Album reviews

Cheap Trick—“Rockford”

In a startling umpteenth album from the refined rock and roll of Cheap Trick, “Rockford” absolutely displays the bands current prowess as musicians. A student submission from Katherine Kragh, I was quite surprised at the sheer quality of poppy and, in some cases, addictive music still being produced after some ungodly 30 years. There’s no new ground being broken by any of the album but it’s easy going singing, steady pelting of catchy guitar and bass parts and fantastic drumming allowed me to enjoy listening to the album. One qualm I had with a select few of the songs was that they were generally annoying and felt more like filler jam rock than anything of substance. These are few and far between though so it doesn’t ruin the album experience. I’ve found I can easily listen to the album quite often straight through and be ready to listen to it again with a smile on my face, which is a rare experience. It’s not a great album but I liked it and am glad to see that there is quality music still alive and well. A great submission for the end of the quarter.

Official Thorn rating: 4 elephants

Chris Brown—“Exclusive”

As a child of the golden state, I find I not only enjoy rap and hip hop but I live for hearing something actually compelling from the current trend in hip hop. This is not the case with “Exclusive.” To be fair, it took some effort (and a lot of listening to the album over and over until it grew on me) but at least now I feel I can give a fair review. Musically, Chris Brown as a singer is extremely impressive and the beats he incorporates into each song work appropriately. If I could get over some of the lyrics to his songs, which I could never do on six of the 16 songs, maybe I could say this was an above average album. However, the lyrics are so juvenile and benign that I almost walked away from the album dissatisfied and ready to shoot it in the ass with a terrible review. I got over myself, however, and am willing to admit that yes, I like most of the songs on the album and while some of the lyrics don’t show any depth, it still is entertaining. One big factor to this entertainment was most likely that my favorite songs from the album were most of Chris’s compilations with names like T-Pain and Big Boi, which by comparison show the feeble effort of the young star. I feel that Chris Brown may just be another passing artist in the hip hop and R&B conundrum but as a second album, not bad.

Official Thorn Rating: 2 elephants