Christina Aguilera - Back to Basics
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Artist: Christina AguileraBrand: RCA
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Original Language)
CD Release Date: 2006-08-15
Music Label: RCA
Product features:
- AGUILERA CHRISTINA BACK TO BASICS (2CD)
- Intro (Back To Basics)
- Makes Me Wanna Pray featuring Steve Winwood
- Back In The Day
- Ain't No Other Man
- Understand
- Slow Down Baby
- Oh Mother
- F.U.S.S. (Interlude)
- On Our Way
- Without You
- Still Dirrty
- Here To Stay
- Thank You (Dedication To Fans...)
- Enter The Circus
- Welcome
- Candyman
- Nasty Naughty Boy
- I Got Trouble
- Hurt
- Mercy On Me
- Save Me From Myself
- The Right Man
- Back To Basics (Bonus Video)
Music reviews of Back to Basics
Music Review: A surprising delight from a pop diva
Rating: 4 Stars
When I heard Aguilera was releasing a double album that used classic jazz and classic 60s/70s soul music (which I love a lot), I just had to check out what her idea of "classic jazz and soul music" were. I could picture myself rolling my eyes at her feeble attempts to sample and/or immulate Oleta Adams, Natalie Cole, or *gasp* Mariah Carey, all 80s/90s musicians which are, in my mind, not true soul singers but a Xerox copy of someone trying to market true soul/jazz music and come off sounding like voices played over poor Muzak one would hear in an elevator or at one's dentist office waiting room. They are what's disgraced soul music in recent years.
What I recall as the "Intro (Back to Basics)" track resonated was thinking "What am I getting myself into?" as Christina sets the groundwork in her own words of what kind of album the listener can expect -- an album that makes her "wanna understand what made the soul singers and the blues figures that inspired a higher generation." She ends by saying the album's a tribute that she's paying to these musical inspirations. Let me state that it isn't Aguilera's singing voice that worries me 'cause, let's face it, the girl can surely sing. No, I was more concerned with the arrangement, songwriting and production of the songs.
Next, the once-teenage "Genie in a Bottle" and "Dirrty" girl began "Makes Me Wanna Pray" with the wail of a gospel singer and Traffic's own Steve Winwood on piano as she begins to sing lyrics of her transformation into a woman. While this may come off sounding trite and foolish from other artists of her ilk (i.e. Britney Spears, Jessica Simpson, JoJo, etc.), Christina's booming voice, backed up by a full gospel choir, transform the atheist into a believer. The next track "Back in the Day," which made me extremely nervous because she starts name-dropping in her samples. And not just any names, but THE names: Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, Louis Armstrong, Lena Horne, Etta James, Gladys Knight, James Brown, etc. I wasn't too impressed with this track at first, but it started taking hold of me as I began to pick up what Ms. Aguilera (sorry, Mrs. Bratman) was laying down.
When the horns blare to the intro of "Ain't No Other Man," I am delivered the catchy jazz/big band-sounding song I longed for. Being the first radio single from the massive album was a very wise choice. This continues in the brilliant 70's soul-tinged "Understand." The hook of the chorus and piano sound as if Aguilera wrote with another soul favorite of mine, Alicia Keys. Aguilera's earnest apology to her lover is a true soul gem and one of the highlights on this album.
"Slow Down Baby," another track sounding as if coming under Black-Eyed Peas production, has Aguilera sounding off to a man, turning him down and telling him how she's already got a lover who satisfies. The track is catchy but not much my cup of tea. The lyrics to "Oh Mother" are poignant and based on Aguilera's mother's struggle with her physically abusive ex-husband (Christina's father). Although it took guts to write such a song and the words are inspiring, unfortunately, the vocals and lyrics are good but the music is flat. "F.U.S.S." is a brief interlude, featuring Aguilera saying goodbye to one of her former writing partners from her previous release Stripped, though I'm not positively sure, but I believe it to be Scott Storch, a famous rap/dance music producer. The song quickly segues into "On Our Way" with a piano and Aguilera almost apologizing for her words in "F.U.S.S." (or maybe it's a new-found respect for a new partner).
The following song "Without You" begins to make me nervous again because of the repetitive lyrics of Aguilera praising her lover, but set to a generic fingersnap-beat and moog synthesizer, making her sound like an Oleta Adams or light Mariah Carey from her pre-"Butterfly" days. "Still Dirrty" doesn't help much either as it sounds like Aguilera's still promising her male fans that she "still got the nasty" in her. The lyrics shine confidence and a tough exterior but when the girls background voices shout "Sexy!" in the chorus, it comes off sounding as if the track belongs on an A*Teens or Kidz Bop album.
As the first disc comes to a close, it ends great with "Here to Stay," featuring a horn sample and lyrics showcasing the true determination that Aguilera was trying to show us on "Still Dirrty." Only, with "Here to Stay," Aguilera's new sense of musicmaking, and what it is to not only be a true musician dipping her toes in all musical genres, but also a true music lover, comes through with a funky beat that anyone can appreciate. The first disc concludes with a fitting, warm tribute to her fans on "Thank You," featuring real audio messages from her fans as she belts out thankful words for those who've stuck by her side.
In so few words, the second disc is where this album becomes genius. Opening with a circus ringmaster's voice in "Enter the Circus," the MC prepares the listener for a disc of songs that are out of the ordinary for Aguilera and her fan base. The dizzying circus choir voices sound like something from a wacky Tim Burton/Danny Elfman movie, a la "Nightmare Before Christmas," "Batman Returns," or "Beetle Juice." The music instantly segues into "Welcome" with its own Broadway Tim Rice-sounding overture and vocals. This is the perfect opener with the singer giving away her plight and ending with a simple whistling tune set to violin.
Suddenly, we're transported back to the 1940s and get a delightful treat in "Candyman" with its big band Glenn Miller sound and what could easily be the Andrews Sisters backing Aguilera up on vocals.
Next up is the smoky, sultry, sexy 40's burlesque striptease of "Nasty Naughty Boy," full on with Aguilera letting out very suggestive, sexual innuendo lyrics in one of the truly most sexually-charged songs since En Vogue remade "Giving Him Something He Can Feel." This song, in my opinion, solidifies Aguilera as a classy sex symbol even more than any of her "dirrty" attempts off "Stripped" ever could.
"I Got Trouble" is a slow, drunken honky-tonk blues song sounding like it's coming from an old 30s/40s radio, and proves Aguilera's effortless ability to be able to sing anything. "Hurt" is a grander production in Aguilera's musical as she sings about the effects of hurting someone she truly cares about but whom she chooses not to make a part of her life. The song is mostly made of full orchestra until the last minute-and-a-half of the song when the percussion kicks in, but soon returns to a lonely violin in true Broadway ballad fashion.
Obviously, Aguilera's muse for most of her songs is her husband, record exec Jordan Bratman. But it's also clear that a refreshing spirituality has awoken in her as well. This is glimpsed not only on "Makes Me Wanna Pray," but also on "Mercy On Me," a bluesy gospel-sounding recording begging for a savior, which sounds a lot like Fiona Apple. While the track is good, I still think it could have used a small gospel choir in the background throughout. I never thought Aguilera could pull off simple acoustic pop folk-like arrangement, but then I heard "Save Me From Myself." This is a stripped-down acoustic guitar with cello and two violins, accompanying Aguilera's wistful, flowery vocals that are all pulled off impressively with lyrics that altogether make the song a wonderful treat.
To end this disc, and Aguilera's musical, is the epic "The Right Man," again inspired by Bratman and the couple's wedding day. The song is brilliant as Aguilera sings from first person narrative on the scene of the man she's about to marry, all the while the strings express an anxiety of which any bride can acquiesce. Clearly the setting is the church as Aguilera's bride walks down the aisle and the listener can imagine her bridesmaids and the groomsmen singing the choral background. Her singing, paired with the soothing strings, reaching its crescendo is a masterful use and blend of her voice and the music, and it is soon realized that this is the final act of Aguilera's masterpiece. The song ends with a whisper, letting the audience know that her happiness will live on through her daughter and teaching her what it is not only to find the "right man," a good man, but also in being a woman.
All in all, Christina Aguilera's "Back to Basics" surprisingly blew me out of the water and turned me into a believer in her musical talent. This album, although it has its flaws, is easily accessible for different music lovers as well as different generations, which is its likeability and its success.
Description of Back to Basics
Limited three disc (two CD + PAL/Region 0 DVD) Tour Edition of Christina's 2006 album featuring a bonus DVD that contains videos for the first three singles ('Ain't No Other Man', 'Hurt' and 'Candy Man') plus a mini-documentary on the making of the 'Candy Man' video. Christina Aguilera has transformed her image and musical style with every album. With the new Back to Basics album, her musical style has changed from the urban and light rock sounds of Stripped to a soulful and jazz-inspired album. RCA. 2007.Back to Basics, Christina Aguilera's first disc in four years, refines and clarifies the--let's call it "sexy"--aura surrounding this platinum firebrand. Here, the best belter in a class that counts Jessica Simpson and Britney Spears on its roll call has turned her attention to love songs: the supercharged and ubiquitous first single "Ain't No Other Man," for one, and the hushed stunner "Save Me from Myself" for another. That doesn't mean she's foresworn being nasty, though. Dive deep into this set, past the gorgeous crackle that frames the old-school jazz-, blues-, and soul-inspired tracks on the first disc, and you'll reach a playful and familiar raunch; "Candyman" celebrates a "one-stop shop" who "makes the panties drop" to a boogie-woogie beat, and "Nasty Naughty Boy" sends out a heated, big-beated invitation to "sip on my champagne/Cause I'm gonna give you a little taste/Of the sugar below my waist." Thoughtful listeners should snap out of their fascination with Xtina's undiminished yet newly un-tramp-like sexuality, though, because what they'll really want to focus on throughout these 22 tracks is the honest-to-God artistry. While the rock producer Linda Perry helps disc two pop in interesting and unexpected ways (check the muffled blues number "I Got Trouble" and "Mercy on Me," an obvious nod to Fiona Apple), DJ Premier, a mainstay on Jay-Z and Nas projects, pipes a batch of aural high-fives into the nostalgia-bitten first disc (the deep-down funk of "Back in the Day," the strut-strut early hip-hop sound of "Still Dirrty"). Their nudges aside, though, Back to Basics is all Aguilera's baby--she executive-produced, and she's found herself artistically. Nobody would argue, in fact, if she swiveled around the chorus to "Ain't No Other Man," written for her husband, and aimed it at herself: "You got soul, you got class/You got style, you're bada--." --Tammy La Gorce
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