I got a BOYFRIEND. We like to FIGHT A LOT. We got a lot in common: he thinks I FUCKING ROCK.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Have we talked about the new Ashlee Simpson on poptimists yet? I've only just got round to it and I think it's BLOODY BRILLIANT. Haven't worked out where it stands w/r/t her first two albums but it's a logical next step - she's basically grown up and lightened up, she sounds very much in control of herself (whereas on Autobiography and I Am Me she was more likely to be found flailing angstily around her emotions, which was great, but this is just different).

She's got Timbaland, Chad Hugo, Kenna and Santogold on the album but it's really telling that nothing on Bittersweet World really sounds like any of them at all - the points of comparison are far more indicative of Ashlee's own taste (ie Debbie Harry and Pat Benatar time travelling to meet Gwen Stefani in her own 80s mode, or something).

Outta My Head - we all know and love this, yeah? I finally got Santogold's 'LES Artistes' last night when I realised it was basically a version of 'Outta My Head'. It sets the tone for the album in that Ashlee sounds as though she's singing through her laughter - I wouldn't call Bittersweet World playful as such, but Ashlee is definitely playing with us.

Boys - AWESOME X 1000! Total summer jam, Gwen Stefani understudy surpasses the leading name. Surely the next single if anyone involved has any sense (though looking at how Mimi and Janet are effing up their singles schedules, I don't credit anyone anywhere with any sense in this matter any more). LOL at "use your head but not that one". Erm what actually are the boys giving her though?

Rule Breaker - crunchy and funny, the song whence the lyrics in the headline are taken. Destined to be mocked by people who think Ashlee's trying to be genuinely tuff. Duh, she's still playing; when she sings "you think I'm a REBEL, cuz I keep making TROUBLE" she sounds like she's on the verge of cracking up. Laughter is infectious.

Little Miss Obsessive - one of the few glimpses of the old Ashlee. Huge soft rock ballad, I don't have much to say about it (yet) but I completely love this.

Ragdoll - this is like Rule Breaker but with less quotability and a stronger melody I think.

Bittersweet World - HEY IT'S ROXIE HART! You can really hear the influence of Ashlee's stint in Chicago on this album in certain places, most of all in this. It's not a big musical number or anything, the influence is more subtle - a slight note of vampishness, a cabaret wink here and there...one of my immediate favourites. The bit where everything but the beat drops out for the lines "there's a universal bottom line / everybody's in disguise, even you and I" is brilliant.

What I've Become - erm I don't think I remember this but I do remember it being good. I think the ticket inspectors were going round the bus while this was playing.

Hot Stuff - WHOA what is this madness? 'Hella Good'-esque beat (yeah insofar as this album has any contemporary points of comparison it's Gwen Stefani), rollercoaster melody interludes, Ashlee pouting and wisecracking for all she's worth. Makes me laugh, esp "Show off! She just wanna take her clothes off!" and "Whatcha gon' do when y'all zip it? [MASSIVE PAUSE during which you can just FEEL Ashlee rolling her eyes] Try to flip it!"

Murder - another wtf amazing track, swampy guitars and a beat which sounds like clip-clopping hooves - the ending is amazing, more Roxie Hart cabaret stuffz - I've never heard Ashlee sing so softly and sweetly.

Never Dream Alone - big piano ballad which I'm sure I'll grow to love when I pay attention to the lyrics.

The bonus tracks on the UK album seem to be 'Pieces Of Me' and 'Boyfriend' - we all know and love these, yeah? - but there are probably others doing the rounds. I seem to have acquired one called 'Invisible' which sounds like an I Am Me reject and is kind of negligible.

HUGE PASS, anyway - this has zoomed straight into the highest echelon of albums released this year (other members of that category: Erykah Badu, Mariah Carey, Booka Shade, Estelle, Trus'me, The Bug, Akiko Kiyama, The-Dream, maaaybe Sébastien Tellier and Mlle Caro & Franck Garcia and Kuniyuki Takahashi and Black Devil Disco Club).

Comments

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I thought she and Timbaland would be a tremendous mismatch, but in fact she's found a perfect way to use the zip and snap of the beats while finding new forms to act out old obsessions

Yeah I was deeply suspicious of this collab - neither of them had great past form at moving out of their particular field (Timbaland's experiments in rock = aaagh, Ashlee on a reggae beat = yeesh) - but it works really well in exactly the way you describe. I can't think of anyone who's really doing this sound AT ALL right now!

I prefer I Am Me to Autobiography - I think it's a more confident and more ambitious album; at its best, it's really towering and visceral (melody and production) in a way Autobiography isn't. Bittersweet World is hard to compare to either but I think it holds up really well. Generic showbiz blues works for Ashlee because she's never even come close to trying this style before - I guess it shows she's still restless, musically, she's not just going to churn out more angst-rock in her comfort zone - and she pulls it off. I wish I'd bothered to see her in Chicago now!

[koganbot]

Did you know that one of her original concepts for the album was to have all the songs performed in the voice of fictional character Vicky Valentine? "Boys" and "Murder" and "Rule Breaker" and "Ragdoll" all are pretty clearly Vicky Valentine songs. And "Hot Stuff" is Vicky Valentine as Super Alien or something. (That's my vote for next U.S. single. I figure that since the radio won't play her no matter what, she might as well go for the extreme; I foresee it getting club play in SF and NY and Miami.)

About two-thirds of the way through this vid Ashlee sings what I assume is a song from Chicago (I've never seen Chicago, so I don't know.)

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

The first I heard about the Vicky Valentine alter ego was in an interview where Ashlee was like "oh haha that was a joke"! But I read the threads about this mysterious Victor Valentine co-writer so I'm guessing there's a bit of Vicky - whoever Ashlee's conceptualised her as - in there. I don't hear anything specific I recognise as VV though because I don't know exactly what Ashlee had in mind when she thought of her: those songs do have a distinctly different narrative voice but it kind of fits with what Ashlee herself is like now too!

It all still comes down to "she's playing with us".

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Actually I REALLY wish I'd seen Chicago (I think that was the year I was completely broke and couldn't do anything which wasn't free) - the only production of it I've seen was, er, a school one, but Roxie Hart LOOMS LARGE as an influence.

[koganbot]

But also, I wonder if Timbaland's production credits are basically for assembling the staff, or maybe it's even just an honorary credit. Or maybe he really did direct a lot. But he's got no writing credits; on the tracks where he's "producer" he's only one of three, the other two being King Logan and Jerome Harmon, who are two thirds of a production team called The Royal Court. And on the Timbo tracks it's Harmon and Logan who do all the heavy lifting on beats and keybs.

A crucial participant seems to be Jim Beanz, who does "vocal production" on all but the final track. "Vocal producer" is a specialist role I'd not realized existed, but Jim Beanz is all over Blackout and all over the new Danity Kane album; so on the basis of those three albums I'd say the guy does tremendous work.

Timbo seems to appear as the rapper "Izza Kizza" on "Murder," and whether it's he or not the rap is the worst thing on the album. And stupidly I wiped the original leaked version from my computer, which has a much better rap by Travis McCoy. Contains the line "O.J. is my favorite Simpson," and I'm wondering if the record company said "You can't do that." Is streamed here, and seems to have a download (though also some extraneous noise).

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

The vox on Blackout and ...Dollhouse are really superb! In completely different ways! The only time I've noticed "vocal production" before was on Survivor, when I think Beyoncé herself took the reins, and her entire amusing strategy was "me at the front all the time".

Oh is this like when all the big Timba tracks of 06 were really Danja? And oh THAT'S who Izza Kizza is.

(NB: "Ashlee, am I getting on your nerrrrves?" = the only Timba vocal contribution to a track I've actively enjoyed in ages! Maybe I just got used to it, the lack of it feels strange.)

[koganbot]

Well, I don't know that Izza Kizza is Timbo, it just sounds bad enough to be him.

[edgeofwhatever.livejournal.com]

No, Izza Kizza is this guy (http://profile.myspace.com/izzakizza).

"Vocal production" is what Kara did on Paris and Blackout.

[koganbot]

OK, apologies to Mr. Mosley, who's merely responsible for signing him, I guess.

[edgeofwhatever.livejournal.com]

I think Mr. Mosley needs to apologize to you.

[koganbot]

Well, I don't hate all of what I'm hearing on the Izza Kizza MySpace, though I think that's mainly because of the Missy Elliott track that goes "3 6 9, the goose drank wine."

[edgeofwhatever.livejournal.com]

Then I guess it's too late to apologize. It's too laaaaaate...

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Missy's done a track like that as well?? Christ she really has run out of ideas.

[koganbot]

"Vocal production" is what Kara did on Paris and Blackout.

Presumably on Blackout she did vocal production on "Heaven On Earth" and "Ooh Ooh Baby." Beanz is credited (at least by Wiki) with "Gimme More," "Break The Ice," "Get Naked," "Hot As Ice," and "Perfect Lover." Interestingly, Beanz is credited with the vocal production on "Love Story" and "Open Toes" on the Kat McPhee album. Those are Kara songs, right?

[edgeofwhatever.livejournal.com]

She gets both a producer and vocal production credit on "Heaven on Earth" (which she didn't write) and just a producer credit on "Ooh Ooh Baby" (which she did).

Those are indeed Kara songs. Allmusic credits her with vocal production on the Kat McPhee album too, but it doesn't say for which songs.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

'Open Toes' is amazing!