Christina Aguilera
Album : Back To Basics
Released : August,15,2006
Label : RCA
Reviewer : Tammy La Gorc (From http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000G759LW/ref=pd_ecc_rvi_2/102-5553805-8175328?ie=UTF8)
Back to Basics, Christina Aguilera's first disc in four years, refines and clarifies the--let's call it "sexy"--aura surrounding this platinum firebrand. Here, the best belter in a class that counts Jessica Simpson and Britney Spears on its roll call has turned her attention to love songs: the supercharged and ubiquitous first single "Ain't No Other Man," for one, and the hushed stunner "Save Me from Myself" for another. That doesn't mean she's foresworn being nasty, though. Dive deep into this set, past the gorgeous crackle that frames the old-school jazz-, blues-, and soul-inspired tracks on the first disc, and you'll reach a playful and familiar raunch; "Candyman" celebrates a "one-stop shop" who "makes the panties drop" to a boogie-woogie beat, and "Nasty Naughty Boy" sends out a heated, big-beated invitation to "sip on my champagne/Cause I'm gonna give you a little taste/Of the sugar below my waist." Thoughtful listeners should snap out of their fascination with Xtina's undiminished yet newly un-tramp-like sexuality, though, because what they'll really want to focus on throughout these 22 tracks is the honest-to-God artistry. While the rock producer Linda Perry helps disc two pop in interesting and unexpected ways (check the muffled blues number "I Got Trouble" and "Mercy on Me," an obvious nod to Fiona Apple), DJ Premier, a mainstay on Jay-Z and Nas projects, pipes a batch of aural high-fives into the nostalgia-bitten first disc (the deep-down funk of "Back in the Day," the strut-strut early hip-hop sound of "Still Dirrty"). Their nudges aside, though, Back to Basics is all Aguilera's baby--she executive-produced, and she's found herself artistically. Nobody would argue, in fact, if she swiveled around the chorus to "Ain't No Other Man," written for her husband, and aimed it at herself: "You got soul, you got class/You got style, you're bada--."
Reviewer : Dan Gennoe (From http://www.uk.launch.yahoo.com/060817/33/20kaq.html)
Of course, the downside to success is that all those people who really do know better suddenly become reluctant to say 'No'. Even when they really, really should. It's fine in the case of Mariah-like demands - candles and a red carpet outside a hotel at three in the morning anyone? Then the indulgence of pop star whims is almost to be encouraged for the sheer nuttiness of it all. On those more serious issues though, the career defining kind, the lack of a reality checking voice of reason can be fatal. And so it is that, four years on from her nine million selling "Stripped" album, Christina Aguilera returns with "Back To Basics", a two disc concept album.
To momentarily give all concerned the benefit of the doubt, as a basic premise, "Back To Basics"'s two disc concept isn't a bad one. As a super successful singer, who grew up on an enviable diet of gospel, soul and jazz, she wants to pay tribute to the acts who inspired her. Christina wants to revive that adventurous, sexy soul spirit. And in the case of Disc 1, that's exactly what she does, with spectacular results.
Aided and abetted by two of hip hop's most creative activists - elder and all round scratchy master DJ Premiere and loopy young funkster Mark Ronson - the first half of her double disc opus is a low-down and dirty masterpiece. Thrusting with the same raw, ass-shaking funk as first single, "Ain't No Other Man", it's one sweaty back-in-the-day soul grind after another.
From the sexy R&B blur of "Intro (Back To Basics)" to the blaxploitation horns of "Slow Down Baby" and the filthy ghetto strut of "Still Dirrty", it's vintage soul made vital with cut'n'paste samples and hip hop grime. And it's phenomenal. Raging with mighty grooves and gospel ecstasy, this is a career defining moment. A leap which demands she be taken seriously, while elevating her to the rarefied air of the genuine artist.
Sadly, CD 2 brings her crashing straight back down again. With the first disc having taken care of her vintage gospel and R&B aspirations, it befalls the second, and long time collaborator Linda Perry, to capture her love of jazz. And it's not pretty. Sure there are some fun moments - "Candyman" is a good-time 1940's big band romp, "Nasty Naughty Boy" has her going all Jessica Rabbit - but it's cartoon at best. It also doesn't help that the smoky atmosphere is repeatedly crashed - see "Welcome"'s incongruous soft rock and OTT Christina ballad "Hurt".
As a fan only download or even free bonus disc, CD 2's comic book jazz, which is roughly akin to Madonna's "Dick Tracy" soundtrack, would be entertaining enough. As half of the "Back To Basics" concept, it's a painfully mis-judged distraction from what is otherwise, a sleazy must-have collections of recordings and no doubt the album of her career.
Track Listing :
Disc 1
1. Intro (Back to Basics)
2. Makes Me Wanna Pray
3. Back in the Day
4. Ain't No Other Man
5. Understand
6. Slow Down Baby
7. Oh Mother
9. F.U.S.S (Interlude)
10. On Our Way
11. Without You
12. Still Dirrty
13. Here to Stay
14. Thank You (Dedication To Fans...)
Disc 2
1. Enter the Circus
2. Welcome
3. Candyman
4. Nasty Naughty Boy
5. I Got Trouble
6. Hurt
7. Mercy on Me
8. Save Me from Myself
9. The Right Man
10. Back to Basics (making of)
More From Christina Aguilera
Stripped (2002)
Just Be Free (2001)
Mi Refleo(2000)
My Kind Of Christmas (2000)
Christina Aguilera(1999)
