If K?naan wasn?t so obviously trying for mainstream chart success on his fourth studio disc, he might have made a great album.
Take the splendid Gold In Timbuktu, with its sweet melody that he croons like a show tune and then raps over, taking the role of his aged future self. Or listen to the exhilarating rocker Alone, performed with will.i.am, which appropriates the memorable riff from the 1982 Romantics hit Talking In Your Sleep and brilliantly creates an entirely different ? and better ? song. Those tracks, and a few others, represent the five-star album that could have been.
But the oversized plea for comfort Is Anybody Out There, with Nelly Furtado?s insufferable nasal whine, the Coldplay homage Better and even the well-intentioned, but unremarkable resistance anthem The Seed are among the songs that come off as calculated bids for a commercial victory, dragging the entire piece of work down. While there are catchy and instantly-likeable bits all over the place, the unevenness of the disc as a whole makes it a missed opportunity.
(Note: the deluxe version of the disc adds four tracks, including the duet with will.i.am and Sleep When We Die, featuring Keith Richards. Among the deluxe edition?s 16 selections are four of the five songs from the More Beautiful Than Silence EP, released in January.)
Rating: ***
Podworthy: Gold In Timbuktu
Country, God or the Girl will be available Oct. 16. Here?s the video for Hurt Me Tomorrow:
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