Review by Andy Kellman

Through all the twists and turns taken by Stacy "Fergie" Ferguson during her 20-year career as an entertainer -- including a stint on Kids Incorporated, background vocals for Martika, two albums with adult contemporary/dance-pop group Wild Orchid, and superstardom with Black Eyed Peas -- she has always sounded as if she is trying really, really hard. That has been the lone consistent characteristic of her output, and it remains in effect throughout The Dutchess. An endurance test like few other pop albums issued during the early 2000s, The Dutchess has all the characteristics of a release fronted by someone who has been itching to go solo and prove herself, once and for all, as a versatile force all her own. Fergie does cartwheels and handstands, juggles three objects at once, balances books on her head, hangs upside down, rides a unicycle with her hands in the air -- all these things while wearing different outfits. The whole process, produced mostly by fellow Pea will.i.am, is mildly entertaining but tremendously taxing. There's throwback hip-hop ("Fergalicious," done to the tune of J.J. Fad's "Supersonic"), throwback soul ("Here I Come," done to the tune of the Temptations' "Get Ready"), reggae ("Mary Jane Shoes"), ska-punk ("Mary Jane Shoes"), scat ("Mary Jane Shoes"), vaguely torchy midtempo fluff ("Velvet"), and a classy string-drenched ballad (the appropriately titled "Finally"), among several other passable switch-ups, but none of them has any lasting (or even immediate) value, with the possible exception of the inexplicably asinine "London Bridge" -- which is terrific, provided you can block out the lyrics or prevent yourself from trying to decipher its meaning. Somewhat ironically, one of the more convincing songs on the album, "Big Girls Don't Cry," sounds exactly like a 2006 version of Wild Orchid, with Fergie's Taylor Dayne kid-sister act in full effect.

Track Lists
01. Fergalicious feat will.i.am
02. Clumsy
03. All That I Got (The Make Up Song) feat will.i.am
04. London Bridge
05. Pedestal
06. Voodoo Doll
07. Glamorous feat Ludacris
08. Here I Come
09. Velvet
10. Big Girls Don't Cry
11. Mary Jane Shoes feat Rita Marley and The I-Threes
12. Losing My Ground
13. Finally
14. Get Your Hands Up [Bonus Track] feat The Black Eyed Peas
15. Wake Up [Bonus Track]
16. Paradise [Bonus Track]

Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Track Lists
01. Don't Stop Til You Get Enough
02. Rock With You
03. Workin' Day And Night
04. Get On The Floor
05. Off The Wall
06. Girlfriend
07. She's Out Of My Life
08. I Can't Help It
09. It's The Falling In Love
10. Burn This Disco Out

Review by Heather Phares

Upon its U.K. release in summer 2003, Permission to Land, the debut album from spandex-clad retro metalheads the Darkness, was a surprise success, hitting the British charts at number two (behind only Beyoncé's Dangerously in Love). After hearing Permission to Land, it's easier to understand why the British public went crazy for it, and for the Darkness. The album is more or less straightforward pop/rock with some '80s metal window-dressing, and the Darkness themselves live up to traditional notions of what a rock band should be: louche, decadent, and harboring a don't-bore-us-get-to-the-chorus mentality. While the band is far from ironic in its homages to Kiss, Judas Priest, and Queen, the Darkness certainly are campy (and with a list of influences like that, they'd almost have to be), with a uniquely British sensibility, personified by singer Justin Hawkins. A one-man campaign to bring back the unitard as fashionable rock gear, Hawkins sings about sex, drugs, and Satan with the voice of a castrato, backed by arena-sized riffs and rhythms. The Darkness would be an utter failure if the band didn't write good songs, but miracle of miracles, they do. The first two-thirds of Permission to Land is nearly flawless, an eerily realistic simulation of '80s metal and '70s glam that manages to sound familiar but not rehashed. "Black Shuck" revels in pseudomystic gobbledygook like "Flames licked round the sacred spire"; on the great single "Get Your Hands off My Woman," Hawkins sings "woooomaaan" higher than most women probably could. "Growing on Me" (which includes the great lyric "I want to banish you from whence you came") and "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" are tightly crafted songs that would sound good in almost any style, while "Givin' Up" is one of the jauntiest songs about heroin ever written. Even the prerequisite power ballad, "Love Is Only a Feeling," stays on the fun side of cheesy, adrift on clouds of strummed guitars and gooey backing harmonies. The album has such a strong beginning and middle that it's not entirely surprising that Permission to Land runs out of steam near the end, although "Stuck in a Rut" is a crazed enough rocker -- complete with demonic laughter -- to nearly rival the album's earlier songs. Softer songs like "Friday Night" and "Holding My Own" make the collection unusually ballad-heavy; if anything, the Darkness could stand to rock a little harder. Even though Permission to Land isn't quite as metal as its singles suggested it might be, the album is surprisingly good, especially considering how bad the band's '80s metal revival could have been. It's hard to say whether or not the Darkness will take off in the States the way they did in their homeland; Hawkins' over-the-top vocals aside, the band may be hurt by the fact that most metal and hard rock popular in the U.S. is more concerned with brooding and angst than with having fun. But having fun is what Permission to Land is all about, even if it's just a guilty pleasure.

Track Lists
01. Black Shuck
02. Get your Hand Off My Woman
03. Growing On Me
04. I Believe In A Thing Called Love
05. Love Is Only A Feeling
06. Givin' Up
07. Stuck In A Rut
08. Friday Night
09. Love On The Rock With No Ice
10. Holding On My Own

Review by Andy Kellman

The hard-working Busta Rhymes feels he wasn't handled properly by the J label. He might have a case: 2002's It Ain't Safe No More was the first album he released that failed to reach the Top Ten of the Billboard album chart, and it didn't come close -- it didn't even see the Top 40. Now on Dr. Dre's Aftermath, which is sort of a story, he also chopped his hair (as evidenced on the cover of an XXL issue and throughout the booklet of this album), and has had to deal with the death of his bodyguard, Israel Ramirez, who was shot on the scene of his video for the "Touch It" remix. It's not a good sign for your career when people are apparently supposed to talk about your hair or your new label, and it's even worse when people are instead talking about a tragedy not directly involving yourself. Lead single "Touch It," released months ahead of the album, did well despite being a very polarizing -- i.e., either bangin' or, for example, piercingly aggravating -- club record. For the most part, Busta's acting like everyone's idea of Busta ("This is what I'm supposed to do, right?"), retracing old steps and not doing a very convincing job at that. A handful of hot beats are wasted here, including a couple from the boss of his label and one from the late J Dilla, and "New York Shit" is a blown opportunity if there ever was one, a mindless and empty quasi-anthem instead of a true rallying call to reclaim the spotlight stolen by the South. There's also Stevie Wonder, who drops in to sound like Wyclef Jean impersonating Bob Marley, as well as the late Rick James, who is sampled so heavily that he's given a feature credit. In fact, there's an average of just over one guest spot per track, and Busta does happen to remain the dominant voice. Though he's as loud as ever, he has never sounded more tired. The title of the album's last track? "Legend of the Fall Offs."

Track Lists
01. Get You Some
02. I Love My Bitch
03. Touch It
04. This Is How We Do It
05. New York Shit
06. Been Thru The Storm
07. In The Ghetto
08. Cocaine
09. I'll Hurt You
10. You Can't Hold The Torch
11. Money Like Back In The Days
12. Don't Get Carried Away
13. The Out To Get Me
14. Get Down
15. I'll Do It All
16. Legends Of The Fall
17. Rough Around The Edges
18. Where's Your Money

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