[情報] VH1 「E=MC2」專輯初評

看板MARIAH作者amo07 (eManCipation)時間18年前 (2008/02/23 11:01)推噓13(13推 0噓 5→)

留言18則, 14人參與討論串1/1

其實重點是，又有新曲目出來啦！第一段當中有緋聞的味道XD。。。昨天L.A. Reid和馬克蘇打克再度請了記者們欣賞了一次瑪麗亞凱莉的新專輯，這回總共放了十二首歌。當這些音樂從馬克的筆電中播放出來的時候，記者們發現馬克簡直雀躍無比，甚至每一首歌都在跟著唱。專輯當中有drama、有disco舞曲、甚至談到了死亡。下面就是這一首一首歌曲的初評，注意他們並沒有按照專輯的順序。 Yesterday, Island/Def Jam honcho L.A. Reid hosted a few journalists in his office for a special preview of Mariah Carey's upcoming E=MC2 album, tentatively due April 15. While Reid looked on, Mariah's A&R man and long-rumored beau Mark Sudack played 12 of the album's cuts from his laptop, often passionately (and adorably!) singing along. On the album, there was drama, there was death, there was disco. What follows is a track-by-track breakdown of our impressions of the album. Note that this isn't the final track sequence, that L.A. ticked off the producers list to us but it is by no means etched in stone and the tracks that we heard weren't always mastered. 總評：整張專輯展現了瑪麗亞的巨肺歌喉，高低起伏的聲線和那些海豚音。她的音色聽起來很棒而且非常乾淨。 One final note: so much of this album is sung in Mariah's chest voice. The vocal gymnastics and whistle notes, while there ('cause, duh, it's Mariah!), take a backseat to clear, purposeful singing, and Mariah sounds better for it. Oh yeah, Mimi's back. 1. "Migrate" (co-produced by Danja) -- After announcing itself with Mariah's patented whistle notes, this club track gets to bangin' and it takes that task really seriously. It's about as meta as a banger gets, with Mariah explaining during the chorus how her night goes: "From the car to the club / We migrate / From the bar to the V.I.P. / We migrate." And so it goes, from the party to the after party, from the after party to the hotel. There's a slight autotune effect on Mariah's voice on the last "migrate" of each chorus, which I assume is to put her on equal ground with the man she shares the mic with here. T-Pain, mercifully shows up for just a guest verse -- this is not a full-blown duet. It's a feisty track, with tough Storch-esque beats that Mariah's bravado attempts to match: "If you're inked up thuggin', that's what I like," she says. See, I always thought she went for the pretty boys. Already we're learning stuff! Migrate這首派對歌曲敘述著瑪麗亞所嚮往的夜生活。歌曲從瑪麗亞的招牌海豚音開始，歌詞中唱著"From the car to the club / We migrate / From the bar to the V.I.P. / We migrate."從夜店到VIP室，從派隊到續攤，再從續攤到旅館。。。每次唱到這首歌的關鍵字Migrate的時候都會有個人聲音效，似乎想要製造瑪麗亞與派隊上認識的男子一同share這個麥克風的感覺。這是一首充滿歡樂的歌。T-Pain在歌曲中參一腳稍稍唱了幾句。 2. "Touch My Body" (co-produced with Christopher "Tricky" Stewart and The-Dream) -- There isn't much to say about this ultra-femme track that wasn't said when it leaked. Hard to believe that that was only a little more than week ago -- in the time since, it's become so ubiquitous that it's kind of hard to imagine what radio was like before it. Even L.A. seemed taken aback by how quickly it has caught on -- he described the track's out-of-the-gate success as virtually accidental. 不用多說了吧！真不敢想像這首歌才流出一個禮拜。連L.A. Reid都說這首歌會這麼瘋狂地受到歡迎也讓他覺得很意外。 3. "Last Kiss" (co-produced by Jermaine Dupri) -- One of the album's many declarations of eternal love, this one is "We Belong Together, Part 35." It's nice but extremely safe. One thing that's very much in its favor are Mariah's vocals, which are nimble as they are in "We Belong Together" (she changes up her flow more times than I could count) and maybe more robust than they've sounded in over a decade. There's a nice little duet at the end of this one between Mariah's full chest voice and her higher register. Of course, if she didn't show off that stellar natural resource, this wouldn't be a Mariah Carey album. 這首歌可以說是We Belong Together「第n代」XD，屬於一首安全牌的歌曲。最棒的還是瑪麗亞的聲音，轉音轉到讓人頭暈，而且比這十年來任何一首歌當中的聲音都還要健康。最結尾有一段有趣的合唱--瑪麗亞自己的真音和她的海豚音。你知道的--如果專輯中不叫兩聲，這就不會是瑪麗亞的專輯了。 4. "Lovin' You Long Time" (co-produced by DJ Toomp) -- Pure and utter joy is this one, which is most reminiscent of the lovely Mimi outtake "When I Feel It." Except this one's, like, 10 times better. The chorus of DeBarge's "Stay With Me" is the foundation of this track (as opposed to the verses, which provided the foundation for the single remix of Biggie's "One More Chance" and Ashanti's "Foolish," among tracks). However, the sample sounds more weathered, and overall, the track comes off as a '60s throwback rather than an '80s one. One hundred percent feel-good and packing in a killer breakdown and conclusion that's a wall of Mariah voices, this was the first song that felt like the work of unstoppable pop genius. 這首歌超棒的。聽起來像當初流出的「When I Feel It」，但比它棒十倍！歌曲當中取樣了DeBarge的Stay With Me作為基調，但聽起來更成熟、充滿了六零年代的懷舊氣氛，百分之百讓人喜歡！而且這也是這張專輯當中第一首讓你聽完會覺得「瑪麗亞真的是個永不枯竭的流行樂天才！」的歌曲。（Biggie的One More Chance混音和Ashanti的Foolish都有取樣自Stay With Me： http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=CinavBPMy-I ） 5. "Thanx for Nothin'" (co-produced by Jermaine Durpri) -- A mid-tempo ballad that sports a beat rougher than anything Jermaine Dupri has laid down for Mariah and a guitar line not unlike Mimi's "So Lonely" (though this track is more sassy and less dour than that), "Thanx" suggests that Mariah and Jermaine aren't sentenced to live in the shadow of their former glory and can actually make relatively new sounds together. Lyrically, this break-up track is a cross between the self-deprecating "Mine Again" ("I never knew enough about you, babe / And I guess I only have myself to blame") and the streetwise posturing of "Get Your Number" ("Seems like all I do is think about your pseudo-romance / While you're somewhere burnin' diesel in the streets, havin' laughs"). Mariah packs in so many lyrics that she barely has time to sing them, and sort of just growls them. It's not nearly as ridiculous as that description might make it sound. 這是一首中版抒情歌，相較於J.D先前幫瑪麗亞製作的歌曲，這首歌不再這麼精緻。歌曲當中有吉他伴奏，曲名的「Thanx」暗示瑪麗亞和J.D.並不安於他們過去合作的成功光環而且正在不斷推陳出新。這首歌的歌詞超多，瑪麗亞又使出了她的快嘴功力。 6. "That Chick" (co-produced by Stargate) -- Instant. Classic. An absolutely brilliant disco track that plays on Mariah's strengths and sexiness without ever crossing the line into indulgence. It's slick, it's chic (and Chic, with its slap-you-on-the-ass bass line), it's silly ("La da da a oooh wee-wee" goes the bit between the chorus and the verses) and it carries a killer middle 8 that's as exhilarating as the one in Michael Jackson's "P.Y.T." (you know, the best part of one of the best songs ever that goes, "Don't you know nowwwww / Is the perfect time..."?). Mariah makes references to 2Pac and Biggie, compares herself to ice cream and the lottery and maybe even references the long-lost track from the Charmbracelet sessions "Touch the Sky." Oh, and also she delivers the most her line of her career, complete with a 10-cent word: "I brings that levity." Maybe one day they'll bottle the essence of Mariah, but until then, we have "That Chick" and I seriously am counting down the days till I can hear this track again. This needs to be a single, like, now, and Mariah needs to dust off those "Heartbreaker" remix roller skates for the video, pronto. 這首舞曲簡直是太棒了。將瑪麗亞歌聲的力量和性感同時發揮得淋漓盡致。雖然整首歌曲是以聽起來傻傻的"La da da a oooh wee-wee"當作背景，但整首歌卻顯得創意獨具又靈巧。這首歌當中有一段超catchy的"middle 8"（意指一首歌當中最突出最容易讓人印象深刻的片段，就像Michael Jackson的"Pretty Young Thing"那句you know, the best part of one of the best songs ever that goes, "Don't you know nowwwww / Is the perfect time..."? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYQHPV6COKQ

）這首歌一定要拿出來打的！瑪麗亞最好馬上把Heartbreaker remix版mv當中那雙溜冰鞋給準備好。 7. "Cruise Control" (co-produced by Jermaine Dupri) -- Another J.D. track that deviates from what could have been a detrimental pattern, this is a reggae-lite extended car metaphor ("I need a caddy wit some cruise control," belts Mariah). The chorus consists of her spelling out, "C-R-U-I-S-E control" and the second verse finds Mariah adopting a Jamaican affect for kicks: "When da door open I de gals pon de block / They be hop-on, to rob the clock / Me say no mam / Step up step up / Bottle broken / Tink I'm jokin'." Seriously, she says that. Damien Marley gets a guest verse, and I have to say, his shtick is a little more convincing. J.D.所製作的另一首歌曲，但完全跳脫過去你所預期的模式。這首歌帶有雷鬼風格，用開車兜風的主題當作暗喻。在副歌的部分，第一句瑪麗亞把歌名拼著唱"C-R-U-I-S-E control"，隨後第二句竟出現一大串亞買加方言"When da door open I de gals pon de block / They be hop-on, to rob the clock / Me say no mam / Step up step up / Bottle broken / Tink I'm jokin'." Damien Marley在這首歌當中客串，的確有加分效果。 8. "Side Effects" (co-produced by Scott Storch) -- You know how sometimes Southern rap almost has a heavy metal feel? Mariah and Storch exploit that by turning out a Southern-fried power ballad that's a thinly veiled portrait of her time under Tommy Mottola's reign ("Hell we built, and I dealt with it... Kept my tears inside 'cause I knew if I started, I'd keep cryin' for the rest of my life with you / I finally built up the strength to walk away / Don't regret it..."). For someone as guarded as Mariah is publicly, it's shockingly frank (she alludes to "violent times") and really naked (the titular side effects refer to the toll the relationship has taken on her: she's "still a little depressed inside" and "still a little defensive thinkin' folks be tryin' to run my life"). This is another highlight, and having a rapper so associated with drugs (Jeezy) on a track called "Side Effects" that isn't about drugs at all, only makes things cleverer. 這首抒情歌帶有美國南部的風格，歌詞唱著當年她被Tommy Mottola監控的生活 "Hell we built, and I dealt with it...Kept my tears inside 'cause I knew if I started, I'd keep cryin' for the rest of my life with you / I finally built up the strength to walk away / Don't regret it..."另一個賣點就是，這首歌名稱為「Side Effect（副作用）」的歌卻找來個活毒梟Young Jeezy來念rap，非常有趣。 9. "Love Story" (co-produced by Jermaine Dupri) -- Anther ode to endless love ("This ain't no fairy tale or fiction / This is truly ours for eternity"), this ballad is more of the baby-making ilk. It's like Prince-lite with a synthesized beat a la "The Beautiful Ones," but not as effects-laden (i.e. the beat doesn't have the backwards sound). The melody is reminiscent of Mimi's "Joyride," and that should give you an indication of how sweet this track is. 又是一首關於愛情的歌曲。有一點像Prince的"The Beautiful Ones"，又有一點像上一張的"Joyride"，可以想像這首歌有多甜蜜了吧！ 10. "OOC" (co-produced by Swizz Beatz) -- This one has a pummeling thump so pronounced, it's somewhat surprising that it's not the work of Stargate or Tricky. "OOC" stands for "out of control," and while the track isn't exactly wild, it's a fun mix of The-Dream's "Ditch That N…" with a melody like Blu Cantrell's "Hit 'Em Up Style." Besides the hypnotic refrain of "Forever and ever," the track is most notable for including the word motherf***er. As in, "I know y'all motherf***ers feel like we / When you're messin' with the one true lova / That makes you OOC." Hardcore! 這是一首異常強勁的歌曲，讓人還以為是Stargate或DJ Tricky的作品。最讓人印象深刻的是瑪麗亞在歌詞當中用的髒字"motherf***er"。"I know y'all motherf***ers feel like we / When you're messin' with the one true lova/ That makes you OOC." 11. "Bye Bye" (co-produced by Stargate) -- When Mariah first started promoting Mimi, she described "We Belong Together" as a cross between "Breakdown" and "One Sweet Day." That description is infinitely more appropriate for "Bye Bye," a song about death that's "for my people who just lost somebody," "for my people who lost their grandmothers" and seemingly for Mariah's departed father, Alfred Roy ("You never got to see me back at No. 1"). It's nice that Mariah's on a confessional kick, although a track with the "We Belong Together" sonic template and lyrics tailored appeal to everyone on such a basic level seems like too easy of a combination for someone as established as Mimi. This one's like insurance -- in case nothing else is a hit, here's a sure-shot. But ultimately, it turns out that the album is too good for that. 當年宣傳MIMI專輯時，瑪麗亞說We Belong Together就像是"Breakdown"和"One Sweet Day"的綜合體，但這種說法應該更適合拿來敘述"Bye Bye"這首歌。這是首關於失去摯愛或家人的悲歌，似乎也唱出了瑪麗亞五年前失去生父的傷痛。 12. "I Wish You Well" (co-produced by James Poyser) -- We were told that this was hot off the presses and a very rough version of the song, but even in its unpolished state, it was a stunner. A piano ballad that features Mariah, some gospel-tinged backing vocals, a piano and that's it, this track is a throwback to the fan-favorite "Vanishing" from her 1990 debut. Part feisty ("You can't manipulate me like before") and totally spiritual (Mariah name-checks a bible verse in the chorus, although I couldn't catch exactly what it was, and she ends the song repeating, "The Lord is my salvation / I will trust in him"), "I Wish You Well" will have fans wetting themselves. It's gorgeous and in its simplistic way, the type of risk that Mariah should take more often. 雖然L.A. Reid說這首歌還沒有製作完成，但儘管只是聽到最粗糙的版本，我們就覺得超棒的了。這是一首以鋼琴伴奏的抒情歌曲，讓聽眾們將時光拉回第一張專輯時期的 Vanishing，充滿了靈魂的色彩。歌曲當中瑪麗亞現「聲」唸出了聖經的片段，歌詞當中說道"The Lord is my salvation / I will trust in him"。這是一首會讓歌迷們感動落淚的歌曲，雖然簡單但卻打動人心，我認為瑪麗亞應該多挑戰這樣的歌曲。 The risky moments on the album ("Lovin' You Long Time," "That Chick," "Side Effects" and "I Wish You Well") bode well for the future. Though E=MC2 feels extremely safe, there's enough variation to signify some artistic growth. She's cranking out hits and that's fine because that's what she's always done (hitmaking is her medium), but when she goes out of the Top 40 comfort zone, the album truly soars. Over 10 years after she first sang about it, it's only now that Mariah has worked up the courage to really spread her wings. The next question is: how high can they take her? 這張專輯當中有多首排行榜前景看好的單曲。雖然E=MC2的曲風對於過去勇於挑戰新玩意兒的瑪麗亞而言稍嫌安全了點，但從這張專輯當中豐富的元素也可以看出這位歌手的確有所成長。撇開流行排行榜不談的話，這也會是一張非常傑出的專輯。出道十幾年來，此刻的瑪麗亞才真的展現了展翅遨翔的勇氣與姿態，下一個問題就在於：她到底能飛得多高多遠呢？ -- 樂評真的很難翻耶。。。。XD -- 　◣　　█◣◢▉═══ Ｔｈｅ　Ｅｍａｎｃｉｐａｔｉｏｎ　ｏｆ　Ｍｉｍｉ ══ ◢█＠　███▉██▉██▉▉██▉█　█　███▉██▉██▉██▉█　█ 　／█◣███▉█▆▉█▆▉▉█▆▉███　██　　█▆▉█▆▉█▆　███φ 　　◤　█◥◤▉█　▉█◥◣▉█　▉█　█　███▉█　▉█◥◣█▆▆　█bpan 瑪麗亞凱莉最新專輯"天后再臨"發行首週空降告示牌冠軍大賣四十萬張再度締造新紀錄 2005上半年最值得聽的好聲音 Mariah Carey ﹝The Emancipation of Mimi﹞!! -- ※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 220.138.42.198

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※ 編輯: amo07 來自: 220.138.42.198 (02/23 11:03) ※ 編輯: amo07 來自: 220.138.42.198 (02/23 11:04)

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