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Speakerboxx / The Love Below (double album)

What’s the Story?

Reviewed by Kathi Kamen Goldmark

There's a lot to like on SPEAKERBOXX/THE LOVE BELOW, but not quite enough for a high-profile double CD. There's no cohesive link; the double CD really does sound like two separate albums that happened to be packaged together. The CD offers alternative family values galore: The singer's baby-mama leaves him. A toddler who can barely talk tries to say the "M-F" word, to his dad's great delight. There's lost love, found love, drunk love, and careless love, all poetically recounted in more graphic detail than we may really need. There are also some very creative (some might say visionary) musical moments and clever rhymes.

Is It Any Good?

3

Although this CD contains some wonderful lyrics, terrific guest vocals, and excellent rhythm tracks, they are all marred by careless production and apparently hodgepodge sequencing. Andre and Big Boi deserve a lot of credit for daring to be musically different. But they often sacrifice artistry for weirdness, and one gets the feeling that they're throwing a lot of stuff at the wall, wondering what will stick.

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