On a whim I went back and critiqued a couple old albums.

Guns N’ Roses
Appetite for Destruction:


With the opening effects heavy intro riff of the first track “Welcome to the Jungle” blaring out of your speakers this album seems to be perfectly named. Swinging wildly from punk, blues, metal, and classic rock influences the album slithers around your expectations. While the album rarely slows down, when it does; the results are a wonderful aesthetic counterpoint to the harshness of the environment that spawned the aggressive tendencies of the band.

Lyrically, the first few tracks are an introduction to the bands mindset. Surrounded by the decadence and excesses of Los Angeles, the album addresses topics ranging from groupie promiscuity (It’s so Easy) to drug addiction (Mr. Brownstone), to unwarranted prosecution (Out ‘ta get me). The portrait the band paints is down, dirty and often crude. While the album lacks the high polish of a true pop album, such polish would be out of place and destroy the ambiance created. This is not to say that the entire album is a call for nihilistic hedonism. But instead is often an expression of the bands desire to escape that environment with their sanity and character intact. The second half of the album in particular is often a counterpoint to the decay expressed in the first. Expressing a longing for a less hostile environment (Paradise City), or a promise to stand by a friend that has been wronged (Rocket Queen).

The album is a lesson in contrasting aesthetics. Axl Rose’s harsh, gritty vocal tones often both complement and contrast with Slash’s relatively clean guitar lines. The music itself is rarely indulgent. Instead of using guitar solos and bridges as an opportunity to show off technical ability, Slash uses them to complete and color the lyrical portrait. On the first listen you’re hit in the pit of the stomach with the aggressive punk and metal based riffs. On subsequent listens the blues influence of artists like B.B. King can clearly be heard.

It would be easy to dismiss the remaining members of the band as being little more than a support act for Axl Rose and Slash. But what’s easy isn’t always right. Duff McKagans bass lines are understated, but provide a wonderful bridge between the different elements of the song. Izzy Stradlin and Steven Adler build a strong enough foundation to build a skyscraper upon.

If music is meant to be pure expression, this album, and the individual songs on it are one of the most perfect examples of that expression on a very primal level. The passion and energy put into this album more than make up for the lack of eloquent turns of lyrical phrase and demonstrated technical prowess. Even when the album is at its most technical musically, it keeps its emotional integrity intact. More importantly one feels that had the band attempted to make any of the songs any more technically difficult, it would have lost the energy and integrity that leaves the listener eager to listen again and again.

It’s rare that a song, or even an entire album can escape the verse, chorus, verse format we have become accustomed to on pop radio and do so successfully. But this album consistently takes that format and consciously ignores it. With guitar solos buried underneath vocals, tempo changes that reinforce the subject matter of the song rather than simply for novelty, and a level of chaos rarely seen outside of a mosh pit… this is an album that demands to be listened to, not just heard.


Fugees The Score:


Like the needle on an old turntable, the Fugees are most at home buried deep within a groove. Drawing heavily on reggae, disco and funk; The Score would be listenable even without a single lyric. The influence of artists like Sly and Robbie (Who do a remix of Fu Gee La as a CD bonus track) is apparent without being derivative, even when samples are used.

The groove of the instrumental tracks belies the intensity of the lyrics. As the words flow effortlessly from the performers it is easy to underestimate how powerful the lyrics can be once you actually listen to what is being said. Where Shakespeare used rhyming couplets to indicate plot points and importance, the Fugees instead use them more like an afterthought. As though they reach the end of a line and realize that the genre called for a rhyme. Lauryn Hill is especially adept at using rhyme to provide a through line to a second topic or point.

While the Fugees do address many of the common themes of hip hop such as crime, police intimidation, poverty and who is the best MC; they do so not by glamourizing their personal role as gangsters or street kids. But instead by pushing the idea that they are in some way above the fray and commenting on it. So while they may participate (lyrically) in the struggle, they are also slightly horrified that that participation is necessary. Or as Lauryn Hill puts it in “Zealots”: “And even after all my logic and my theory/ I add a muthaf**ker so you ignorant n***** hear me.”

What is most notable about the lyrics is that each track is not a particular story, but instead multiple points of view on a theme. Small anecdotes are buried inside of verbose tracks with wordplay that is not only clever, but poignant. For example In Wyclef Jeans verse on “How Many Mics” he transitions from an anecdote about playing golf on his days off to discussing professional success with the lines “Problem with no man /Before black, I'm first human/Appetite to write like Frederick Douglass with a slave hand.”. This seemingly offhand remark, and others like it, is worth listening for. The sheer quantity of these lyrical gems keeps the entire album fresh through multiple listens.

One Hip hop cliché that is notable in its absence is the use of promiscuity as a status symbol. While there are a couple examples, they are rare and countered by the presence of Lauryn Hill. One can’t help but feel that this absence is one part respect, and five parts fear of her destroying you on the next track.

Although the album lacks a true anthem “Ready or Not” comes the closest. From Lauryn Hills nearly a cappela opening notes (“Ready or not, here I come, you can’t hide/ Gonna find you, and take it slowly/ Ready or not here I come, You can’t hide gonna find you/ and make you want me”) we would expect another pop love song. Instead we encounter the Fugees desire to obtain the respect and audience they deserve.

If pressed for two tracks that don’t need to be on the album, one would be inclined to point to the two covers. A lyrically updated version of Bob Marley’s “No Woman, No Cry”, and a fairly straightforward remake of “Killing Me Softly (With His Song)” popularized by Roberta Flack. Both are beautiful tracks, and well executed, but superfluous. While they do offer a respite from the lyrically heavy album, you’ll find yourself waiting for the section the Fugees added to it. When it doesn’t materialize, you’re left feeling slightly left down. You find yourself aching to hear what words tracks such as this would inspire from the trio. In retrospect you realize it is the rest of the album.