rdj: the futurist
Jun. 2nd, 2008 10:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
I put RDJ's album, The Futurist, on my Zen Micro so I could listen to
it again at work. I still can't decide if I like it. His voice is mumbled
and there's a bit of cognitive dissonance between his speaking voice and his
singing voice so it's throwing me off a lot. For instance, Hugh Jackman and
Ewan McGregor singing still sound like themselves. I watched a clip of him
singing "Every Breath You Take" on Ally McBeal
I'm a huge fan of clever lyrics and I always try to understand the words to
a song I'm listening to. A lot of the songs on The Futurist make me
go, "huh?" and "eh..." which is probably not good. "Kimberly Glide" feels
like it has too many words in it and he's trying to cram them all in before
he runs out of notes. I do like "Broken" a lot, but even that feels a bit
off in places. "Little Clownz" (wtf, clownZ?) would be a great song if not
for the abrupt breaks. Also, a lot of the music sounds the same so it feels
like I'm listening to the same song two or three times. "Smile," his cover
of the Chaplin song, is probably my favorite on the album. The lyrics are
great, of course, and RDJ singing only accompanied by a piano (which I think
he is playing) is great. No over-instrumentation and synthesized instruments
which can really kill covers (see John Barrowman's latest album of pop song
covers).
The album sounds like a bunch of late 80's/early 90's pop ballads, which I'm
not a huge fan of in the first place. Still, it's not the worst of it's type
(singer/actors) that I've ever heard. That distinction goes to Takeshi
Kaneshiro. Ten albums in 6 years and they're all horribly insipid Mando-pop
songs that make me want to vomit.
it again at work. I still can't decide if I like it. His voice is mumbled
and there's a bit of cognitive dissonance between his speaking voice and his
singing voice so it's throwing me off a lot. For instance, Hugh Jackman and
Ewan McGregor singing still sound like themselves. I watched a clip of him
singing "Every Breath You Take" on Ally McBeal
I'm a huge fan of clever lyrics and I always try to understand the words to
a song I'm listening to. A lot of the songs on The Futurist make me
go, "huh?" and "eh..." which is probably not good. "Kimberly Glide" feels
like it has too many words in it and he's trying to cram them all in before
he runs out of notes. I do like "Broken" a lot, but even that feels a bit
off in places. "Little Clownz" (wtf, clownZ?) would be a great song if not
for the abrupt breaks. Also, a lot of the music sounds the same so it feels
like I'm listening to the same song two or three times. "Smile," his cover
of the Chaplin song, is probably my favorite on the album. The lyrics are
great, of course, and RDJ singing only accompanied by a piano (which I think
he is playing) is great. No over-instrumentation and synthesized instruments
which can really kill covers (see John Barrowman's latest album of pop song
covers).
The album sounds like a bunch of late 80's/early 90's pop ballads, which I'm
not a huge fan of in the first place. Still, it's not the worst of it's type
(singer/actors) that I've ever heard. That distinction goes to Takeshi
Kaneshiro. Ten albums in 6 years and they're all horribly insipid Mando-pop
songs that make me want to vomit.