Christina Aguilera - Back to Basics
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Music CD Cover
Artist: Christina AguileraBrand: RCA
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Original Language)
CD Release Date: 2006-08-15
Music Label: RCA
Product features:
- AGUILERA CHRISTINA BACK TO BASICS (2CD)
- Intro (Back To Basics)
- Makes Me Wanna Pray featuring Steve Winwood
- Back In The Day
- Ain't No Other Man
- Understand
- Slow Down Baby
- Oh Mother
- F.U.S.S. (Interlude)
- On Our Way
- Without You
- Still Dirrty
- Here To Stay
- Thank You (Dedication To Fans...)
- Enter The Circus
- Welcome
- Candyman
- Nasty Naughty Boy
- I Got Trouble
- Hurt
- Mercy On Me
- Save Me From Myself
- The Right Man
- Back To Basics (Bonus Video)
Free Music Notes for Back to Basics
Free Music Review: The Former "Dirrty" Girl Cleans Up Just Fine
Hit: 5 Stars
Christina Aguilera latest release is her third studio album entitled Back to Basics. It's a double disc collection of music that reflects on the old school recordings of Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Etta James, and many other extraordinary vocalists of days gone by. The only difference is that Christina didn't record their material, she recorded all original songs, even co-penning all 22 tracks, executive producing and, of course, headlining each song as if her life depended on it. This is not just an album release of nearly two dozen tracks thrown together - this is a concept album, or as I like to call it, an event album. It has all the ingredients of the 1920's -1940's sound "with a modern twist," as Aguilera points out, "to keep it sounding fresh."
The first single "Ain't No Other Man," produced by DJ Premier, has already rocketed up into the Top 10, and it's unlike anything this former dirrty girl has ever released. The one thing that has remained constant is her impeccable vocal range. If I dare say it, Ms. Aguilera sounds better than I've ever heard her, and this material shows off her versatility like nothing she's ever done before. And it ain't just studio trickery. This girl is the real deal. Her live broadcast performance of her latest hit single on David Letterman's Late Show, the day after the CD's release, was so astounding that it even took ol' Dave back. He commented to Christina, "We have people on here virtually every night performing, but this was really a standout performance," to which the audience most enthusiastically showed their appreciation. It takes a lot to win Dave over, but even I sat there with my mouth agape. This girl was on fire! The comparisons to her former rival Britney Spears are long behind her and this album should add a few more trophies to her three Grammy's, along with her countless other accolades.
Disc 1 was put into the more than capable hands of DJ Premier and is comprised mostly of upbeat material that contains a lot of synthesized drum beats while never straying from the old school sound. It's one of the best and most interesting blends to be set down on wax. Kicking off this "concept" album is the first track "Intro (Back To Basics)," with opening lyrics by various male voices that sound as if they came straight off the radio from 1935 - "A very pleasant good evening ladies and gentlemen/ It is now time for the one and only/ There will never be another/ Christina Aguilera." It's an introduction that's very reminiscent of the way The Beatles' greatest concept album "Sgt. Pepper's" had begun. Christina's vocal enters and lays out the very concept of this double disc set by paying tribute to all the greats that came before her. She sings "That's how music should sound/ I've waited for some time to get inside the minds of every legend I've ever wanted to stand beside." It's a beautiful and brave way to begin the journey. Any lesser singer would've had people scoffing `Who is she kidding?!' While it's actually appropriate at this time in Aguilera's career, at 25 she feels confident enough to include herself in such brilliant company as some of the pop and jazz greats she listened to growing up in Pennsylvania. Christina has said "this is the type of material I gravitated towards" when I was growing up." She is also in great company, present day, on this extravaganza. She was joined by the legendary Steve Winwood on Track 2, "Makes Me Wanna Pray," with Steve's signature sound all over the track channeling and sampling his great song "Glad" that he performed with his band Traffic, back in the day. All of the tracks on Disc 1 are exceptional, but the real standouts include "Oh Mother," a tribute to her own mother and the abuse she had taken for years from her husband (Christina's dad), ultimately fleeing with her two daughters, Christina and her younger sister Rachel. "Back in the Day" is a sensational musical tribute to Christina's musical heroes that inspired this album. Closing out Disc 1 is a shout out to all of Christina's fans, while the track plays authentic taped messages that were left by them, all the while sampling the song that became her first #1, "Genie In A Bottle." Christina and Premier's ingenious pairing on this disc would've been enough for a five-star rating, but just when you're ready to play it all over again, there's another disc to be heard.
Disc 2 has Christina pairing up with her "Beautiful" co-songwriter/producer Linda Perry, and if I tell you that this is the best work I've ever heard from a contemporary vocalist of today, you better believe me! Most artists would've left well enough alone, and Disc 1 by itself would have been a smash while she could've held off a year and released Disc 2 on its own. But somehow, someway, this album wouldn't have been the "event" that it is without these additional 9 tracks. If you're a fan of the song "Beautiful," which speaks bold and proud for anybody and everything that's outside "the norm," then you're gonna love this ballad-heavy disc.
Maybe I'm biased, but as brilliant as Disc 1 is, I'm a sucker for power ballads and great vocalizing. This is apparent throughout Disc 2, with the exception of track 3, "Candyman," which is a throwback to The Andrew Sisters' best, and a constant reminder that Bette Midler did this type of material over thirty years ago on her first two albums. But somehow Christina still manages to make it her own with the spectacular multi-layered tracks and killer vocals. It's also the soon-to-be-released-to-radio second single. There's a lot of chutzpah in this portion of the album, most especially on track 8, "Hurt," which is some of the best singing I have ever heard...ever. It's a surefire hit and should most definitely be on the schedule for a radio release. I wouldn't be surprised to hear this track as the third single when radio begs for more. It has #1 written all over it.
Christina's husband of nearly 10 months was the inspiration for the wonderfully executed and beautifully written valentine "Save Me From Myself," with such heartfelt lyrics as "My love is tainted by your touch/ Well some guys have shown me aces/ But you've got that royal flush/ I know it's crazy everyday/ Well tomorrow may be shaky/ But you never turn away." And the album closes with the painful yet optimistic reality of her abusive father, and her new found love with her husband, Jordan. Christina's voice sings out "Thoughts racing fast through my mind/ As I'm going down the aisle/ That my future will mend my memories/ Torn between father and child/ My emotions overload/ Cause there is no hand to hold/ There's no shoulder here to lean on/ I'm walking all on my own/ Here I go..."
It's interesting, because for "Back to Basics" Christina has taken firm hold of the reins cast right from the mold of Madonna. From conceptualizing to writing and executive producing, this is THE album that's sure to hand the crown over to Aguilera. One major factor that Christina has over Lady Madonna is THAT voice. While Madonna is brilliant at marketing herself as the ultimate showgirl and entrepreneur, Christina is proving to have all of that and just a bit more.
Christina Aguilera made a name for herself at the top of the charts seven short years ago with "Genie in a Bottle" and "What A Girl Wants." A couple of years later she got beautifully "Dirrty" and showed the world her edgier side, which gained her an even larger fanbase. Now she's come "Back to Basics" with her third official studio release and to say she's conquered the pop music world this time around wouldn't even do her justice. She's still our "Genie" and I'm happy to report we got our third wish.
Back to Basics Poster
Limited three disc (two CD + PAL/Region 0 DVD) Tour Edition of Christina's 2006 album featuring a bonus DVD that contains videos for the first three singles ('Ain't No Other Man', 'Hurt' and 'Candy Man') plus a mini-documentary on the making of the 'Candy Man' video. Christina Aguilera has transformed her image and musical style with every album. With the new Back to Basics album, her musical style has changed from the urban and light rock sounds of Stripped to a soulful and jazz-inspired album. RCA. 2007.Back to Basics, Christina Aguilera's first disc in four years, refines and clarifies the--let's call it "sexy"--aura surrounding this platinum firebrand. Here, the best belter in a class that counts Jessica Simpson and Britney Spears on its roll call has turned her attention to love songs: the supercharged and ubiquitous first single "Ain't No Other Man," for one, and the hushed stunner "Save Me from Myself" for another. That doesn't mean she's foresworn being nasty, though. Dive deep into this set, past the gorgeous crackle that frames the old-school jazz-, blues-, and soul-inspired tracks on the first disc, and you'll reach a playful and familiar raunch; "Candyman" celebrates a "one-stop shop" who "makes the panties drop" to a boogie-woogie beat, and "Nasty Naughty Boy" sends out a heated, big-beated invitation to "sip on my champagne/Cause I'm gonna give you a little taste/Of the sugar below my waist." Thoughtful listeners should snap out of their fascination with Xtina's undiminished yet newly un-tramp-like sexuality, though, because what they'll really want to focus on throughout these 22 tracks is the honest-to-God artistry. While the rock producer Linda Perry helps disc two pop in interesting and unexpected ways (check the muffled blues number "I Got Trouble" and "Mercy on Me," an obvious nod to Fiona Apple), DJ Premier, a mainstay on Jay-Z and Nas projects, pipes a batch of aural high-fives into the nostalgia-bitten first disc (the deep-down funk of "Back in the Day," the strut-strut early hip-hop sound of "Still Dirrty"). Their nudges aside, though, Back to Basics is all Aguilera's baby--she executive-produced, and she's found herself artistically. Nobody would argue, in fact, if she swiveled around the chorus to "Ain't No Other Man," written for her husband, and aimed it at herself: "You got soul, you got class/You got style, you're bada--." --Tammy La Gorce
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