Joshua23 said:[quote]

VoicesCarry said:

Then make your own damn list

Let It Will Be > Nobody Knows Me. At least half of the lyrics to "Let It Will Be" work, unlike most of NKM.

"I'm not that kind of guy/sometimes I feel shy/If I think I can fly/closer to the sky"

My God, Madonna! What the hell were you trying to say there?

Axchi696 said:

At least she didn't lift the lyrics from a Gap ad again...although it sounds like she could have.

VoicesCarry said:

Eh, that didn't bother me. The lyrics from "Sky Fits Heaven" didn't sound like they were translated from German into Japanese and then, finally, into English.

jayaredee said:

I dont agree. "Control" is an urban record. It's much more of a classic in the R&B world than the pop world.

Damita Jo doesn't know what the fuck it wants to be...i love it but 20 YO is more solid in its sound and songs like With U and Take Care and Do it 2 Me are better than anything on DJ.

Joshua23 said:[quote]

VoicesCarry said:

how can you NOT hear Cant Get You Out of My Head in How High? It's the SAME chorus

badujunkie said:

20 YO flows better than DJ, but DJ's stronger tracks shit all over 20 YO altogether.

And I don't agree that Control is a totally urban record. It still comes off as a pop album to me. Janet has always been primarily a pop star which is why JD wanted to drive 20 YO in a more urban direction. He thought she had been alienating her black fanbase. Too bad he didn't realize the diversity of Janet's fanbase.
[Edited 12/2/06 10:25am]

jayaredee said:

Not really. She was just an R&B-oriented artist that pop radio happened to accept. Same thing for Michael. Janet has over 30 R&B Top 10 hits, including 15 number ones, and a similar number of hits on the pop charts. She has 5 number one R&B albums and five number one pop albums. I'd say she is pretty evenly distributed, but that her music is definitely more R&B than pop.

Now with the SB she has lost her "pop radio" pass, although R&B will still play her. So they knew this, and that is why they geared 20 Y.O. in that direction. It will take a miracle or a really really really really undeniable track to get her that pop pass back. The sad thing is that when I look at what is Top 10 on the Hot 100, I would rather see ANY track from 20 Y.O. up there instead of Gwen or Fergie or Hinder or whatever. People bitch about 20 Y.O., but really, considering what is actually becoming a hit, it is the lesser of evils no matter how you look at it.
[Edited 12/2/06 10:56am]

VoicesCarry said:

Hmm of those you've mentioned i really dont hear Ceremony or Every Breath You Take. Theres perhaps one lyric that can link her with the Police song, but not much else. One obvious one youve not mentioned is I Wanna Be Your Dog by The Stooges. That was clearly the inspiration for I Love New York.

That said even if there are similarities (often its just snippets of music), there are whole original songs layered on top of these that bear no resemblence to the original songs. I hear Blondie's Heart Of Glass in Jump but there's no way you could ever say its a rip off of Jump.

Whether the album is derivative or not doesnt have any impact on the fact that its a great album. If she was all out ripping people off you can bet she'd have a plagiarism lawsiut on her hands,

I did find it amusing though that Stardust threatened her with legal action, yet their song was equally inspired by the chord progression of Holiday - talk about Karma! Surprisingly nothing has been heard of this intended legal action.

CrozzaUK said:

Please listen to the intros of Ceremony and Let It Will Be.

As for Jump, I think it's as much a rip off of West End Girls as Future Lovers is of I Feel Love. All she did was change the chord progression and (in the case of Jump) the tempo *just* enough so that she couldn't be sued.
[Edited 12/2/06 15:54pm]

VoicesCarry said:

I don't see Janet as the lesser of the 2 evils though. I mean, what the heck was Call on Me and So Excited? They weren't that much better or different from what is already being plugged on mainstream radio. Her album could have easily been recorded by Ashanti or Ciara.

badujunkie said:

Joy Division is the best post-punk band ever and New Order is the best dance-rock band ever. Required listening for everyone, hipster or not.

jayaredee said:

If you wouldn't rather have a song with some melody (Call On Me) vs. Gwen's noise on the charts, please let me know

As for personal opinions about the album, that's a whole other issue.

badujunkie said:

"American Life" is infinitely better than "Confessions", although the latter has grown on me since seeing the live concert.

I think "Damita Jo" and "20YO" are about equally unimpressive, although some of DJ sounds better now that it isn't the current album.

VoicesCarry said:

I never have read your take on the new Janet.

GangstaFam said:

1. Enjoy is the best thing she has cut this decade.

2. She should never work with Jermaine again. He is played the fuck out.

3. Call On Me is weak.

4. Daybreak is tacky as fuck.

5. Take Care is fabulous. I also like With U, Get It Out Me and a few other tracks.

6. She has shown intelligence in reducing the number of songs from its usual bloated 22 or 24 tracks or whatever. Unfortunately interludes remain. I am sure they will be cut to an intro and outro on her next album.

7. This album sounds like a "finishing my contract" record. She is done with Virgin now. They never supported her much after Richard Branson left, so I hope she is glad to leave.

8. The tour will hopefully be a new beginning.

9. Damita Jo had better songs (Enjoy excepted), but 20 Y.O. works better as an album and flows much better. If Damita Jo had been 12 tracks long, it would have been far superior, however.

10. I feel she made the same mistakes on this album as Madge did on Confessions. Not enough originality, a one-trick producer, and lacking anything truly distinctive. And dance mixes have been boring as fuck for both albums.
[Edited 12/2/06 16:31pm]

VoicesCarry said:

Finally we heard ur opinion...

VoicesCarry said:

I can get with most of that.

It's strange, cuz after listening to the new album and going back to Damita Jo, I found more songs that stood out on DJ. Before, it all sort of blended together and very little caught my attention. I think one of the biggest issues I have with the past few albums is that she's cooing through most of the songs like Mariah has a tendency to do. People rip on Janet for having a weak voice, but I think she has a very pretty, feminine voice. She's just not using it enough. Half the time I have to read the lyric sheet to even understand what she's singing. I never had that trouble in the past. Something like "One More Chance" from '93 is so simple and so gorgeously sung. There's nothing showy or particularly spectacular about the vocals, but they just totally do it for me. Fortunately, she CAN still sing that way like in "With You" and "Enjoy". But she needs to do it a lot more.

GangstaFam said:

With U is a good single choice. Now if people start saying they DON'T want that on the charts, I think it's silly. The song has melody, some nice arrangements - I think it deserves to be a hit.

MikeMatronik said:

Finally? I've been back about a week.

VoicesCarry said:

Remember that u disappeared for awhile and left us to defend janet's honour here...alone!

VoicesCarry said:

It's great. She even sounds a bit like MJ at times during that song.

VoicesCarry said:

Honestly it really wouldn't make a difference to me as I don't pay attention to the charts. I agree Janet's has more melody than Gwen's, but it doesn't mean it deserves to be topping the charts.

At this point it would be nice for Billboard to fuck off as they're not reporting anything worthwhile, musically on the Hot 100 and sales wise on the Hot 200.
[Edited 12/2/06 16:53pm]

jayaredee said:

Well, I think ANYTHING is more deserving of a chart position than Gwen, since that is one of the WORST songs I ever did hear

VoicesCarry said:

Where is Gwen on the charts anyway?
I think her yoddle is kinda sexy, i wonder if she does it in bed with her gay husband

VoicesCarry said:

Wow...I disagree with some of that. Im only using caps to differentiate, not yelling.

1. Enjoy is the best thing she has cut this decade.
NO WAY. I LIKE "ENJOY" I THINK IT WORKS AS A GREAT REMINDER OF HER LATTER DAY FEEL GOOD RECORDS, THE HOOK IS STRONG, THE BACKGROUND VOCALS ARE GREAT...BUT I DON'T THINK IT'S EVEN THE BEST SONG ON THE ALBUM.

2. She should never work with Jermaine again. He is played the fuck out.
I LIKE JERMAINE'S STYLE. I ALWAYS HAVE EVER SINCE HE STARTED PRODUCING TLC.

3. Call On Me is weak.
I'M SO SURPRISED TO HEAR YOU SAY THAT! I THINK IT'S NEITHER HERE NOR THERE. ITS A NICE SONG, I LIKE THE SOS SAMPLE...I DON'T THINK IT SHOULDA BEEN THE FIRST SINGLE.

4. Daybreak is tacky as fuck.
AGREED. IT'S BORING AND TIRED TOO.

5. Take Care is fabulous. I also like With U, Get It Out Me and a few other tracks.
AGREED. I WOULD ADD TO THAT LIST DO IT 2 ME, SO EXCITED, LOVE 2 LOVE AND ENJOY.

6. She has shown intelligence in reducing the number of songs from its usual bloated 22 or 24 tracks or whatever. Unfortunately interludes remain. I am sure they will be cut to an intro and outro on her next album.
I DON'T KNOW...THAT'S ONE THING I ALWAYS LOOK FORWARD TO A JANET ALBUM RELEASE...THERE WILL BE SO MANY SONGS TO CHOOSE FROM THAT EVEN IF HALF OF THEM SUCK, THE OTHER HALF COULD STILL BE PHENOMENAL. (EXCEPT IN THE CASE OF ALL FOR YOU).

7. This album sounds like a "finishing my contract" record. She is done with Virgin now. They never supported her much after Richard Branson left, so I hope she is glad to leave.
I THINK THIS ALBUM WAS REALLY CALCULATED IN EVERY WAY. SOMEONE ON HERE SAID AWHILE BACK IT'S ORGANIZED LIKE A STAGE SHOW. I AGREE. I DON'T THINK IT WAS A FINISHING MY CONTRACT RECORD AT ALL...SHE KNEW SHE NEEDED A HIT BAD. I DONT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THE RICHARD BRANSON SITUATION BUT IT SEEMS THAT VELVET ROPE AND ALL FOR YOU RECEIVED PLENTY OF PROMO.

8. The tour will hopefully be a new beginning.
HOPEFULLY A NEW SHOW.

9. Damita Jo had better songs (Enjoy excepted), but 20 Y.O. works better as an album and flows much better. If Damita Jo had been 12 tracks long, it would have been far superior, however.
DISAGREE -- ONLY I WANT YOU AND LIKE YOU DONT LOVE ME STAND UP TO WITH U OR TAKE CARE IMO.

10. I feel she made the same mistakes on this album as Madge did on Confessions. Not enough originality, a one-trick producer, and lacking anything truly distinctive. And dance mixes have been boring as fuck for both albums.
I DONT LIKE EITHER OF THEM FOR ORIGINALITY. I GO TO TORI AMOS, ERYKAH BADU, PRINCE, BECK, OR ANNIE LENNOX FOR ORIGINALITY. I DO WISH JAM AND LEWIS HAD PRODUCED MORE THIS TIME AROUND.

THAT'S MY 2 CENTS--NOT THAT YOU ASKED FOR IT.

badujunkie said:

i only wish more people agreed with you. it is nice to see a few people really dig the new one, though.

GangstaFam said:

i loves ya baby, but crack kills.

sallysassalot said:

I've been sober for ages!

GangstaFam said:

well then you done fell and bumped your head!