Kanye West Takes A Giant Step

noah | November 24, 2008 10:00 am

Our look at the closing lines of the week’s biggest new-music reviews continues with a roundup of reactions to Kanye West’s 808s & Heartbreak, which has inspired many a music writer to talk about things like “left turns” and Radiohead albums:

• “If West had interspersed the more mechanical tracks with some that were the exact opposite–say, simple piano interludes provided by his old collaborators John Legend or Jon Brion–he might have made a masterpiece. Instead, he’s merely given us an extremely intriguing, sporadically gripping, undeniably fearless and altogether unexpected piece of his troubled soul.” [Chicago Sun-Times]

• “This is not the album Kanye West fans likely expected, nor is it one they likely will embrace as eagerly as his previous multimillion-sellers. It also assumes that West’s fans care about his inner life, even though endless controversies have given them good reason to write him off. West plows ahead anyway. This one is for him. It remains to be seen if he goes back to making records for everybody else. For now, this is one fascinatingly perverse detour.” [Chicago Tribune]

• “West undoubtedly will find his way out of this purgatory, and fans will be happy when he returns to the wider vision he’s communicated on past projects. But as strange and even tedious as 808s and Heartbreak might strike some listeners, it’s not just a puppet show. Or rather, it is, and all the more fascinating for that.” [LA Times]

• “One of the album’s most fascinating aspects is that, no matter how deep West delves into the dark heart of his state of mind, his sharp ear for hooks cannot help but assert itself. ‘Bad News’’s funereal northern-soul two-step might be strange, but it lodges in the head. And the sheer mad fun of ‘Paranoid’’s nods to ‘Blue Monday’ and Van Halen’s ‘Jump’ is evidence that, amid the heartbreak, West is reconnecting with his mischievous side, too. A bizarre, brave and brilliant album.” [Times Of London]

• “Killing the pain by throwing himself into his work, West is promising another record soon, although it’s unclear whether it will be an Amnesiac-style companion to what is essentially his equivalent of Radiohead’s Kid A, a slate-cleaning exercise that allows for creative, and in this case personal, rebirth. It might seem harsh but let’s hope he doesn’t find too much happiness in the meantime. Loneliness is proving quite the muse.” [Guardian]

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