Friday, February 07, 2003
aaliyah was much more of an artist than a lot of smart people realize. some, too many, saw her as a producer's puppet-slash-muse: first to r. kelly, then to timbaland (to whom I argue she's more important than missy. stick with me, here). but her records themselves are her tabula rasa, proving that she was just as important as her producers. no one else could've made the records she did - and no one did.
let's get her obvious masterpiece out of the way first, a song which didn't even appear on an aaliyah album until her recent something old, something new comp I care 4 u. "are you that somebody?" didn't initially sound earth-shattering, not like "get ur freak on" or "work it" did. but it's aged amazingly - and maybe better than missy's pair of defining smashes will. yes, tim's production here is the number one stunna, where the song's silences and pauses are just as (maybe more) important than its noises. "somebody"'s key, however - besides the infamous cooing baby - is aaliyah's chiffon cake vocals. not only because of the way they, in their breathiness, contrast so expertly with the track's thump (which is actually quite spare in and of itself), but because of the way aaliyah sings not-quite-with the beat. timbaland (in his slow-talk-rapping on "somebody") brings the leather, aaliyah the lace - or, if you prefer, the "naughty naughty."
but don't overlook her pre-tim work with r. kelly, most of it on her debut, age ain't nothing but a number. her cover of the isley brothers' "at your best (you are love)" is a case in point. recorded when she was 14 or 15, her voice has a perfect tone, a gorgeous clarity, simply singing (not oversinging, as was the modus operandi for most femme r-and-b singers at the time). kelly wisely kept the production minimal, never overwhelming aaliyah's voice, just keeping the beat and giving her plush isley-tastic textures and occasional rock'n'soul guitar "wah"s to sing against. and aaliyah overdubbed sounds like the voice of angels - a chorus of herself. on her first single, "back and forth," it's a different aaliyah altogether, simultaneously street-smooth and -smart, the girl from 'round the block. she could hang with you and love you, this r-and-b just-past-lolita, and that - combined with kelly's fantastic swingbeat backing - was her initial appeal. hers was an album which could be played back-to-back with both naughty by nature and luther vandross, so broad was its appeal.
aaliyah's voice was often a coo, but could also get fiercer. "I refuse," an album track from her third, self-titled longplayer, was her "no more drama," a standup would-be anthem for the girls and gayboys (stop playin' - babygirl has a serious homo following). she worked her voice around the track, unfortunately a somewhat ill-fitting bombastic one. but aaliyah herself never failed, even - especially? - when doing something different. for the soundtrack to her first starring film role, romeo must die, aaliyah did a whitney and featured on four of the album's selections, three of which were sizeable hits. one of these, "come back in one piece," was a set piece with dmx, of all people - not a remix, mind you, but an original teamup. original it certainly is. dmx keep threatening to steal the show, but never quite grabs the lead from aaliyah; she's always the one in control (borne out even more clearly in the song's video, where x poses and mugs for the camera, but aaliyah's cool, relaxed presence always keeps the focus directly on her). the same is true on jermaine dupri's so so def remix of junior mafia's "need you tonight," in which she removes the spotlight from lil' cease and lil' kim just by singing the chorus of lisa lisa & cult jam's "I wonder if I take you home."
one in a million, aaliyah's second album, was the one which showed the depths of her art. out from under r. kelly's mammoth shadow, she spread her wings with tim & missy, and found a new, natural home amidst tim's rubbery basslines and occasionally avant-garde production touches. "if your girl only knew" isn't so complicated, a fairly straightforward cheatin' song with (for tim) fairly normal production. but with the album's second single, everything changed. "one in a million" was completely unlike anything before it, and changed the landscape for everything after it. slow but not a ballad, and minimalist as r-and-b got, "million" was all hard, dry percussion, keyboard chords occasionally swelling like the ocean surf, and crickets. yeah, crickets. and lemme tell you, the crickets make the song, giving it a slightly off-kilter, late-night feel. to quote a.r. kane, it's a love [song] from outer space. its influence is still being felt; musicologists will cite "million" as one of the benchmarks of pop music 50 years from now. its production also lent itself to one of the most surprising remixes of the '90s, armand van helden's drum 'n' bass mix, which truly took aaliyah to the outer limits. amazingly, her voice, sounding even more ghostly and ambient than usual here, fit its resetting perfectly. van helden kept only two elements of timbaland's mix: aaliyah's vocals (which he time-stretched and sped up) - and the crickets. if you can locate a copy - it was released in the u.k. on the "if your girl only knew"/"one in a million" 12" - pay whatever you must. this remix is the definition of the word "stunning."
the aaliyah record, a full five years after her second, found aaliyah taking on more adult themes, singing about adult relationships, and sex - and setting her own course for adventure. timbaland only had a hand in three song on the album, including the first salvo, "we need a resolution," which is typically bold. "resolution" is based around a snake-charmer's woodwind, showing tim (and aaliyah) ahead of the curve yet again, giving the song a middle-eastern flair a full year before the sound exploded on truth hurts' "addictive." it's utterly great, but by no means the album's definitive moment. its followup, "rock the boat," was. its track is all satin sheets and click tracks, sexy is as sexy does. aaliyah's singing is so penultimately come-hither - and there's that heavenly chorus of aaliyahs on the chorus and bridge - so painfully erotic while singing this string of double entendres without sounding smutty. it's a triumph in and of itself. "more than a woman" is machine soul, wetted down. "loose rap" is a very loose interpolation of rick james & roxanne shante's "loosey's rap," with static playing the role-reversed ashanti (rapping) to her ja rule (singing).
over a year after her passing, virgin records released the almost-greatest hits (but without "if your girl only knew"?) I care 4 u, named after the ballad picked as the fourth and final single from aaliyah. its six new songs show that babygirl's evolution was continuing. "miss you" is a fairly traditional ballad made to stand out by yet another aaliyah signature 'noise' - this time, a trilling bird (of paradise?), but not from timbaland, as johnta austin produced four of the six previously unreleased tracks, including this one - and aaliyah's tender vocals. the standout of the batch is "erica kane," a midtempo shuffler about a power-hungry woman, all high-hat cymbals and odd backing chorus.
I wonder if, had she lived, aaliyah and tim would be making records like the sugababes/richard x collabo, "freak like me," or if they would've found even newer/fresher ways to revolutionize r-and-b. then again, how could they - she, most importantly - not? remember, this is an artist who once told an interviewer that she wanted to work with trent reznor. I'm guessing eventually, she would have, finding yet another way to surprise us all again. that's aaliyah.
let's get her obvious masterpiece out of the way first, a song which didn't even appear on an aaliyah album until her recent something old, something new comp I care 4 u. "are you that somebody?" didn't initially sound earth-shattering, not like "get ur freak on" or "work it" did. but it's aged amazingly - and maybe better than missy's pair of defining smashes will. yes, tim's production here is the number one stunna, where the song's silences and pauses are just as (maybe more) important than its noises. "somebody"'s key, however - besides the infamous cooing baby - is aaliyah's chiffon cake vocals. not only because of the way they, in their breathiness, contrast so expertly with the track's thump (which is actually quite spare in and of itself), but because of the way aaliyah sings not-quite-with the beat. timbaland (in his slow-talk-rapping on "somebody") brings the leather, aaliyah the lace - or, if you prefer, the "naughty naughty."
but don't overlook her pre-tim work with r. kelly, most of it on her debut, age ain't nothing but a number. her cover of the isley brothers' "at your best (you are love)" is a case in point. recorded when she was 14 or 15, her voice has a perfect tone, a gorgeous clarity, simply singing (not oversinging, as was the modus operandi for most femme r-and-b singers at the time). kelly wisely kept the production minimal, never overwhelming aaliyah's voice, just keeping the beat and giving her plush isley-tastic textures and occasional rock'n'soul guitar "wah"s to sing against. and aaliyah overdubbed sounds like the voice of angels - a chorus of herself. on her first single, "back and forth," it's a different aaliyah altogether, simultaneously street-smooth and -smart, the girl from 'round the block. she could hang with you and love you, this r-and-b just-past-lolita, and that - combined with kelly's fantastic swingbeat backing - was her initial appeal. hers was an album which could be played back-to-back with both naughty by nature and luther vandross, so broad was its appeal.
aaliyah's voice was often a coo, but could also get fiercer. "I refuse," an album track from her third, self-titled longplayer, was her "no more drama," a standup would-be anthem for the girls and gayboys (stop playin' - babygirl has a serious homo following). she worked her voice around the track, unfortunately a somewhat ill-fitting bombastic one. but aaliyah herself never failed, even - especially? - when doing something different. for the soundtrack to her first starring film role, romeo must die, aaliyah did a whitney and featured on four of the album's selections, three of which were sizeable hits. one of these, "come back in one piece," was a set piece with dmx, of all people - not a remix, mind you, but an original teamup. original it certainly is. dmx keep threatening to steal the show, but never quite grabs the lead from aaliyah; she's always the one in control (borne out even more clearly in the song's video, where x poses and mugs for the camera, but aaliyah's cool, relaxed presence always keeps the focus directly on her). the same is true on jermaine dupri's so so def remix of junior mafia's "need you tonight," in which she removes the spotlight from lil' cease and lil' kim just by singing the chorus of lisa lisa & cult jam's "I wonder if I take you home."
one in a million, aaliyah's second album, was the one which showed the depths of her art. out from under r. kelly's mammoth shadow, she spread her wings with tim & missy, and found a new, natural home amidst tim's rubbery basslines and occasionally avant-garde production touches. "if your girl only knew" isn't so complicated, a fairly straightforward cheatin' song with (for tim) fairly normal production. but with the album's second single, everything changed. "one in a million" was completely unlike anything before it, and changed the landscape for everything after it. slow but not a ballad, and minimalist as r-and-b got, "million" was all hard, dry percussion, keyboard chords occasionally swelling like the ocean surf, and crickets. yeah, crickets. and lemme tell you, the crickets make the song, giving it a slightly off-kilter, late-night feel. to quote a.r. kane, it's a love [song] from outer space. its influence is still being felt; musicologists will cite "million" as one of the benchmarks of pop music 50 years from now. its production also lent itself to one of the most surprising remixes of the '90s, armand van helden's drum 'n' bass mix, which truly took aaliyah to the outer limits. amazingly, her voice, sounding even more ghostly and ambient than usual here, fit its resetting perfectly. van helden kept only two elements of timbaland's mix: aaliyah's vocals (which he time-stretched and sped up) - and the crickets. if you can locate a copy - it was released in the u.k. on the "if your girl only knew"/"one in a million" 12" - pay whatever you must. this remix is the definition of the word "stunning."
the aaliyah record, a full five years after her second, found aaliyah taking on more adult themes, singing about adult relationships, and sex - and setting her own course for adventure. timbaland only had a hand in three song on the album, including the first salvo, "we need a resolution," which is typically bold. "resolution" is based around a snake-charmer's woodwind, showing tim (and aaliyah) ahead of the curve yet again, giving the song a middle-eastern flair a full year before the sound exploded on truth hurts' "addictive." it's utterly great, but by no means the album's definitive moment. its followup, "rock the boat," was. its track is all satin sheets and click tracks, sexy is as sexy does. aaliyah's singing is so penultimately come-hither - and there's that heavenly chorus of aaliyahs on the chorus and bridge - so painfully erotic while singing this string of double entendres without sounding smutty. it's a triumph in and of itself. "more than a woman" is machine soul, wetted down. "loose rap" is a very loose interpolation of rick james & roxanne shante's "loosey's rap," with static playing the role-reversed ashanti (rapping) to her ja rule (singing).
over a year after her passing, virgin records released the almost-greatest hits (but without "if your girl only knew"?) I care 4 u, named after the ballad picked as the fourth and final single from aaliyah. its six new songs show that babygirl's evolution was continuing. "miss you" is a fairly traditional ballad made to stand out by yet another aaliyah signature 'noise' - this time, a trilling bird (of paradise?), but not from timbaland, as johnta austin produced four of the six previously unreleased tracks, including this one - and aaliyah's tender vocals. the standout of the batch is "erica kane," a midtempo shuffler about a power-hungry woman, all high-hat cymbals and odd backing chorus.
I wonder if, had she lived, aaliyah and tim would be making records like the sugababes/richard x collabo, "freak like me," or if they would've found even newer/fresher ways to revolutionize r-and-b. then again, how could they - she, most importantly - not? remember, this is an artist who once told an interviewer that she wanted to work with trent reznor. I'm guessing eventually, she would have, finding yet another way to surprise us all again. that's aaliyah.
# posted by Thomas : 11:05 PM
