2010 saw its fair share of brilliantly produced and well-crafted records. Some of these came by surprise, with little anticipation. Others that were projected to be highlights fell completely flat, defying all expectation of greatness and proving that even the best musical craftsmen can deliver a dud now and again.
The disappointing album is a difficult topic to broach, especially considering the degree of expectation from one listener to the next. However, if we considered every solid opinion about greatness, there would be no purpose for album reviews at all — and can you imagine a world without album reviews? I can’t.
Below is a non-expansive list of some of the biggest album disappointments in the past year. Considering the caliber of artistry here, some of them are major disappointments, while others were simply predictable, but failed to deliver on the off-chance hope that it could have been better. There are a few albums where the necessity and social circumstances surrounding the album’s release are the main cause for its inclusion. Others are just bad when there was opportunity and prospect for brilliance.
Album: Body Talk, Pt. 2 / Body Talk
Label: Interscope
Image: http://images.popmatters.com/music_cover_art/r/robyn_bodytalk2cover.jpg
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US Release Date: 2010-09-07
UK Release Date: 2010-09-06
Review: http://ded5626.inmotionhosting.com/~popmat6/pm/review/130078-robyn-body-talk-pt.-2/
Review: http://ded5626.inmotionhosting.com/~popmat6/pm/review/133931-robyn-body-talk
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List number: 10
Robyn
Body Talk, Pt. 2 / Body Talk
I feel bad putting Robyn on this list, mainly because I have a soft spot for artists who 13 years into their career come back as a tour de force with powerful and significant music. Most often the longevity trend tends to see artists deteriorate into obscurity as their careers progress. Robyn made a full-throttled comeback, announcing that she was going to release her next album in 3 parts over the course of 2010. This news was even more exciting because, Body Talk, Pt. 1 was/is absolutely amazing. Robyn proved musically relevant again, incorporating so much in this small, eight-track-long record that she broke your heart and your legs all in one shot. This is why Body Talk, Pt. 2 is so disappointing. Genuine musical innovation was expected with Pt. 2, but instead it ended up being a let down with tired b-side quality tracks, similar but absolutely inferior to their Pt. 1 counter-parts. It’s clear why Body Talk, Pt. 1 had the acoustic version of “Hang with Me” on it: the fully produced version is almost identical to the superior “Dancing on My Own”. This is not to say that all the tracks on Pt. 2 are bad, just not as good. Why wouldn’t she simply compact Pt. 1 with all the best tracks from both parts into one kick-ass meta-album? Well, she did. The redundant Body Talk, which stands as the cheated Pt. 3 in this fake trilogy of albums, is simply a re-arranging of tracks from parts 1 and 2, with five new tunes. I can’t help but feel a little pumped by this hype that didn’t really deliver — Boo-urns!
Album: Volume Two
Label: Merge
Image: http://images.popmatters.com/music_cover_art/s/she_and_him.jpg
Display Width: 200
US Release Date: 2010-03-23
UK Release Date: 2010-04-05
Review: http://ded5626.inmotionhosting.com/~popmat6/pm/review/122726-she-him-volume-two/
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List number: 9
She & Him
Volume Two
Oh Zooey, where did it all go wrong? Perhaps when I went to see you in concert this summer and was shocked to see you up on stage looking down at your audience (both literally and figuratively) as you paraded around with an air of righteousness that, after only two albums (one of which is stellar, the other, not so much), is definitely not warranted. She & Him’s formidable debut, Volume One, stood out as a refreshing mix of ’50s AM radio girl-group music and Tin Pan Alley country. Although the entire album wasn’t brilliant, the songs that were were absolutely amazing. One need only listen to “Sentimental Heart” or “Change is Hard” to experience this. Volume Two was much anticipated, and despite every effort to get behind it, the album feels less authentic, and more stylized — forced, almost. The earnest and modest little girl singing behind her upright piano has been replaced by a movie stardom frontwoman with her über-cool indie guitarist M. Ward. It all feels a little more calculated and much less genuine.
Album: Admiral Fell Promises
Label: Caldo Verde
Image: http://images.popmatters.com/music_cover_art/s/sun-kil-moon-admiral-fell-promises.jpg
Display Width: 200
US Release Date: 2010-07-13
UK Release Date: 2010-07-12
Review: http://ded5626.inmotionhosting.com/~popmat6/pm/review/128473-sun-kil-moon-admiral-fell-promises/
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List number: 8
Sun Kil Moon
Admiral Fell Promises
Sun Kil Moon is one of my favourite bands. However, what I’m beginning to experience more and more, ever since the musical genius that was Ghosts of the Great Highway (which goes down as one of the best albums ever), is that with every subsequent release there are a handful of stellar tracks, mixed in with some tepid mediocrity. The highlight is that those stellar tracks alone are worth the purchase of the album. Admiral Fell Promises, with all of its beautifully performed classical guitar work, fails to resonate in ways that previous efforts have. Mark Kozelek always managed to bridge the gap between sincerity and artistry, and his acoustic work is generally one of the major highlights of his massive body of work. This is why Admiral Fell Promises is so disappointing. Previous work gave every indication that a complete solo acoustic record would be a monumental accomplishment and stand out as one of Sun Kil Moon’s best records. Unfortunately, most songs here fell flat, and while the first few listens are engaging, the album has simply slipped away and is almost completely forgotten.
Album: Diamond Eyes
Label: Reprise
Image: http://images.popmatters.com/music_cover_art/d/deftones.jpg
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US Release Date: 2010-05-04
UK Release Date: 2010-05-03
Review: http://ded5626.inmotionhosting.com/~popmat6/pm/review/131888-deftones-diamond-eyes/
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List number: 7
Deftones
Diamond Eyes
Saturday Night Wrist, Deftones’ amazing 2006 record, was for all intents and purposes the perfect album from an aging band working within a limited genre. They took their nu-metal positioning and flipped it on its head. It was a bold move and one that really paid off. It gave us an indication of where this band might be headed, creatively speaking. Diamond Eyes is unfortunately three steps back. It’s littered with uninspired songwriting, and sounds that mimic previous material. The album plays more like a compilation record of the band’s lesser known tracks, just worse. Everything here sounds like Deftones has written it before. Played side by side to 2006’s Saturday Night Wrist, it’s difficult to even imagine that this is the same band. What happened to the spark? What happened to the inspiration? Perhaps the fact that Deftones suffered a major blow when bassist Chi Cheng was severely injured in a crippling car accident in 2008, which resulted in them shelving their work-in-progress sixth album, has something to do with it. The band was in the midst of recording Eros, an as yet unreleased record that was described as an off-the-wall unorthodox undertaking. It was described by Cheno as having a kind of aggression that Deftones had not visited in awhile, but after Cheng’s accident, the band regrouped and recorded a different record, the resulting blandness that is Diamond Eyes. We can only hope that with the recovery of Cheng, the band will give us a taste of Eros next time around.
Album: Loud
Label: Def Jam
Image: http://images.popmatters.com/misc_art/r/rihanna-loud.jpg
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US Release Date: 2010-11-16
UK Release Date: 2010-11-15
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List number: 6
Rihanna
Loud
It’s a little odd that I’m putting this fairly good fifth release by pop sensation Rihanna on this list. Taken out of context of the goings-on Rihanna has seen in her life over the past two years, Loud stands as a solid pop effort, full of catchy melodies, pounding bass lines, and uncomplicated fun. At the same time, placed in the context of her recent life, this is also the reason why Loud is on this list. Everyone who knows Rihanna knows what happened between her and Chris Brown (remember him for anything other than domestic violence?). Shortly after that disturbing situation, when the world was doing their best to show Rihanna their support while simultaneously condemning Chris Brown and thus relegating him to music obscurity, she released her fourth and probably most personal album, Rated R. Mind you, that album wasn’t the best, but it did speak to some of the emotions and complications she went through during that ordeal. Needless to say, Rated R did horribly, producing only one solid hit (one of the only songs on the album that was not a reflection of what happened). Loud, released just less than a year later, feels like a cheap quick rush to get new, light, and fun pop music from Rihanna out there — because god knows, we don’t want to hear her griping about her abuse! Loud is disappointing more because of its necessity, and essentially what it is trying to erase. Its presence indicates that pop artists are no longer allowed to be creatively artistic, thriving from personal turmoil, but instead must pander to the mass desire to consume light, airy, and non-depressing or thought-provoking music. Perhaps the world’s rejection of Rated R was an indication of Rihanna’s inability to effectively articulate herself? In any event, we now have Loud — a blissful catchy, no-thinking-or-emoting required album — so we can now forget all the horrible things that happened to Rihanna and not have to hear her singing about them.
5 – 1
Album: Oh Little Fire
Label: Zoe
Image: http://images.popmatters.com/misc_art/s/sarahharmer-ohlittlefire.jpg
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US Release Date: 2010-06-21
UK Release Date: 2010-07-05
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List number: 5
Sarah Harmer
Oh Little Fire
It’s been a long time since 2005’s I’m a Mountain. Five years, to be precise. Since the disbanding of Harmer’s group Weeping Tile, her musical career has been two-parted. There is the self-aware folk/pop/rock singer/songwriter side that began with 2002’s standout solo debut, You Were Here, followed two years later with her less than stellar All of Our Names. The second side to Harmer’s musical career is her bluegrass roots/country side, which began with 2001’s Songs for Clem, co-performed alongside Jason Euringer and featuring a collection of old-time AM cover tunes. Nicely intended, but poorly executed. This part of her career had a major uptick with 2005’s I’m a Mountain, the nationally celebrated return of Harmer’s grassroots tendencies and infectious and astute songwriting capabilities. With a five year absence, Sarah’s first album in the vein of her folk/pop/rock style was highly anticipated, but was met with major disappointment when, after one or two listens, very few tracks stood out from the garbled mess of MOR production qualities and uninspired songwriting. What’s even more disappointing is that if you bought the Deluxe iTunes version of Oh Little Fire, you were graced with three beautifully performed acoustic versions of tracks featured on the album. Why couldn’t the entire album be like this? Harmer is no stranger to taking chances and jumping off creative cliffs in her musical styles, so why muddle around with brilliance by adding bland guitar riffs, typical drumming, and boring instrumental tracks to what were once magnificent acoustic songs? At least we have those three tracks. However, those tracks just remind us how relevant Harmer is in the singer/songwriter oeuvre, and how much better she is when there isn’t a whole lot of other less talented people surrounding her, playing second fiddle.
Album: Animal
Label: RCA
Image: http://images.popmatters.com/misc_art/k/keha-animal.jpg
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US Release Date: 2010-01-05
UK Release Date: 2010-02-01
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List number: 4
Ke$ha
Animal
I know: this probably wasn’t a big disappointment for many. Most people were probably expecting Ke$ha’s debut album to be horrendous, but for those of us who truly enjoy(ed) “Tik Tok” and were looking forward to more of her slightly humorous super-pop, Animal comes up as a big disappointment. I never heard Ke$ha speak before, but after listening to her debut album, I never want to again. Pop stars are not known for their eloquence, and their songs are generally not hailed as high art. That’s fine — there is a place for most forms of entertainment, and pop (as is evidenced by high sales) definitely has its place in our society. Many people are used to seeing dumb blonde caricatures of suburban life on television, but with Animal we were graced with this airhead singing about her idiocy. She even has a song called “Blah Blah Blah”, for Christ’s sake! Needless to say, this album was pure raunchy stupidity, sung by the biggest bimbo ever to grace the pop music scene. Her idiotic “talking” rants that permeate throughout Animal make this one very difficult to swallow. I want to reach through my iPod and slap her: “Stop being so stupid!” In a world filled with dumb pop stars, Ke$ha has proclaimed herself supreme airhead.
Album: Broken Bells
Label: Columbia
Image: http://images.popmatters.com/music_cover_art/b/brokenbells.jpg
Display Width: 200
US Release Date: 2010-03-09
UK Release Date: 2010-03-08
Review: http://ded5626.inmotionhosting.com/~popmat6/pm/review/122863-broken-bells-broken-bells/
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List number: 3
Broken Bells
Broken Bells
Perhaps my waning interest in the Shins contributed to my disappointment with this year’s mash-up between Shins front man James Mercer and Gnarls Barkley member and producer extraordinaire Brian Burton. It’s so cool, an electro-pop producer and an alt-indie darling teaming up to produce an album — this has never been done before… oh, wait… it has. The unfortunate thing about Broken Bells is that it is not nearly as inspired as the Postal Service’s Give Up, and James Mercer does not have multi-genre friendly melodies like Gibbard. His songwriting styles don’t easily translate to less dynamic production styles. Broken Bells is a flat boring mess, with very few redeeming qualities. Considering the qualifications of the founding members, Broken Bells could have played like a trippy fusion of Mercer’s indie-pop eccentricities and Burton’s rounded hip-hop stylings. Instead, the two just seem bored with each other, and the album was forgotten almost immediately after its release.
Album: Congratulations
Label: Columbia
Image: http://images.popmatters.com/music_cover_art/m/mgmt_congrats.jpg
Display Width: 200
US Release Date: 2010-04-13
UK Release Date: 2010-04-12
Review: http://ded5626.inmotionhosting.com/~popmat6/pm/review/123783-mgmt-congratulations/
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List number: 2
MGMT
Congratulations
I will admit that MGMT’s debut album, Oracular Spectacular, wasn’t on my favourites list when it was released back in 2008. The obvious hits “Electric Feel” and “Kids” did cause me to bop my head back and forth to their tumultuous grooves, but the rest of the record I could have done without. This album is on this list mainly because I feel I would be doing a disservice to the music-listening public who were extremely vocal in their disappointment with this band’s much anticipated follow-up. I also have to admit that I was extremely curious about Congratulations after reading the distraught moaning by so many college kids who thought it “sucked”. I have a soft spot for records that are hailed as awful — it probably has something to do with my fanatical need to root for the underdog. After a few listens, I have to agree with the masses on this one. Congratulations plays like a poorly crafted ’70s psychedelic/folk/rock album without any warranted explanation. Images of softer Jimi Hendrix are conjured, but Jimi Hendrix these guys are not. It almost feels like MGMT attempted to pull a Kid A, except they forgot that when Radiohead pulled their Kid A, they had already established monumental international success with two (of three) brilliant records. MGMT also forgot to make their Kid A good. The over-bloatedness and self-importance spews through this nine-track, too-long disappointing mess. The one glimmer of hope is that these boys seem to not be dissuaded from jumping of cliffs in their musical endeavors, which should be applauded even if the end result is them splattered across the jagged rocks below.
Album: Nobody’s Daughter
Label: Mercury
Image: http://images.popmatters.com/music_cover_art/h/hole.jpg
Display Width: 200
US Release Date: 2010-04-27
UK Release Date: 2010-05-03
Review: http://ded5626.inmotionhosting.com/~popmat6/pm/review/124390-hole-nobodys-daughter/
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List number: 1
Hole
Nobody’s Daughter
Do you remember when Courtney Love was celebrated for her crazy antics and kick ass attitude? Yeah, neither do I. When Hole’s second, and best, album was released only weeks after the death of Kurt Cobain, the firestorm that is Courtney Love was unleashed onto the world. Live Through This proved to be a seminal grunge rock record that highlighted so many of Courtney’s flaws and flipped them into beautiful and poetic screams of emotion. Their follow up, many, many years later, Celebrity Skin, was not as good, but proved that Hole could adjust with musical trends and keep its style moving. Love, as expected, went off the rails, both personally and professionally, only releasing one solo train wreck of a record in 2004. Word got out that Hole was regrouping, but once it became clear that Love was the only original member to return (not even co-creator Eric Erlandson), it became obvious that this ‘reunion’ was just a thinly disguised Courtney solo effort. There were high hopes for Nobody’s Daughter, especially after the kick-ass lead single “Skinny Little Bitch”. Anticipation for a no-holds-barred resurgence of the impassioned beginnings of Hole was built, but with Nobody’s Daughter‘s release, fans received a mellowed out folk/rock record that even the moniker of Hole couldn’t save. Love lost the poetic edge that originally helped her to author full-throttled tunes like “Violet” and “Doll Parts”, and replaced it with clichéd Sheryl Crow-isms. Tracks like “Letter to God” (which she didn’t even write) and “For Once in Your Life” would never have seen the light of day on a real Hole record, but here they are presented as ‘stellar’ tracks that I’m sure Love is very proud of. Given the caliber and magnitude of Hole’s actual back-catalogue, I don’t think anyone could argue that Love isn’t musically gifted, which is why this muddled-down MOR folk/rock crap is the biggest disappointment of 2010 — musically, that is.