Act II: Cowboy Carter (Beyonce)

[Jorge]

"Ya Ya" has Janelle Monae energy and I love it

[tragabigzanda]

Top 10 maybe?
Hello Morning
Close Captioned
The Kill
Place/Position
Do You Like Me?
Latest Disgrace
Recap Modotti
Nightshop
Break
Life & Limb

I'd maybe bump Life & Limb for Epic Problem

[tragabigzanda]

[tragabigzanda]

[Jorge]

"Riverdance" is very cool. Very creative and interesting arrangement

[tragabigzanda]

[Jorge]

Damn, "II Hands II Heaven" is very cool too. Album has almost completely won me over

[Jorge]

Just read this on Variety:

“Throughout the weekend, fans have been complaining online that their “Cowboy Carter” vinyls were missing the songs “Spaghettii,” “Flamenco,” “The Linda Martell Show,” “Ya Ya” and “Oh Louisiana.”

Oh yeah, read about that. No refunds either. Poor form, Bey

[tragabigzanda]

Top 10 maybe?
Hello Morning
Close Captioned
The Kill
Place/Position
Do You Like Me?
Latest Disgrace
Recap Modotti
Nightshop
Break
Life & Limb

I'd maybe bump Life & Limb for Epic Problem

[Jorge]

It ends really strong. "Sweet Honey Buckin'" and "Amen" have a lot of really cool and surprising moments. Overall, another very good album by Beyonce. I'll have to listen to it more to see if those first few songs grow on me more.

I'm most surprised by is how... not specifically country it is, at least musically. It's clearly framed as a country album in everything from its cover, title, marketing, the involvement of country music pioneers... sounds like it tackles some traditional country themes lyrically... but musically it's really not, right? Save for a handful of tracks it's a soul / pop album with a few country touches. Like "Tyrant" is a straight-up trap beat with a 2000s R&B vocal. It has a fiddle hook that repeats throughout but it's such a minor detail.

I don't wanna get too caught up in this point because conversations about genre are tiresome and I'm sure there are a bunch of country purists already shaking their fists at this album's general direction. And fuck those people, like fuck genre purists of any kind. But I'm just surprised, I really thought this would be more of a full-on country album musically based on how it's being discussed. It's a lot more expansive and eclectic than that, which I'm happy about.

[Ms Harmless]

to my mind, it's absolutely an album grounded in country (and blues, folk, and gospel) but almost situates it in an alternative history where it was Black experimentation that took the reins and expanded the genre outwards to what we find familiar instead of white country radio, hence all the genre experimentation (into hiphop segues, etc); I'm sure "is this really country though?" was a question Beyoncé deliberately set out to get us asking, and I'm sure her answer would be yes, through and through; that she seems to have done all of this on purpose definitely infuses the whole thing with Janelle Monae energy (whose run of arch-android albums was conceptually obsessed with Afrofuturist alternative history)

[Ms Harmless]

also I love the sprawling nature of it, not a second out of place imo (except maybe Post Malone); American Requiem and Blackbird seem essential to the concept

[Farmer John]

Wait, is that Beyonce singing the opera part in Daughter? That's incredibly impressive if so.

It sounds exactly like her! And (with all respect to Beyonce's incredible singing talent) not like an opera singer

Okay yeah, I just listened to it again (not stoned this time) and it's very clearly her. Still impressive though!

[Farmer John]

Seriously though, this is my jam.

[liebzz]

Giving this a listen today. Probably about half this morning and half on the way home. This is fantastic thus far, coming from someone who hasn’t ever cared about Beyoncé even after seeing her live. I’m quite impressed.

[oftheearth]

Also what’s with the repeated use of “ii” in the song titles? I’m missing something

Apparently this album is "Act II" of a 3-parter with Renaissance as the first act.

[Ms Harmless]

Giving this a listen today. Probably about half this morning and half on the way home. This is fantastic thus far, coming from someone who hasn’t ever cared about Beyoncé even after seeing her live. I’m quite impressed.

yep this is where I'm at, never really cared before, love this

[Ms Harmless]

Also what’s with the repeated use of “ii” in the song titles? I’m missing something

Apparently this album is "Act II" of a 3-parter with Renaissance as the first act.

this is correct; apparently each album in the trilogy is a "love letter" to different styles of music (this one of course being country)

[VinylGuy]

to my mind, it's absolutely an album grounded in country (and blues, folk, and gospel) but almost situates it in an alternative history where it was Black experimentation that took the reins and expanded the genre outwards to what we find familiar instead of white country radio, hence all the genre experimentation (into hiphop segues, etc); I'm sure "is this really country though?" was a question Beyoncé deliberately set out to get us asking, and I'm sure her answer would be yes, through and through; that she seems to have done all of this on purpose definitely infuses the whole thing with Janelle Monae energy (whose run of arch-android albums was conceptually obsessed with Afrofuturist alternative history)

Yeah I agree with this.

Just For Fun is a pretty good example of all that actually. Great song.

And the duet with Miley is awesome.

[Ms Harmless]

to my mind, it's absolutely an album grounded in country (and blues, folk, and gospel) but almost situates it in an alternative history where it was Black experimentation that took the reins and expanded the genre outwards to what we find familiar instead of white country radio, hence all the genre experimentation (into hiphop segues, etc); I'm sure "is this really country though?" was a question Beyoncé deliberately set out to get us asking, and I'm sure her answer would be yes, through and through; that she seems to have done all of this on purpose definitely infuses the whole thing with Janelle Monae energy (whose run of arch-android albums was conceptually obsessed with Afrofuturist alternative history)

Yeah I agree with this.

Just For Fun is a pretty good example of all that actually. Great song.

And the duet with Miley is awesome.

absolutely yep