Translation-Black Eyed Peas Album Review:

 

The Black Eyed Peas or no “the” in the title is back with their eighth album two years after their last album which was their first album in almost a decade. Most fans of the band like myself had zero idea they had a new album two years ago let alone they replaced the lead singer in the band Fergie with someone who sounds almost like her(J Rey Soul). They had made an announcement over social media they were no longer a band a few years back or even longer so everyone forgot about them, hence no idea that a new album was out plus no official word she left the band. Supposedly that album is their going back to their straight up hip-hop-rap roots when they were a trio as a sequel to their second album “Bridging the gap” pre Fergie-pop. This album “Translation” either shouldn’t have been made or been made as an EP with 8-10 song max.

            They decided to jump on the “Reggaeton” craze that has been happening recently and there is much “Spanglish” or saying random Spanish words that seem spoken just to make it Spanish. It has also been described as “Afrobeat, Latin vibe and dance music which it is as you can listen to it at a night club and dance the night away without knowing who was performing or if it all was one long song or songs that all sound the same. It also has ten featured artists out of the fifteen songs, which is way too many for them as they would have one maybe three per album in the past.

            There a few catchy songs like their singles “Ritmo( Bad Boys for life)" which was in the latest “Bad Boys Movie”, “Feel the Beat”, “Mamacita” plus other songs like “Girl Like me”, “No Manana” and “I Woke up”. Then there are two crap songs that should have never been made where one says the F word all the time. The two tracks that do stand out are “Celebrate” as it is reminiscent of their old sound like (“I gotta a feeling” or “Let’s get it started’)  and the one that speaks to how the world is hurting now with what’s going on in current times in “News today” as it reminds you of “Where is the love”.

            It is not like this is album is horrible but if you’re a fan of them you know how good they are blending many genres into one sound over an entire album. This is all the same thing throughout it doesn’t blend Pop, Rock, Rap and Hip-Hop together whatsoever which is makes them so good. It only has the electronica-dance-fake music that they are famous for but that doesn’t mean it should be the only thing on the album.Will.I.AM is a professional songwriter-music maker for many artists not just him, the band or Fergie so you can trust to put a whole album together but once he gets committed to something he finishes all the way through. This time thought he went in the wrong direction here as this is album is lost in “Translation”. 

 

 

Letter To You-Bruce Springsteen Album Review:

                                                                                      

“Letter to you” is Bruce Springsteen’s 20 album which took five days to make and his second album in only two years after the rock-country album “Western Stars” came out last year. This album is about facing mortality and aging which is where he is now in his life’s journey. Much of his music has been about learning to live with the setbacks his characters cannot change this is the sound of Springsteen accepting that for himself. The structure of the album follows how he has been doing concerts since 1978 with a succession of themes and conflicts that gradually run from the individual to the collective.

There are three tracks that were originally written prior to Springsteen's 1973 debut album “Greetings from Asbury Park, N. J.”: "If I Was the Priest"(longest song), “Janey needs a shooter” and “Song for the Orphans”. He said the reason for using songs from his past was “It just fit on the record, because the record skips through time. It starts with me thinking about when I was 14 and 15, and then it moves into the present.” They are not bad songs as they rock out and tell good stories like the “If I was the Priest” as it talks about his formative years and finding salvation in rock & roll.

The first and last songs “One minute you’re here” and “I’ll see you in my dreams” are songs about mortality and death as this album has mentions to people he has lost over the year. He has said he still dreams about bandmates Clarence Clemons, Danny Federici of E-Street band and George Theiss the lead singer of his first band. Two of the best songs that really rock out are “Ghosts” and “Last Man Standing” they deal with the same themes as he is the last one from his original band and that his friends are still there in a spirit like a ghost. There are great saxophone riffs in a good amount of the songs an ode to Clemons as his nephew has been playing since his uncle passed.

The songs “Power of prayer” and “House of a thousand guitars” are more of the religious tones of this album. As he talks about the spiritual nature of music and its ability to connect people together and the other about the healing power of rock & roll, but of course they rock out. One of the more emotional tracks is “Rainmaker” as he talks about a conman profiting off the promise of rain to drought-stricken farmers, but it has been told it has a deeper meaning of the political exploitation of ignorance to the greedy tactics of the conman.

The song “Burnin’ Train” rocks as like most songs as it’s about a passionate relationship maybe the one with his wife Patti Scialfa. The song “Letter to you” the album name too is one of the best songs as it could be about the people he has lost, to himself or to the people still around with him on this long journey he has had as one of the world’s greatest songwriters and musicians ever. Overall this is a fine addition to his long catalog that he has amassed and it rocks out like “Born to Run” as it should and this is one of his most personal albums ever.