Beyonce – Cowboy Carter
This was a surprise… I didn’t know what to expect given all the hoopla… Still, I can only describe this album as ‘unexpected’.
It doesn’t come off as country. It doesn’t come off as ‘pop’. It doesn’t come off as anything I can yet describe because it’s so many things. It is its own thing.
Music Review by Kenny Schick
I listened yesterday because I wanted to join everyone with my opinion immediately (though, of course, opinions are like as$… well, you know). There was/is too much to unpack for me to feel like I was ready to say anything… It is very interesting right out the gate. It made me want to keep listening instead of fast forward through to get a taste. It made me excited, but still, I couldn’t comprehend it all right away—and most albums that are like that are the ones I really like for a long time.
I heard stuff I loved, I heard stuff I wasn’t fully in love with. The songs and the productions are journeys, and the whole album is one that is best listened to in the way I used to like to listen…from beginning to end without a break. I had things to do, so I had to listen in sections, but this morning, I listened from top to bottom. It didn’t bore me at all… it feels like a road trip across America—from song to song, and even within individual songs, it feels like going down the highway and seeing one view, then turning off at an interesting exit and getting a fully different picture. It defies genre.
It feels like a road trip across America—from song to song
I hear country stuff in some of the instrumentation, and in some of the lyrics, I hear hip hop, I hear folk, I hear funky stuff, I hear pop, I hear magnificent church choirs… I hear all sorts of very clever and interesting orchestrations in the production and flow (I mean, they left the click track in the left channel on ‘Blackbird’—who does that? Made me smile). For a listener, there is a lot there.
For a producer…there is also a lot there, and the attention to detail is immense. It feels like art… like an exploration of sound and lyric. I don’t yet know if I like all the brush strokes, but the best I can say about any album is that it peaks my curiosity and makes me want to listen again.
Just for that alone, I have to say I really like it, and since I have always been a big fan of blending genres, I have to say this is really cool in that regard. Once I sunk in, I didn’t really feel like I was listening to ‘Beyonce’— I was just focused on all the things going on with the songs and the production, and I was removed from my thoughts of what I was supposed to think because of who the artist was or what all the opinions have been, negative or positive.
This collection of songs is not served up to you in a tidy formulaic way… and maybe the naysayers don’t like that. It’s not like a movie that you know where the story is going… it’s one of those ones that stresses you out just a little because the focus isn’t clear right away… or maybe ever.
Some would call that a negative response, but for me, not at all. It’s praise that something different has been created. There are some lyrics that are a bit cheesy for me, and as far as the over all production, I think the popular way of over compressing and limiting the fuck out of music to make it all loud took away from some of the dynamic moments that would have been more explosive had the final product been given a little more ‘breathing room’.
But again… the production, overall, is super interesting and there are many lyrics that are really cool and leave me wondering about the full meaning… I like that, by the way. I like things that aren’t just obvious. I like music and art that challenges a bit. I feel like there are many opinions I’m seeing that seem to be formed by a preconceived emotional response rather than being formed by an actual unbiased and deep listen.
Anyway… for whoever might care at all, that’s where I am with it so far, and I do want to listen more, so I’m gonna say that’s a good thing. I hear a lot of music I like fine, and I hear a lot that I can easily dismiss upon first listen, but it seems rare that a body of music makes me want to come around again and take yet another bite.