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Jan 7, 2011No matter how cleverly he's rhyming, which varies, he could use subject matter beyond married-to-the-game and his traditional obsessions. But with Shady in the shadows, rarely are these themes lifted by Em's long-recessive sense of play.
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To put it simply, Eminem is back. There are some truly essential songs on Recovery, and even the weak tracks are an improvement from the debacle that was Relapse.
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Gratuitous nastiness is nothing new for Eminem, but if he really wants to prove something, he could try recording an entire album without any.
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Recovery is his most casual-sounding album in years, with odes to a "white-trash party" ("W.T.P.") and songs that hearken back to his freewheeling early records--rhymes as goofy and imaginative as they are violent and profane.
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Leave it to Em to continue confounding expectations this late in the game.
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While the endless atonement metaphors threaten to make Recovery a maudlin affair, at moments like these ["Won't Back Down" and "No Love"], Eminem soars over his lowered expectations.
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A wide array of producers means that Recovery isn't as consistent as Eminem's best albums--his second and third--but there are significantly more highlights here than on either of his previous two.
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This will hold a bizarre position in his catalogue--Recovery is not his best, nor his worst, but either people will listen incessantly or barely at all. There is no middle ground.
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If this is just the start of an artistic resurgence then it'll be interesting to see what comes next. You feel that he's just getting started again.
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It may be flawed and the rapper's attitude is sometimes one step ahead of his output, but he hasn't sounded this unfiltered and proud since The Marshall Mathers LP.
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"Relapse" should have been the end of his career, but by admitting his mistakes as well as trumpeting his successes, Shady's given himself one last stand.
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So is Recovery a classic album? No. But is it an essential one in shaping Eminem's future? Absolutely.
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The monolithic nature of the album feels necessary, but like any sustained chord, every other song tends to have less interesting undertones.
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As the track [Untitled] fades out and Eminem thanks the listener for coming out to the show, it's clear that if this effort is just the recovery, then the countdown to full rehabilitation begins now.
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Recovery is thwarted by similarly ill-fitting decisions.... The central salvation is Mather's enduring virtuosity. Throughout Recovery, he weaves dazzling internal patterns and clever word play.
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Sadly, a piecemeal approach to production (Dr Dre has just one credit) leaves the album lacking an abiding mood and drowning in fashionable soft-rock samples.
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Two fundamental problems: he's got an incredible amount of energy, raging away in the high-pitched voice that Eminem haters can't stand, with little to say that he hasn't already said before; and the beats are often middling.
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This album is audible therapy, complete with several cuts of Eminem apologizing, taking responsibility for being a terrible rapper, and promising to get better.
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It is, finally, the comeback we figured he'd manage eventually, and if his newfound honesty and self-awareness becomes more pattern than anomaly, Recovery will be seen as a turning point in his career.
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What Eminem hasn't let go of is his taste for melancholic bombast in production.
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Marshall Mathers tackles his most complicated subject...himself.
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For an artist who has sold 30 million albums, his latest release is brutally short on hooks and, most of all, fun. The subversive humor is long gone, and his cultural references (David Cook? Austin Powers? Yet another dis of Mariah Carey?) remain dated.
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The album is a sprawling, confusing, self-indulgent mess. Nonetheless, there are real glimmers of brilliance here.
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UncutFairly generalised misogyny pervades the album, though it would be churlish not to not that tracks like "White Trash Party" or "On Fire" both display flashes of Eminem's wit. [Sep 2010, p.92]
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Much of Recovery centers around such themes as romantic devotion and anxiety, but the resulting material rings unsurprisingly hollow.
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Therein lies the danger of building an iconic persona on your current obsessions and an unerring belief in everyone else's interest in your thoughts. When it hits gold, it's magnetic; when judgement lapses, the convictions seem tired.
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So let's put it simply: With Recovery, Eminem has misunderstood everything that once made him great as thoroughly as anyone else ever has.
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Out of all the depressing aspects of Recovery, the worst is the realization that for listeners the album takes the opposite arc-- the more he motors on about having reclaimed his passion for hip-hop and finally figured out who he is, the more draining the album becomes.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 1,099 out of 1313
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Mixed: 113 out of 1313
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Negative: 101 out of 1313
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PeteRJun 26, 2010Great album. His best since The Eminem Show. No other rappers out there today can even compare to the lyrical and mic skills of this guy.
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Aug 12, 2010
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NoahDJun 28, 2010