Title: Beauty Behind the Madness
Artiste: The Weeknd
Genre: R&B, Pop
Familiarity: Zero
1. Real life: Sharp guitar and synth? Did not expect that. Not at all. Vocal reminds me of a sort of cross between Jackson and George Michael. Good powerful percussion, very echoey. Good start. Not a “yo!” or “Bitch” anywhere yet. Lovely violin. Like this a lot.
2. Losers: Quite funky this one. Like it also. Cool piano.
3. Tell your friends: Could do without the autotune, but it's a nice ballad, even if the language is a little, shall we say, choice? It's unfortunate though, as the autotune does my head in. Nice guitar solo though. Came close to Green, if only it hadn't been for the a/t...
4. Often: Yeah not bad but it's a bit boringly self-absorbed. Not that impressed with this one.
5. The hills: This one's better. Kind of a dark, laidback vibe to it. Even the a/t doesn't bug me here.
6. Acquainted: This is ok, but the album has kind of slipped into a rut of slow, drony songs now and I'd rather hear something a bit more uptempo before I fall asleep here. The bit at the end is weird.
7. Can't feel my face: Okay, this is more uptempo. Nice funky guitar, good chorus.
8. Shameless: Back to the slower tracks, though this is quite good. Like the acoustic guitar, percussion is nice. Excellent solo, as Homer would say.
9. Earned it: Great blues track, love this one.
10. In the night: This is really great; has a kind of “The way you make me feel” beat about it.
11. As you are: This has a soft anthemic feel. Good ending.
12. Dark times: Another superb little slow blues number. Neat.
13. Prisoner: This is really good too; has a real, I don't know: tribal? Feel about it. Slow and moody but with some real danger in there.
14. Angel: Lovely ballad to end.
End result: Much much better than I had expected. Thought it would be all rap and hip-hop. A little too slow mostly for me; I would have preferred a few more uptempo tracks, as it tended to drag a little for me. But overall a very fine album.
So, Love or Hate? Have to be a
Love.