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SPEAKERBOXXX/THE LOVE BELOW
OutKast
(Arista/BMG)
Some see the glass as half full. Others as half empty. Either way, it seems many OutKast fans view their fifth release Speakerboxxx/The Love Below as half an OutKast album.
Or, to be more precise, two incomplete halves, since this double-disc set essentially consists of back-to-back solo albums from the duo of Antwan (Big Boi) Patton and Andre (Andre 3000) Benjamin.
Maybe the naysayers have a point, at least in a commercial sense. The simple fact is that neither of these somewhat self-indulgent sides contains a single with the instantly addictive hooks of Stankonia tracks like B.O.B. or Ms. Jackson. But anybody who only digs OutKast for their hits is missing out on all the fun of their freakadelic funk -- an element that neither disc here is lacking.
On his Speakerboxxx, Big Boi gets down with an inventive 56-minute set of kinetic, free-flowing hip-hop and soul clearly inspired by George Clinton, from its Uncle Jam cover pic to its layered harmonies and synth-tweaked vocals. Even his wildest moments, though, seem tame next to the mind-bending trip that is Andre 3000's The Love Below, a 78-minute musical mish-mash of Princely lechery, Sly Stone grooves, bizarre skits, Zappaesque eccentricity and twisted romance.
In other words, each disc gives you a full, undiluted blast of its creator, doing what he does best. Any way you slice it, that doesn't sound half bad to us.
Track Listing
Disc 1:
1. The Love Below (Intro)
2. Love Hater
3. God (Interlude)
4. Happy Valentine's Day
5. Spread
6. Where Are My Panties?
7. Prototype
8. She Lives in My Lap
9. Hey Ya!
10. Roses
11. Good Day, Good Sir
12. Behold a Lady
13. Pink & Blue
14. Love in War
15. She's Alive
16. Dracula's Wedding
17. Take Off Your Cool (with Norah Jones)
18. Vibrate
19. A Life in the Day of Benjamin Andre (Incomplete)
20. [Untitled Hidden Track]
Disc 2:
1. Intro
2. Ghetto Musick
3. Unhappy
4. Bowtie
5. The Way You Move
6. The Rooster
7. Bust (with Killer Mike)
8. War
9. Church
10. Bamboo (Interlude)
11. Tomb of the Boom (with Ludacris)
12. E-Mac (Interlude)
13. Knowing
14. Flip Flop Rock (with Killer Mike)
15. Interlude
16. Reset
17. D-Boi (Interlude)
18. Last Call (with Slimm Calhoun)
19. Bowtie (Postlude)