Black Eyed Peas Album: “The Beginning”

I purchased this as a gift for my daughter. She was very happy with it. I have had the opportunity to listen to it in the background from every room in the house for over a month now, and can say it really isn't bad. Most of the songs consists of pretty catchy beats, but that's mainly what I hear throughout the house; the bumping bass sounds. The music sounds very club-ish to me, but if that's the fad, who am I to judge? Overall, I can tell you I am not ready to sneak into my daughter's room to hide it away for a length of time to give myself a reprieve like some of the other music she listens too. I wouldn't consider it God's gift to music, but I wouldn't classify it as pure garbage either. I am sure that if you are a Black Eyed Peas fan you will like the album. If you are a casual listener, you will find yourself tapping your toe to a few of the songs. There is enough mixture to the CD to keep you from turning it off after the first 4 songs.

These songs are just plain FUN !! With all the synthesizers synthing away, and the vocals simply dripping in electronic processing, if you're not dancing like a maniac to each & every beat, then you better CHECK YOUR PULSE ! I like this incarnation, because I've got a CD Jukebox, and I hadn't bought The E.N.D. yet, so this was a great way to get the hits from that album whilst finally ponying up for this one. By the way, I've made a nice cover for the Juke-and posted it here-it's got the graphics for both albums in one handy pic, so buy this CD and download the composite picture-load it into your CD jukebox-you're ready to party !

In these days of moribund CD sales, if an idea worked the first time, you flog it till it's dead. And so it is we find Hip Hop collective Black Eyed Peas following up the Dance-driven "The E.N.D' with "The Beginning" which sounds like a continuation of its predecessor. Everything is shiny electro laced with auto-tune and lyrics about having fun or just plain nonsense (with titles like "Light Up The Night" or "Don't Stop The Party", there's not much room to maneuver).

"The Time (Dirty Bit)" samples the Bill Medley/Jennifer Warnes hit "(I've Had) The Time Of My Life" and also manages to sound like Taio Cruz's "Dirty Picture" (featuring Ke$ha). It's set to be an annoying hit much like "I Got A Feeling" was last summer. The samples continue on the buzzing "Love You Long Time" (KC & The Sunshine Band's "Give It Up") and the rather nice "Fashion Beats" (Chic's "My Forbidden Lover" all sped up).

The CD does seem a bit cluttered and over-long (especially in these days of 10 tracks on a CD by loads of acts) but some songs manage to shine through; the lean Techno-ish "XOXOXO", "Don't Stop The Party" (which should get any club moving), the guitar-festooned "The Situation", the dizzying "The Best One Yet (The Boy)" (with similar drum patterns to Usher's "OMG" which was penned and produced by Pea will.i.am), the more laid-back "Just Can't Get Enough" (with a coda that picks up speed), as well as the afore mentioned "Fashion Beats" (with Fergie doing her best Debbie Harry impression, even doing a rap that apes Blondie's "Rapture"). More like this and the CD could have been much better.

Patchy but fun in places.

It's hard to blame The Black Eyed Peas for their unimaginative music. They started off incredibly strong with their early albums, "Behind the Front" and "Bridging the Gap," but after adding Fergie to their entourage for 2003's "Elephunk," The Black Eyed Peas' saw their name rocket up the charts with hits like "Let's Get Retarded" and "Where is the Love?."

From that point on, will.i.am. and company have been nothing more than a dance club staple, churning out mindless hits with memorable hooks repeated for about four minutes on each track. They might claim to be writing anthems for their generation and the next, but they've completely sold out and at the rate their albums and singles sell, it's hard to fault them for it.

Referencing everything from Styx and "Dirty Dancing" to Slick Rick and Fatboy Slim, The Black Eyed Peas definitely play to those born in the eighties, but they do little to rehash that decade musically.

The lead single and opening track, "The Time (Dirty Bit)," is a partial cover of "(I've Had) The Time of My Life," the "Dirty Dancing" duet by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes, with a little twist. Heavily Auto-Tuned vocals, rap interludes, and club beats form a clear separation from the original recording, but the main theme is more than enough to instantly turn their version into a hit.

David Guetta, the co-composer of two of The Black Eyed Peas' biggest hits from their previous record, "Rock That Body," and "I Gotta Feeling," only lends his hand to one track on "The Beginning," but it's easily one of the feature moments. "The Best One Yet (The Boy)" is extremely reminiscent of Guetta's previous work, so much so that it could almost be considered a sequel. The words and music are different, but the style's the same and the lyrics seem to confirm the suspicions presented in "I Gotta Feeling."

Like each of The Black Eyed Peas' records since "Elephunk," the lyrics are relatively unimaginative. Their track "Light up the night" opens with "wait a minute, uno dos, it's time to go adios;" just one example of their less than clever rhyme scheme.

Although lyrics are usually the focus in the rap genre, The Black Eyed Peas' mixture of rap and pop draws all of the attention to their annoyingly unforgettable choruses. Listen to any Black Eyed Peas song straight through and it'll be stuck in your head for a week whether you're a fan or not. If anything, the simplified lyrics just make it easier to memorize all of the words by the end of the second play through.

Is their music absurd? Of course. Will you hear it everywhere you go? Absolutely.

The Black Eyed Peas are a party band and "The Beginning" is a party album. Although the album takes absolutely zero chances, it is still sure to find success thanks to a winning formula. Look for The Black Eyed Peas to continue releasing one album a year from now on. Just when you thought you got their most recent single out of your head, they'll be back again with another one. This is just "The Beginning."

Similar Artists: Will Smith, Timbaland

Track Suggestion: "The Best One Yet (The Boy)"

Maybe my expectations were much higher since coming off E.N.D, but there is really nothing new in the sound...sure the cover snippets are fun to reminisce like with "Dirty Bit", but aside from that track the only other track that stands out for me is "Do It Like This" (a hot beat that's a good follow up to E.N.D). I am a BEP fan so I don't regret the purchase, just wish they had more of the magic they had with previous albums even before E.N.D which were also great albums. This is probably the one that is the most forgetable album.