audio review : Unlimited Love ( album ) … Red Hot Chili Peppers

audio review : Unlimited Love ( album ) ... Red Hot Chili Peppers

I don’t know what the title is supposed to mean, but I have no Love, limited or otherwise, for this album. That’s not to say I hate it. It’s mostly middling, despite John Frusciante being back with the band and producer Rick Rubin returning after a one-album Getaway.

One noteworthy exception is White Braids And Pillow Chair, which is easily the best song on the album, though I wish the whole joint sounded more like its breezy Californian coda. The funky Aquatic Mouth Dance also serves as a mild (bell-Pepper-like) highlight.

my rating : 3 of 5

2022

video review : Going Back To Cali ( song ) … LL Cool J

video review : Going Back To Cali ( song ) ... LL Cool J

It’s summertime in California, but LL is as Cool as ice as he roams LA in a black Corvette with the top down. Black and white glamor shots, some of which feature sexy white girls dancing off-beat, give the video an artsy 1940s throwback kind of vibe.

my rating : 4 of 5

1988

audio review : Walk On Water ( song ) … Eminem ( featuring Beyoncé )

Eminem is only human, so he makes mistakes. A big one was putting Beyoncé on this song. Put aside her humdrum melodies. A top celebrity crooner with no real connection to Eminem representing him on a song about his own waning popularity makes little sense conceptually. Bring back the humdrum singing; the chorus sounds mawkish and out of place; and the combination makes for a record that’s ironically unimpressive.

The Stan rapper, still my favorite after all these years, reveals introspective worries about letting his fans down. “I’m doing my best to not ruin your expectations,” he writes with a pencil and paper like it’s 1999. Somebody buy this guy a MacBook. But it’s not his verses that disappoint this time around. It’s the corny guest-reliant platform he’s presenting them on. The old (young) Eminem would’ve drowned Beyoncé in that Water.

my rating : 3 of 5

2017

audio review : Revival ( album ) … Eminem