Timbaland: Shock Value II
Timbaland: Shock Value II
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By Adam Leveridge. |  |
Tuesday, 08, Dec 2009 03:51
Mosley Music/Interscope, out now.
What's it all about?
Two years ago Timbaland launched his assault on the pop charts with the album Shock Value. Having recently made over Justin Timberlake and Nelly Furtado to great acclaim, the album was a lap of honour from the man who ruled the airwaves.
Shock Value 2 is the follow-up and again features Furtado and Timberlake alongside some unusual pop contributors. Teen sensations Miley Cyrus and JoJo get the Timbo treatment while Katy Perry and Keri Hilson also feature.
The real shock is the number of rock collaborations. Aussie scenesters Jet and rock singer Daughtry appear along with Nickelback's Chad Kroeger in an unusual departure for Timbaland.
Who's it by?
In the last few years the Virginia native has leapfrogged his neighbours the Neptunes to become the undisputed number one pop producer on the planet.
Making his name in the mid-90s with a decade of producing urban singles, he recently changed tack and focused on sculpting the sound of pop artists. Single-handedly resuscitating the career of Nelly Furtado by turning her into a pop vamp, he also created a concept album for Justin Timberlake and has worked with every major artist in today's market.
However he is best remembered for the syncopated soundscapes he created for protégés such as Aaliyah and Missy Elliott in the mid-90s. Tracks such as Are You That Somebody? and Get Your Freak On are considered modern classics.
As an example...
Back in the mid-90s Timbaland would occasionally lace one of his R 'n' B productions with a trademark vocoded rap, before the singer came in. Today this forms the heart of his recording persona, yet lyrically he leaves much to be desired.
"Lil mama I'm peeping your style/Do I think you're dope enough? Yup..." is just one example of Timbaland the wordsmith.
Thankfully when it comes to the music, he is an acknowledged master of the studio.
What the others say
Perhaps the greatest indictment of all is the lack of reviews for this album. Of the ones that are in existence, nearly all are disappointed by the lack of invention.
"Timbaland's latest effort lives up to its title only in its extraordinary propensity for bloated tedium," scoffs Hugh Montgomery in the Guardian, while the LA Times laments how "many of the same vices that plagued the first instalment of Shock Value keep the second edition sodden as well".
So is it any good?
On the opening track of his last album, Timbaland made a strangely prescient statement. "One day I'm gonna dip, but I won't be hard to find". A rather contrite lyric from the boastful rap producer who once scoffed on the same album: "Never gonna see the day that I ain't got the upper hand."
Perhaps Timbaland was just warning us about what was to come. He has certainly not been hard to find in the last few years, appearing with every major pop artist and producing numerous hits. Yet on this follow-up his music has unfortunately taken that predicted dip.
Unfortunately for him the problem lies less with his collaborators than with his own productions. What made hearing a Timbaland track so exciting was his limitless palette of sounds. From Javanese gamelan sounds in Get Your Freak On to sampling Egyptian singer Abdel Halim Hafez, every track was anchored by bizarre, syncopated rhythms and the crispest drums.
And then he updated the sound of the entire pop charts with Sexyback for Justin and Maneater for Nelly Furtado. As a slew of copycat R 'n' B producers started using synths and breakbeats it is unfortunate that Timbaland has not found a new sound for this album. He adds very little to a host of rock collaborations, while tracks such as Lose Control (feat JoJo) and Say Something (feat Drake) lack sparkle and bass. What's unthinkable for a Timbaland album is that it all sounds a bit cheap and synthesized.
Thankfully some of those bonkers rhythms are still on display. Justin Timberlake comes correct on the bouncing beats of Carry Out, while Can You Feel It is a decent attempt at the Eurohouse sound. Yet it's not enough to save this horribly lightweight album.
"I'm a real producer, you are just a piano man!" is how Timbaland once dismissed a major rival. Unfortunately he has become the subject of his own diss.
2/10
Marcus Dubois