Album Club: 08.11.2011: Britney Spears - Blackout (2007)

[John]

So has this changed my view















Its everything I dislike about modern pop: over produced and over sampled
I am sorry this just brings out the music snob in me
Even though I am a premium member It thankfully allows me to hear just the first four tracks I will give it a one just because I refuse to give anything a zero

[Thing Fish]

Sorry Alex I gave it a listen to but as stated by John 'Its so over sampled' my brain began to melt. The double (triple) tracked voice was just annoying.

Normally after listening to an album I can hum a track or two but this just melted into one big pot of primordial soup.

I have the same reaction with Madonna and Kylie as well.

[Alex_UK]

Hmmm... very strange - on one of my laptops it will play all tracks, on the other, just the first four. Still, I guess for most of you the first 4 are enough!

[Audioman]

The main problem with this is the production. It's impossible to judge the quality of songwriting properly as a result. As for comparisons you can't lump everybody into the same boat. The little I have heard of Kylie recently suggests the same kind of production is favoured. In spite of that I suspect Brittany Spears to have more vocal talent based on her early hits. As for Madonnna irrespective of the music her albums are very well produced and recorded while being 'modern' sounding. Check out 'Confessions On A Dancefloor' or 'Ray of Light' on vinyl if you doubt it.

I think this album is typical of most pop music these days where they autotune vocals to death irrespective of whether the artist can sing or not. Eveything is over dubbed or multitracked to death with a lack of any real instruments then compressed to hell. This is then made worse by furthur compression and brickwalling of the digital master for CD or download. Alex if you wanted to represent a current female vocalist decently recorded I would suggest Adele 21. On vinyl this is excellent sounding (not over compressed) and full of good material. Probably explains it's popularity as it appeals to a wide age group of music buyers.

[griffo104]

The beauty of something like the album club is that it forces you to listen to something you wouldn't and hopefully find a gem and open your mind to other music.

Of course the downside is dreck like this. sorry Alex but this could be any pop album out of any pop factory over the last 15 years or since pop music stopped being music made by proper musicians and recorded with a little care and attention.

this sums up everything that is wrong with popular music and the reason I prefer to listen to talk radio in the car rather than this stuff which is just pumped out of every daytime commercial radio station.

I'm not being a music snob but this has no musical merit at all.

[MartinT]

Agreed, you cannot compare this album with Madonna's Ray of Light, which is excellently produced by William Orbit and features memorable songs. Possibly her best album.

[Audioman]

I'm just listening to the New BS album on Spotify - you get all the tracks. Same sort of thing but material is stronger. Trouble is this could be anybody. Any individuality brittany once had is now removed. This 'music' is all about the producers who write (make it up as they go along) along with the so called artist in the studio. Anybody could do this at home with the right software, a few electronic keyboards and effects plus mikes for vocals. Unfortunately kids listening to this now think this is music. Just hope some are getting exposure to real playing through parents collections or education.

[Alex_UK]

Well, what an interesting reaction so far, and just what I was hoping for!

So why did I nominate this album, apart from the reasons I noted in the original post? To “shake it up a bit?” Of course! Do I really think that this is one of the best albums I own, and you should all go out and buy a copy? Well, no – of course not, though I do still stand by my original assertion that it is a great pop record… Perhaps if Spotify had allowed you to listen to all 12 tracks you would be agreeing with me!

There are however a number of interesting points that have come out so far.

Firstly, I hope that my “pioneering work” may persuade one or two of you to take a bit of a risk with your Album Club choices… Knowing that you can’t possibly stoop (or score!) so low as I have, will hopefully mean that things can always be better than this!

And yet… by some admissions, (well done for being honest, John!) there is a definite case of “music snobbery” going on here – and not just this album, but with modern pop in general. Many of you have mentioned the over-production, or overt use of vocal effects – but I’m guessing many of you wouldn’t baulk at the use of overdrive or wah-wah pedal etc. on an electric guitar…? What’s the difference? Surely it is just different sorts of creativity, and whilst the end result may not be to your tastes, it still warrants some respect?

Paul mentioned Adele’s 21 – but (great though that album is) it wouldn’t have suited my dastardly purposes… with Blackout, (and many others) – the zero dynamic range, recording levels and compression to saturation point is exactly what I wanted to “showcase” and try to understand why is it done this way? Is it because of the iPod generation – always listening to music as a secondary pursuit, where if the whole lot isn’t thrown at you in a great big globule it just get’s lost amongst everything else? Is it just the record companies trying to out-do each other, hoping that the louder their record sounds, the “better” it will appear on the radio?

But the main point I wanted to try and understand is what is so different about modern Pop, compared to Pop of old? I doubt anyone would argue (actually I don’t!) that much of the old music we listen to now was Pop in its day – The Beatles & The Stones in the 60’s many others before and after, that we now consider “worthy” would have been the Britney or Bruno Mars or The Wanted of their day. Is it an age thing? I find myself suddenly at 42 finding I just can’t deal with the latest “urban” Pop, yet only a couple of years ago I was happy listening to Radio 1. Maybe it’s a hifi thing? We just can’t bring ourselves to play this sort of commercial product through our lovingly crafted systems? Or is there some other reason? Maybe, it just all is rubbish, but if so, why is it still outselling everything else?

Should “Album Club” always be “worthy” and should we all be patting each other on the back for selecting another great classic, week after week - or should we just maybe sometimes seek to look a little deeper, and perhaps try something a little more challenging once in a while? I don’t have an answer – but hopefully it has been a thought provoking choice!?

[Macca]

The problem with yer average Pop Tart is that you really need the visuals as well as the music in order to get the full benefit. I like the one she did in the school uniform and I liked the one where she's the air hostess but this ain't doing it for me. Perhaps I need to order the DVD...

[Thing Fish]

Music as far as i'm concerned has to sound like music and i'm afraid Bwitneys album just doesn't. Neither does anything of its ilk ie... Madonna, The Saturdays, Kylie, JLS and so on... Maybe it's my age?

Music for me has to be a bit challenging and the above artists just don't do it.

I just don't feel any toe tapping connection. Is that music snobbery? I don't see it as that. I just see it as something I don't like the sound of...

I do see where you are coming from though Alex in terms of not always posting safe classic albums.