Another week brings another new round of new releases. On this particular week, it also brings another blockbuster. Last week it was Green Day; this week it's the return of Eminem.
More or less re-embracing his "Slim Shady" persona, Em's Relapse comes after a five-year layoff that saw the rapper remarry and re-divorce his wife Kim, mourn the death of his best friend (rapper Proof), and by most accounts seek to ease the pain by heading straight towards the medicine cabinet. NAR contributor Jordan Richardson is back with us for a second straight week to tell you all about Em and his Relapse.
Donald Gibson is also here to give us his thoughts on the new live recording by Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood, an historic performance that our man Gibson actually attended in person. But before we get to those, there's a few more items to run down on this week's NAR checklist.
Tori Amos makes a turn back towards more conventional songwriting on Abnormally Attracted to Sin, following the more weighty concepts of her last few albums — a move which should please longtime fans. Early reports say that the new album features some of the always quirky Amos' strongest songs in some time.
Method Man and Redman manage to play it for laughs, while at the same time always keeping it real on Blackout! Vol. 2, a ten years in the making followup to 1999's Blackout!. This one features plenty of guest turns from the usual Wu-Tang suspects like Raekwon and Ghostface Killah.
Indie darlings Iron & Wine are back with Around the Well, a two-disc compilation featuring the usual odds and ends like original demos, outtakes, and rare tracks drawn from throughout the band's career. Here's Jordan Richardson with the inside dope on Eminem...
With his first solo album since 2004's Encore, Eminem returns. His emergence from the darkness created by an addiction to sleeping pills, a second divorce from Kimberley Scott following an eleven month remarriage, and the death of his closest friend couldn't have come at a better time. Relapse is less a pop-rap record and more a vital statement. Em spits with a purpose, unloading rhymes both of the expected and unexpected variety.
The singles, "Crack a Bottle" and "We Made You," stand as testimonies to what is expected, with Em haphazardly launching his usual salvo of celeb-oriented attacks and club bangers. But Relapse is more than that and so is Eminem, thank you very much. Relapse unlocks the last door keeping us safe from the madman, opening things up once and for all for the world to see. It is bold, ballsy, dangerous music. And it's about fucking time.
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