148. Frank Ocean, "Channel Orange"

 


I can see how great this album is but it just didn't do much for me, how's that for a boring take?  Frank Ocean's debut studio album, this has been hailed as "a masterful, dynamic and evocative collection of conversations between his inner-self and the listener" and was the best-reviewed album of 2012.  I wanted to like this album so, so much, but it left me cold.

It is cold, for one thing; the production is often chilly and stark, and the themes tend towards the dark.  Ocean (he legally changed his name in 2015) was originally from New Orleans, but moved to LA in 2006.  Rich kids obviously made a big impression on him!  From "Sweet Life:"

You've had a landscaper and a house keeper since you were born
The starshine always kept you warm
So why see the world, when you got the beach?
Don't know why see the world, when you got the beach
The sweet life

In fact, there's a whole song about this!  One of the best songs on the album, "Super Rich Kids" is exactly that, with a great verse by guest Earl Sweatshirt:

Alright, close your eyes to what you can't imagine
We are the Xanny-gnashing
Caddy-smashing, bratty assy
He mad, he snatched his daddy's Jag
And used the shit for batting practice
Adamant and he thrashing
Purchasing crappy grams with half the hand of cash you handed

So I'm not gonna lie, the lyrics are the best part.  They're fascinating and introspective; I mean, really really introspective, maybe uncomfortably so, but for some reason the music just didn't catch on with me.  I know this is not the prevailing opinion and I'm gonna seem like an idiot for saying it but it is just not my thing.  It's an interesting hybrid of R&B and rap and jazz and electronica and anything else that caught Ocean's eye and I get its complexity and its uniqueness as a sound but I appreciate more than like it.  Oh well.

Does this album deserve to be in the Top 500? I assume so!

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