588 Janet Jackson - Rhythm Nation 1814 (1989)

Studio Album - Pop/R&B

About the Act:

Janet Jackson is the youngest sibling in the famous Jackson family (Michael Jackson is one of them). She has gained a reputation for blending poppy dancy stuff with social conscience stuff, and has sold many millions of records worldwide.

She caused a stir when a stunt she had planned with Justin Timberlake in the Superbowl Half Time Show went wrong. Instead of ripping off part of her costume and revealing a bra underneath, the bra part was ripped off also. 

About the Album:

This was her fourth album, and possibly her most socially conscious one, with songs about racial equality and attitudes, poverty, crime, drug abuse and illiteracy. It is almost a concept album, certainly a themed one. It sold very well indeed, and is considered by many to be her artistic pinnacle.

My History with this Album:

In a fairly unusual move for me, I bought a vinyl copy of this album when it was current. I must have heard a couple of the tracks. Anyway, I liked it, actually a lot, and so have played it a fair bit and am pretty familiar with it.

Review:

So, technically, some of these songs are in the style "New Jack Swing", which apparently is a swung rhythm for dancy hip-hoppy music. This is one of the modes, and is most of the songs. The music is constructed from sampled drum loops and synths, but fairly advanced synths giving it a rich sound. The rhythms are complex and the drum sounds tend towards the industrial kind of sound. There is a sampled section of a high vocal "woo!" which appears throughout two of the songs, in a typical 90s dance way. The core of what I like about this album is the beats and patterns, it's catchy and dancy and head-boppy and foot-tappy and quite singable-alongable. The production is crisp and nicely done, lots of layers. If I had a criticism it's that the bass end is a bit neglected. Despite the ritual chanting of "bass" at one point, there is very little bass. In fact the whole production is quite toppy, which may be about being radio-friendly.

The other mode is kind of slower, more slushy, romantic songs, somewhere between Whitney Houston's slow songs and the Spice Girls slow songs. I guess these are there to balance out the album. There is one track (which was a hit single) Black Cat, which is actually kind of heavy rock, but in reality is fake heavy rock, by the introduction of a rock guitar riff (and decent solo). 

The conceptual heart of the album is the social conscience stuff, as it says above, about race, poverty, crim, drugs, illiteracy. The first three tracks hammer this home quite a bit, and then end with the spoken "Get the message? Let's Dance!". We come back to some of those themes later though. By today's standards, this is a bit on the nose, but at the time it played well. Remember this was the era of Live Aid and such things. Apparently she wanted to mirror the sort of messages of Bob Dylan, Tracy Chapman, Joni Mitchell, and U2, but to reach a different audience, as their fanbases were already invested in social change. Apparently this was successful.

So, I like it. As I listened for a review, I felt a bit more critical of the sugary romance songs, but still enjoyed the slightly industrial dancy stuff, the singing, the production, and pretty much the message. As an album it hangs together really well. I have never regretted buying this album, despite it being somewhat outside my normal listening. It's good.

7.8/10

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/7jtBAkD6DL5yn7komrFTxE

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFBgfSAIU1-uF4f4jnPdYNgMxdXenUTHv

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_Jackson%27s_Rhythm_Nation_1814