exponent: 'tasty' wrapup to 2003

'tasty' wrapup to 2003

past: Seal, IV
present: Kelis, Tasty
future: Nelly Furtado, Musiq, Only Child, 112, Missy Elliott, Timbaland and Magoo

This is the third CD from Kelis. Many of you may remember merely two, but between Kaleidescope and the current one, Tasty, Wanderland is the unforgotten CD in the US, only being released overseas. There's something to be said about Kelis, who won quite a few awards around the globe, but was all but noticed here. Wake up.

Trick Me is a nice Dallas Austin intro to the CD, complete with guitar and a mini-rap from Kelis. 'Might trick me once, but I won't let you trick me twice'. . Milkshake has been played continuously for the better part of the fall, and as Kelis' first bonafied smash, hitting even harder than Caught Out There.

Keep It Down, is another Dallas Austin rock-soul mix that is welcome on this CD, even though Perfect Day was largely ignored by the world during Wanderland's rule.

Using fiancee Nas to describe how private sexual encounters are almost oxymoronic, as Kelis with The Neptunes asks to get it on In Public. R rated, even. Flashback, another R rated cut pulled from Wanderland, leads us into The Neptunes standard fare, the non-groundbreaking but nonetheless memorable Protect My Heart, accentuated by Pharell. Andre 3000 lands squarely on Millionaire, another Andre 3000 gem. It takes Rafael Saddiq to add his flair to the singles Glow, one of the strongest cuts on deck, and Attention.

Sugar Honey Iced Tea and Rolling Through The Hood are yet two other Neptune cuts, which should enlighten non-Wanderland purchasers, dipping into Stick Up ending with the nice finishing touch of Marathon.

For myself, Tasty is yet a redux of Wanderland. With the additional work of Rafael Saddiq and others, this gives Kelis a little more exposure for the world to realize her talent the third time around. Executive producer Kelis has shown that she is still a force to be reckoned with. Don't sleep. If by chance this enightens you, go back and dip into Wanderland.

My take? 8/10. Solid.

Express yourself to eXponent. It's a good thing.

Had him on the train one day when I wrapped in pain
He said 'I love you' in more ways than I've ever heard
And before I got his name I thought that it might be okay
To use the service to take some pain away
- Keep It Down

18.16

Flashback is off of Wanderland, is it not?

And on concurrent listens, I can't tell if the album gets stronger or weaker. I don't think it's as imaginative or complete as Wanderland and I'm really not feeling either Dallas Austin cut but it's nice.

If I had to pick a track from Wanderland to bring to the US release, though, it would've been Little Suzie and/or Scared Money.

posted by: Jason at 21.30

Yeah, seems as this release is just a redux of Wanderland, and in my boat, redux's don't move me. And you're right, the track Flashback was off of Wanderland. My mistake.

Scared Money (my favorite cut from Wanderland) would have been the preferred cut to bring over. In my mind though, it would have been more profitable to do another re-release, or to push more Wanderland back. In terms of exposure, Popular Thug (Clipse-infused) instead of Flashback would have probably been a better selection.

posted by: ej at 23.27

I think "Young, Fresh, and New" off Wanderland would've been a nice touch to the Tasty menagerie. It's got the grit of "Caught Out There" definitely and would probably be what more folks would expect from her.

posted by: karsh at 23.53

did you know Kaleidoscope as of last week had only sold 233,000 records total since it's release in, what, 98...99? Damn.

And I thought "Caught Out There" was a much bigger hit than it was. Maybe it just was where my head was at back then.

posted by: Jason at 12.37