the-top, but I think it works.

“Friends come and friends may go
My friends are real I know
True self you have shown
You’re alright with me”

And wham, we’re back to Janet’s lighter side. ‘Alright’ is yet another classic single, bouncing along on an incredible beat and a great vocal performance, this might be the most fun to be had on Rhythm Nation (and yes, I always clap three times). This is quickly followed by ‘Escapade’, another radiant radio staple which would set the tone for many future Janet singles, from ‘Runaway’ to ‘Whoops Now’ to ‘Just A Little While’.

Did I forget to mention there was hair metal on this album? Oh yes. ‘Black Cat’ is a striking, vicious attack against a daredevil who regularly puts his life in danger (tying in with the anti-drugs stance of the Rhythm Nation). I will forever mourn the death of Janet’s ‘Black Cat’ singing voice, which hasn’t made an appearance on any of her records in a long, long time.

Rhythm Nation, towering classic as it may be, slips ever so slightly towards the end. ‘Lonely’ is probably the weakest song on the album but it is produced really well and is nice to listen to if not as instantly memorable as the other tracks. ‘Come Back To Me’ and ‘Someday Is Tonight’ act as a bridge to the sound Janet would explore on her next project, and they end Rhythm Nation on a relaxed, mature note that brings this unbelievably good album full circle.

Any discussion of this era would be incomplete without mentioning the iconic videos, which made Janet a video pioneer and influenced everybody from Britney to J.Lo to (again) Michael. The intense choreography in ‘Rhythm Nation’ and ‘Miss You Much’, the cartoon world of ‘Alright’, the glorious sexuality of ‘Love Will Never Do (Without You)’ – it was as if Janet grew up rapidly over the two or so years that this was a current album. Just compare the ‘Rhythm Nation’ video with ‘Love Will Never Do’, the evolution is astounding.

Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814 was a blockbuster indeed. It is the only album to send seven singles into the Billboard Hot 100 top five, including four number one hits. It promoted a beautiful, almost childlike dream of the “Rhythm Nation” while always staying firmly mature and adult, and never sacrificing a melody for a message. This is the gold standard for any popstar who wants to make a statement, who wants to affirm that their career is not the result of luck or marketing but of talent and vision. This was a planets-align moment, Janet’s own Thriller, where everything, musically, visually and culturally, came together to make this a truly classic album.

Classic Album: George Michael – Older

Released May 13, 1996

1. Jesus To A Child
2. Fastlove
3. Older
4. Spinning The Wheel
5. It Doesn’t Really Matter
6. The Strangest Thing
7. To Be Forgiven
8. Move On
9. Star People
10. You Have Been Loved
11. Free

Each of the four George Michael studio albums is a classic to me in a different way, and each one holds up so well both as a collection of songs and as an individual work of art. Faith was a collection of pop singles designed as a statement of commercial independence, Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 mixed that formula with a statement of creative independence. The next two, Older and Patience, both dealt with maturity and growing up but approached them from different angles. The former was about looking forward, the latter about looking back.

Older is probably the most cohesive of the four, which doesn’t automatically make it the best, but it does perhaps have the most impressive run of singles, both in terms of quality and UK chart positions:

• ‘Jesus To A Child’ #1
• ‘Fastlove’ #1
• ‘Spinning The Wheel’ #2
• ‘Older’ (double A-side with non-album track ‘I Can’t Make You Love Me’) #3
• ‘Star People ’97′ #2
• ‘You Have Been Loved’/'The Strangest Thing ’97′ (double A-side) #2

The album opens with the first single, ‘Jesus To A Child’, which is a quiet epic that slowly unfolds over seven minutes, eventually revealing itself to be a frontrunner for George’s finest ever ballad. It seems to set the tone for an album full of ballads, but we are taken in a different direction by the follow-up, ‘Fastlove’, which is the one song here that could sit comfortably with his earlier, more up-tempo hits. Even if it does have a catchy chorus and danceable beat, it is still very slinky and restrained, a theme that would characterise much of George’s late nineties output.

The next few tracks make the first clear statements about the nature of this record. The title track is a jazzy ballad that slows down the tempo even further, and ‘Spinning The Wheel’ is a complete masterpiece that takes the opposite tone to ‘Fastlove’: monogamy is the way to go. Much like ‘Jesus To A Child’, the extended length allows the song to really find a groove and develop, which is a joy to listen to. Of course the voice on all these tracks is perfect, and even if we don’t get a stunning vocal showcase like ‘They Won’t Go When I Go’ on Listen Without Prejudice, George is on top form throughout.

One of the things that make Older such a great album is that it has several songs that feel more like “mood pieces”, there for atmospheric purposes and to push the overall feel of the album forward, rather than to engage the listener completely as a song specifically designed to be a single would. ‘It Doesn’t Really Matter’ is one of these, and it gives us time to prepare for ‘The Strangest Thing’, a Middle Eastern influenced half-dance track which feels like a spiritual father to Madonna’s ‘Frozen’ and a child of Kylie Minogue’s ‘Confide In Me’.

The last half of the album is mostly given over to exploring the jazz aspect of the album that would be utilised well for the full length follow-up, Songs From The Last Century. ‘To Be Forgiven’ and ‘Move On’ are enjoyable but not integral parts of Older, and as with ‘It Doesn’t Really Matter’, they work more as proof of artistic intent rather than as songs you need to put on repeat. ‘Star People’ is quite different, an attack on the concept of celebrity (complete with the line “I do not count myself among you”) and the entitled, inappropriate behaviour of George’s fellow icons. Along with ‘The Strangest Thing’ it was improved and remixed for single release, but the more laidback album versions are still very good indeed.

We start winding down (although we barely ever wound up, Older is that subdued) with ‘You Have Been Loved’, a song that would eventually reach number two behind Elton John’s ‘Candle In The Wind 1997′ in the wake of Princess Diana’s death. The song itself would be stunning even without this historical context, an extremely serious and beautiful examination of lonelieness and the fragile nature of life. An instrumental piece called ‘Free’ brings Older to a satisfying conclusion.

As amazing as the actual music on this album is, it feels even more important due to the extensive promotional campaign that surrounded it: all those beautiful singles with fantastic, cohesive artwork and a whole host of B-sides, live tracks and remixes, released over time and presented in such a way that you can’t help but feel like this is a classic album regardless of quality (lucky it turned out to be so good). It is the highest selling George Michael studio album in the UK, and spent a ridiculous 147 weeks inside the top 200 chart. Though my rankings of his albums constantly changes, I am absolutely certain that Older deserved that success.

Classic Album: Dannii Minogue – Girl

Released September 8, 1997

1. All I Wanna Do
2. Heaven Can Wait
3. So In Love With Yourself
4. Am I Dreaming?
5. Everybody Changes Underwater
6. Everything I Wanted
7. If It Moves – Dub It
8. Disremembrance
9. It’s Amazing
10. Movin’ Up
11. Coconut

Sometimes it is hard to remember, with the autobiography, the extremely high-profile role on Britain’s X Factor, the fashion line, and the baby, that Dannii Minogue was once a singer. She hasn’t released a single since 2007 and hasn’t visited the UK top ten since 2004, but there was a time when every few years she would appear with a new album or single, get a few moderate hits (and occasionally a really big one), and then disappear back into other endeavours. It seems that we are in another stage of her career where music is very much on the backburner – but this time there is a question mark over whether she’ll return at all. Looking back on a perfect album like 1997′s Girl makes it clear that would be a sad state of affairs indeed.

An abridged history of Dannii Minogue: her four studio albums can be split evenly down the middle. The first two carry the American influence, and were released in the early nineties, the last two carry the European influence and were released in the late nineties and early 2000s. Starting off in Young Talent Time, a very popular Australian TV show, she was brought to international attention when her sister Kylie became a worldwide phenomenon thanks to the TV series Neighbours and a string of number one singles. Dannii joined the cast of the Neighbours rival Home And Away after Kylie had left Neighbours, and released debut album Love And Kisses - it gave her a few hits in Australia and the UK, and remains her most successful album chart-wise in both countries (in the UK it ties with Neon Nights). Get Into You followed in 1993 but was much less successful. The end? Maybe for some, but not Dannii.

Four years later the European influence kicked in with 1997′s Girl, again a muted commercial reception but rave reviews. Her lowest charting album. The end? It must have been hard to continue on after seeing such an amazing piece of work not do as well as it should have, and The Singles compilation might have felt like closing the book on Dannii’s music career. But amazingly, Dannii’s biggest success was yet to come, and with an amazing run of club and chart hits, she came back with a vengeance on 2003′s Neon Nights. More one-off singles and an international hits collection followed, and then she joined The X Factor. The end? I really hope not, and here’s why.

Girl. Girl is why. Dannii has had brilliant moments elsewhere in her discography – ‘Baby Love’, ‘Success’, ‘Jump To The Beat’, ‘This Is It’, ‘I Begin To Wonder’, ‘Put The Needle On It’, ‘You Won’t Forget About Me’ – but nowhere else did it all come together like it did here. Neon Nights, the album that followed it, feels like a bunch of really great singles held up by above-average album tracks. Girl on the other hand is an accomplished, polished series of well-written and confidently performed songs that add up to one of the most satisfying pop albums I’ve ever heard.

Something that strikes me about this album is how desperate she sounds – back off haters, I don’t mean like that. I mean that there is a passion and strength in her vocals that wasn’t there before, and it gives opening track ‘All I Wanna Do’ – at the time her biggest UK hit ever – another layer of meaning. What could have been a very average “let’s have sex” song becomes an exploration of a deeper feeling, and that comes from Dannii’s vocal. Cynical observers may scoff at anyone praising her voice but it’s honestly very good, and perfect for this material.

That amazing start is followed by ‘Heaven Can Wait’ and ‘So In Love With Yourself’, both of which sound very 1997, but not in such a way that they are unlistenable now. ‘Heaven Can Wait’ has this slightly Latin feel that evokes that time in pop so well, and although it is perhaps the lightest moment on the album, it is still strong enough that is doesn’t make us lose interest two songs in. ‘So In Love With Yourself’ plunges us straight back into dance with it’s trancey interludes, and you can even hear Kylie clearly on the backing vocals, which is the closest we’d get to a recorded Minogue duet until 2008. It may not have worked as a single but I think it would have lent itself to some mindblowing remixes.

The next two songs take us in a more ethereal direction, with ‘Am I Dreaming?’ wooshing around like a Ray Of Light album track – except it was released before Madonna’s classic. ‘Everybody Changes Underwater’ is even weirder, and is definitely the strangest Dannii Minogue track I’m aware of. A mostly spoken monologue about a dream-like state where Dannii goes from the water to a garden, to space, and then… into heaven or something? Does anyone really know what it’s about? Either way it is the most adventurous song on the album and an absolute triumph.

I connect ‘Everything I Wanted’, the second single, with the Australian film Head On (one of my favourite movies), which it featured in. It was also on the (excellent) soundtrack, but even though that connection is a good thing, I also can’t watch Head On very often because it’s not exactly light entertainment. This means ‘Everything I Wanted’ feels darker to me than it was probably intended to be, but I still recognise that it is one of the strongest pure pop moments on Girl. An obvious and excellent choice for a single, it would be another top twenty hit in the UK.

‘If It Moves – Dub It’ gets no respect, often labelled “pointless”, and the mostly instrumental six-and-a-half minute interlude does indeed look like filler, but it is an enjoyable diversion and makes sure we’re well aware that the European club sound is where it’s at for Girl. It is an important part of pushing the albums agenda.

Here comes the centrepiece, though. ‘Disremembrance’ is often pointed to by those “in the know” as one of Dannii’s finest moments (‘I Begin To Wonder’ and ‘Put The Needle On It’ just beat it to being her best single for me), and it really is a staggering track – swirling trance beats around an excellent vocal, and lyrics that tower so heavily over most dance singles that it almost doesn’t feel like a club-oriented hit at all. Underappreciated when it came out – missing the Australian top fifty and the UK top twenty – in the years since Girl ‘Disremembrance’ has emerged as an underground classic.

The only true ballad on the album, ‘It’s Amazing’, features even better singing than the rest of the album and is a welcome change from the trance-influenced tracks that came before it. However, it is immediately followed by a cover of Dreamworld’s almighty ‘Movin’ Up’, and it returns us swiftly to the centre of the dance floor. The song suits Dannii and this album perfectly.

That was the end of the official track listing, but the hidden track ‘Coconut’, a cover of the famous Harry Nilsson song, is perhaps the most fun to be had on Girl and was even released as a single in Australia. One of her most gloriously odd and “keraaazy” songs, ‘Coconut’ is a party classic, at least in my head. On the deluxe remaster, released in 2007, we get two genuinely incredible bonus tracks, ‘Keep Up With The Good Times’ and ‘Someone New’, both of which could easily have been on the album and would even be potential singles. Even the cast-offs from this record were amazing. There is also a bonus disc of remixes which are all interesting and deconstruct the main songs perfectly, especially the orchestral version of ‘Disremembrance’, which takes the song to all new levels of epic.

I often make reference to the brilliant era of 1997-1998 where massive female pop artists released albums that pushed their sound into new and exciting directions, influenced by club and underground music. Madonna’s Ray Of Light, Kylie’s Impossible Princess, Janet Jackson’s The Velvet Rope and Cher’s Believe all came out around this time. But Dannii was right there with them, and this is the female-pop-goes-weirdo album that nobody gives credit to. Upon release, Girl charted at 57 in the UK and 69 in Australia. Unfair and undeserved, yes, but I have faith that more and more pop fans will eventually discover this for what it is: a forgotten gem, an underrated album within an underrated career. Dannii Minogue – this is your official call back to the world of music, do us all a favour and deliver a Girl for 2011. You can call it Woman and make it a sequel, I don’t care (actually that’d be amazing). Just don’t forsake us for the world of judging panels and pretty dresses just yet.