Random Review 2011 #3 Cody ChesnuTT The Headphone Masterpiece

C7s11CD7 takes me to the genre of Nu or is it Neu Soul, and a CD I don't think I have listened to since I bought it in 2002, and after listening to it again it's unlikely it will ever grace my ears again!

That's a harsh opening sentence so lets rewind a little bit and give this release a fair crack of the whip.

I love soul music and although I struggle with rap music, some of the newer R 'n' B artists have produced song great soul music over the last few years.

Can I just ask why does music from artists like Beyonce, Mary J Blige, Alicia Keys etc get labelled as R 'n' B ? Where I come from this stands for Rythmn and Blues and means exactly that, and although what they do has Rythmn it ain't the blues!

So back to The Headphone Masterpiece, 36 tracks tracks over 2 CDs, ChesnuTT spelt with 2 capital T's in the surname, (don't ask I don't know) and a CD I bought on the strength of a review in a music magazine (Mojo I think) that said that this release was an essential purchase. So was it? Not for me and here is why.

36 tracks some which sound unfinished, like sketch's of songs that later would be worked into full songs or thrown away, 36 tracks that sound like they recorded in someone's bedroom. This is what I thought before I did a little research and found out that they were recorded in Cody's Bedroom.

I'm sure that there is a good album hidden in all these tracks but you get lost in the minute musings and expletive heavy raps. B!%@* I'm Broke (it's not me that censored this and I think if you want to swear in your songs at least have the bollocks to write it in the title!)) is a prime example of this. It's offensive and not needed and adds nothing to the album, other than a bad taste in your mouth.

So what are the good points, well The Seed is a great song, later covered by The Roots, parts is sound like Lenny Kravitz and the sometimes the vocals sound a lot like Terence Trett D'arby, and truthfully I don't hate this CD, it just needs editing down to get rid of the rubbish. (the wonders of i-tunes will allow me to do this)

In the past I would never have given a CD away, as it was part of my collection, good or bad, but as time goes by I realise it's more about economies of scale and quality over quantity, so if anybody would like this CD it's yours for the price of the postage just let me know!

Mark 3.5/10 (sorry Cody)