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| 2/26/04 |
This week's notable releases New releases in CD stores this week include: The soundtrack to the controversial movie du jour; the latest Boy Band Posse solo release hoping to be the next "Justified"; and the new one from a roots-rock legend in the making. ...Schizophrenic, JC Chasez (Jive)
Billboard Review: Schizophrenic JC CHASEZ JC Chasez could not have called his solo debut anything but "Schizophrenic."
Produced by Robb Boldt, Basement Jaxx and Riprock 'n' Alex G, among
others, it is wonderfully all over the musical map, from electro
and funk to dance/electronic and pop. Throughout, Chasez, who co-wrote
every track, keeps his eye on the dancefloor - though a couple ballads
("Dear Goodbye," "Build My World") make their
beauty known. Elsewhere, the soulful "She Got Me," the
bouncy "Something Special," the Sting-inflected "Everything
You Want," the bootylicious "Shake It" and the hypnotic
"All Day Long I Dream About Sex" shine incredibly bright.
"One Night Stand" and "Come to Me" cleverly
reference Donna Summer's "I Feel Love" and Corey Hart's
"Sunglasses at Night," respectively. This is adventurous
stuff for a Mickey Mouse Club graduate who went on to become a member
of 'N Sync.—MP
Boy band member steps in after Timberlake stumbles Justin Timberlake's career ended the night he made that miserable apology for the Super Bowl incident at the Grammy Awards. Not only did he send his old crush Janet Jackson out for a long walk on a short pier, but he showed everyone who mistakenly assumed he was ready to grow out of his sequined boy- band duds that he was just a big crybaby who probably still sleeps in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers sheets. Right about now, all the New York fashionistas and style magazine editors who tried to make Timberlake look cool by dressing him up like a cross between Eminem and the guy from Coldplay are crying in their ironic Von Dutch trucker hats. To the legion of female fans who used to tape his pictures in their lockers and the gay cheerleaders who did routines to "Senorita," at this very moment he is less popular than Jar Jar Binks. Maybe even Sisqo. Fortunately, another member of 'N Sync is ready to step up and fill the gap left by that gutless Michael Jackson wannabe. When Timberlake's little publicity stunt backfired, the person it most affected was JC Chasez, 27, whose scheduled halftime performance at the Pro Bowl the following week was immediately pulled by the insanely paranoid NFL. Did Chasez try to score some free press out of the whole ordeal by issuing a flimsy apology? Only if punching someone in the head and spitting on their shoes is, symbolically, a totally new way of saying sorry. "While I agree the mishap at the Super Bowl was a huge mistake, the NFL's shallow effort to portray my music as sexually indecent brings to mind another era when innocent artists were smeared with a broad brush by insecure but powerful people," he announced. "That's not the America I love. Nor is this the NFL I love. I'll sing the national anthem anytime, anywhere, but not for this NFL." Today, Chasez is hanging out backstage at the Jay Leno show, where he is scheduled to perform a new solo single, "Some Girls (Dance with Women)." Before the week is over, his television blitz will also include Ryan Seacrest, Sharon Osbourne and "Mad TV." Nearly every interview will bring up his pointed response to the Super Bowl thing, and every time Chasez will say the same thing, "I just told the truth." What makes this move so remarkable is that Chasez has a new album, "Schizophrenic," to promote, and by making a stand before its release, he dumped on not only a corrupt sports organization but all the attached corporate tentacles, which may or may not include Viacom, CBS, MTV and maybe even the Pillsbury Doughboy. While that may not be the exact list, it's safe to say Chasez pissed off a lot of rich and powerful companies. "Schizophrenic" is only going to make things better. Released on Tuesday, it sounds more like a porno soundtrack than some fifth-generation variation of "Backstreet's Back." Chasez (pronounced Sha-zay) flips through his record collection and pulls out all the best parts, stitches them together and creates the ultimate Frankenstein pop album using Prince's filthy lyrics, Duran Duran's slap bass, Jimi Hendrix's groans, Underworld's Ecstasy beats, Aerosmith's bluesy guitar solos, the Eurythmics' futuristic synthesizers, Led Zeppelin's wet libido. Every song is like when they announce the nominees at the MTV Awards and just play the best 15 seconds of each track back-to-back. "When I handed the album over to the record company, they just kind of scooted back from the table, like, 'Wow, this is a lot of information,' " Chasez says. "Everyone in music -- more or less -- has a niche, and I didn't stick to a niche. It is what it is." For all his crooked choreography, it's hard to imagine Timberlake ever coming up with anything as brazenly erotic as "All Day Long I Dream About Sex" or as blissed out as "Everything You Want." That's because when it came to collaborators, Chasez didn't turn to overworked and overpriced hitmakers like the Neptunes and Richard Marx, but instead opted to work with British nerds like Basement Jaxx and people with rad names like Riprock, Alex G, Robb Boldt and Rockwilder. "At the end of the day, the reason the album sounds different is because I have never been able to make one on my own before," Chasez says. "When you work in a group situation there's always compromise involved. There was no compromise here." Chasez actually made his solo debut on the "Drumline" soundtrack, to which he contributed the noisy "Blowin' Me Up (With Her Love)." He also provided vocals for Basement Jaxx's club anthem, "Plug It In." But after 'N Sync decided to take a break after 2001's "Celebrity," Chasez had no intention of doing anything. Timberlake jumped right back into the fray with his solo album. Joey Fatone wanted to become an actor. Chris Kirkpatrick tried to launch his own clothing line. And Lance Bass was last seen packing for the moon. Chasez spent time with his family in Orlando, went grocery shopping and tried to digest the insanity of being one-fifth of the most successful boy band ever. "There was a lot of reflection," he says. It wasn't until his friend and music guru Dallas Austin pointed out to the former Mouseketeer that he was wasting his talent by sitting at home all day watching reruns of "Saved by the Bell" and "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air." "Actually, Dallas said it was a shame for me not to share my talent with everyone," Chasez says. Three months later, Chasez walked out of the studio with the mighty "Schizophrenic," an album detailing dance-floor orgies, all-night parties and other R-rated adventures by a man who has clearly grown up over the past decade. Timberlake's mom probably won't even let him listen to it. It's so crazy that Chasez even had to pose in a straightjacket on the front cover. Originally he was even going to have a German shepherd trying to bite him during the photo shoot, but then he decided maybe it's not that crazy. "It was a wild day," he says. The point is, Chasez proved that even though someone was in "The Mickey Mouse Club," they could be sexy now. No, wait, that was Christina Aguilera. He proved that dance music is fun and technological and dirty. Or was that Britney Spears? OK, he just proved that Timberlake is a jerk. That's good enough. And maybe he proved that sometimes the best things come from the least likely places. "I just want to open peoples' minds," Chasez says. "Everybody seems to be stuck in one mode, so afraid of change. I think that is a shame." |
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