... Baby One More Time - Oops! I won't do that again...

1/7/11 – … Baby One More Time (Britney Spears)

The Ultimate Rule ought to be: 'If it sounds GOOD to you, it's bitchin';

if it sounds BAD to YOU, it's shitty. The more your musical experience,

the easier it is to define for yourself what you like and what you don't like.

American radio listeners, raised on a diet of _____ (fill in the blank), have experienced

a musical universe so small they cannot begin to know what they like.

- Frank Zappa

            “I will not hate this CD before listening to it.  I will not hate this CD before listening to it.  I will not hate this CD before listening to it….”

            Ok, got that out of my system.  Now listening through for a second time, I’m reminded of the old adage, “if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.”  With that in mind, this post will be brief.

            At this point, I’m pushing through this so I can get to tomorrow’s CD.  Baby One More Time embodies all of the things I was griping about a couple days ago – overeffected vocals, lifeless arrangements, and teen model/dancer/TV actresses marketed as singers.  With that in mind, I’m experiencing a phenomenon completely contrary to the one I noticed with Off the Wall; I’m enjoying the lesser known tracks more than the hit singles, because they haven’t been beaten to death over the past ten years.  Putting on the music theorist cap for a bit, I think some of the writing may be better (and is definitely more complex) than some of MJ’s, but the production quality is far worse, even though it’s significantly more polished.  This CD seems so much more “one-note,” compared to the R&B/disco/jazz/pop fusion that gave Jackson’s CD layers of depth.

            There is one track that I actually did get into.  The cover of Sonny and Cher’s "The Beat Goes On" is actually pretty funky (in a good way.)  Even then, I kept thinking how it might be better if someone else was singing it.  Little did I know that this version was produced by a Brittish electronic music group, All Seeing I, which did their own version a year earlier.  I’m going to turn this off now and go find that version instead.  Sorry Britney, I was willing to give you a try, but you’re just not for me.

Next up - Mass in B-minor (J. S. Bach)

Next week - The Notorious B.I.G.: Greatest Hits