She murdered for money on her debut, "On How Life Is" in the self-explanatory "I've Committed Murder." After that multiplatinum success, she only threatened murder - for love, no less - on her second album "The Id" in the equally self-explanatory "Gimme All Your Lovin' or I Will Kill You." (That album didn't do so well.
) And on her third album "The Trouble With Being Myself," she murdered for the sake of family harmony in "My Fondest Childhood Memories," but that didn't help sales, either. Gray introduces her latest murderous tale, "Strange Behavior," by saying, "This is a story about two people in love" and quickly moves into that story, singing, "We were happily married until he waved a gun at me" over a playful, island-tinged soul backdrop. He wants to off her for the insurance money, but can't.
So she kills him instead. Of course, these murderous thoughts are all fantasy, but they do reflect the coming and going of Gray's "killer" instinct. And, on "Big," she has it, To make sure this album works, she brings in Black Eyed Peas' will.
i.am and his pal Justin Timberlake to help out with some songs. Not that she needs it Gray is at her best with her distinctive brand of R B, a mix of soul and pop that shows off her voice.
And in such songs as the joyous "Finally Made Me Happy" and "Shoo-Be-Doo," Gray shows she can keep up with the brash singers - Her loopy sense of humor is also still intact, especially in "Treat Me Like Your Money," which includes a rap from will.i.am and a snippet from Dead or "Big" may not be huge, but Gray has always been a bit too left-field for the mainstream.
What it does prove, though, is that Gray is willing to fight to keep putting out great albums. To the death, if necessary. friends.
In stores today. Grade: A-. Revival" (Daylight/Epic) album.
"Revival" is definitely front-loaded, with the rousing "Misery"; the goofy, electro-pop "Keep Your Hands Off My Girl," and the (especially when Avenged Sevenfold's M. Shadows contributes a verse) than the band that brought us "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous." The The speed-of-sound Coldplay motif does not.
Things start to unravel, musically and lyrically, with the piano ballad "Where Would We Be?" and "A Beautiful Place," which has more than a passing relation to Chris Martin's "Don't Panic." The half-baked "All Black" - which has a chorus of "Take a look at my life, all black/Take a look at my clothes, all black/Like Johnny Cash, all black/Like the Rolling Stones, want to paint it black" - doesn't help.
"Good Morning Revival" would have made one great EP, but as an album it only ("Good Morning Revival," in stores today; Grade: C+) Frankenstein single, assembled from odd hip-hop scraps - a flatulent synthesized horn sample, a chanting chorus such as Destiny Child's "Check On It" and a cool rap from Eve. All that probably shouldn't work together, but somehow it does, sticking with you long after you figure out how it all fits. The best part, though, is the gospel-soul bridge that gives Rowland's vocals a chance to shine, a remix extending that bit would make the song even hotter.
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