At 08:59 PM 1/4/2004 -0600, Michael Bennett wrote:
>It still happens today (Nelly Furtado is an example), but it's so rare.  
>This isn't to diminish the Andre disc (not to slight Big Boi's disc -- it's 
>very good, but it's accomplishment is more lyrical/thematic -- the music 
>tracks are more straightforward) -- but I don't know if it's so much 
>groundbreaking as liberating -- maybe others will realize you can experiment 
>and have fun while doing it.

I don't know if Jason was saying that the OutKast album is groundbreaking,
just that it's important, and for the very reason that you say: it's proof
that you can have a huge commercial success (it hit number 1 for the third
or fourth time last week -- it just keeps bouncing back up there after it
drops down to #5 or so!) while making a deliberately, almost willfully
eclectic and wide-ranging album that, frankly, has got some downright weird
shit on it.  It's not exactly groundbreaking -- the review I wrote compared
it favorably to Prince's classic DIRTY MIND/LOVESEXY run, only even more
out there -- but it's so rare to see such a genuinely exciting album at #1
that it's easy to get giddy.

By the way, I like Nelly Furtado's "Powerless (Say What You Want)" so much
that I'm considering forgiving her for that frickin' "I'm Like A Bird"
thing.  Is the rest of the album any good?

S

NP: CASTAWAYS AND CUTOUTS -- The Decemberists (speaking of being late to
the bandwagon...)