this era IMO was when he was the coolest. His "OFF THE WALL" era. its better than confessions era. he was too "slick" by then.

Nvncible1 said:

Please. Confessions is no Thriller.

Thriller is widely considered MJ's best album by critics. Most people consider Confessions Usher's worst album. It nay have sold a lot, but reviews were not glowing. His last album, Here I Stand, was better than Confessions, and got better reviews. His new album is also better than Confessions. I do agree that 8701 is his best.

"Confessions", was Usher's best by far. He has gone down hill since then. Critics really don't know what they are talking about, most of the time. If they did, they would know that Most people perfer, MJ's "Off The Wall", than "Thriller". just because an album does well commercially, does not mean that it is the artist's best material.

sleepyq said:

He/she never said that.

He's just saying that it was like the album that took him to another level and blew him up. He never compared him to MJ.

I agree with him. I love the 8701 album. It is probably my favorite Usher album. Every track was perfectly crafted to make him a star. Also a lot of hits on this album.

shorttrini said:

U didn't like 8701?

I think "Confessions" was a good album, but to me, it was a bit too slow.

daPrettyman said:

I liked "Confessions", because it was a concept album. 8701, did not do it for me.

8701 was his peak to me. He was good after but the vibe of 8701 was so cool and well executed from videos to the music.

shorttrini said:

Wow. Confessions his best? The singles were the only good thing about that album. It was a male version of Beyonce's Dangerously In Love. Filler central.

Here I Stand was a consistent, mature album, and a big step up from the filler packed Confessions. 8701 was his best, of course, almost all the tracks are ace.

Oh, and Off the Wall is ridiculously overrated, it deserves a small fraction of the praise it gets. I cannot say this enough. It aint all that. I'm so happy Bad and Dangerous are currently outselling it on the charts, and hope they continue to do so for a long time coming.

shorttrini said:

The new album, Raymond vs. Raymond is also a concept album. As was Here I Stand.

Here I Stand was his grown man record. Lots of baby making lovey dovey songs,n talking about how much he loved his wife.
Raymond vs Raymond is about what led to the divorce and his struggle with it.

So you love these 2 too, or what?

sleepyq said:

Here I Stand may have been a "grown" record, but it was utter garbage to me. Only a couple of decent trax. The rest sounded like lost b-sides. RvR sounds the same way to me, a bunch of b-sides.

daPrettyman said:

Hm. What are your favorite tracks Here I Stand? I liked a lot of the album tracks.

This Ain't Sex
What's Your Name (much better than OMG)
Something Special (my favorite)
Before I Met You
His Mistakes
Appetite
What's A Man to Do
Will Work For Love (great hidden track)

You really thought all those were trash? Damn. The only good album tracks on Confessions was Bad Girl and Throwback. Everything else was disposable filler. Buying the album was a waste of time, the singles were the only songs worth a listen.

sleepyq said:

I thought "This Ain't Sex" and "Here I Stand" were decent. The rest of the songs, I could have done without. "What's Your Name" just dies to me. It starts off bangin, then about mid-way it just dies a long and monotonousness death.

I think a lot of people felt that way because that album did not sell well at all. I expect the same for RvR.

I knew RvR had to be horrible because 5 singles were released prior to the album dropping. That is always a clue that the album is horrible. It's like the record company is just begging for the public to like something.