Chuck Eddy writes about Bittersweet World

[koganbot]

Ashlee, Trashlee, We All Fall Down

...my favorite non-single is probably "Boys" (produced, like much of the album, by Kenna and the Neptunes' Chad Hugo) for its Chic bassline, for the way Ashlee switches between light and tough vocal modes, for the way she splits the title into four syllables, and for the punchline "use your head but not that one."

Also, for those of you who missed this late post by petronia on the poptimists' Bittersweet World thread, I'm reprinting it here:

Looking up week-old thread to say that I heard "Outta My Head" in the HMV the other day and thought "You know, all the indie peeps would love this song to pieces if they thought it was by Santogold," and then... I found out it was written by Santogold. HUZZAH FOR ME??

Comments

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

Nice write-up and probably an appropriate response -- actually I think I'm most comfortable with Bittersweet World in terms of where I place it, mostly because even though it takes a little figuring out where she's at, once you understand it, there's not as much to explore. I think I have a much better handle on "where Ashlee is" on her two previous albums, but I'm still grappling with them in a way I don't feel the need to grapple with Bittersweet World. BW is almost more cerebral than it is emotional, like the difference between figuring out the rules to a game or an exercise and figuring out a person (except that in figuring out those rules you still figure out more of that person -- but I guess I mean that "figuring Ashlee out" is an extrapolation from some of the material itself; I have to look outside the album for depth, by comparing it to what she's already done more than digging into the stuff itself).

ashlee

[(Anonymous)]

ashlee is getting a right slagging in UK press,one star in the Independent on Friday by Andy Gill and two stars in the Sunday Times today,i think the Guardian and NME gave good reviews,can,t understand the slaggings maybe its a UK thing.

Re: ashlee

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

Wow. Independent one isn't worth acknowledging, except for this phrase:

Former releases have presented her as Alanis/Avril-lite

SKYE SEZ:

!!!!!!

Re: ashlee

[koganbot]

She's gotten just as slagged in the U.S. Probably more slagged, and she's gotten no radio support, and the record sales are dismal, whereas in Britain "Outta My Head" is climbing the charts, albeit not spectacularly.