No "Exaggeration"
Posted June 02, 2008
By Nathan,
After a solid album (Boy vs. the Cynic) John Reuben returns with one of his most ambitious efforts. Always known for his creative rap with good cuts of rock and pop and his wit, Reuben takes a different approach to his latest album Word of Mouth changing his style of both the music and the lyrics.
John Reuben has always been original so to avoid lame and repetitive beats of regular rappers so on the opening, “sing it like you mean it”, the western rap/rock should not surprise fans. There is almost a hint of techno in the chorus of the upbeat “trying to hard”, but the chorus is not very distinguished. The banjo makes an entrance in light hearted song “make money, money”, but the momentum dies some with “focus”, which gets a little insipid. The title track is usually reserved for Reuben’s best song, and the tradition continues with “word of mouth” a fun light rap song.
One problem with the album is that John Rueben normally makes the verse of the song very central musically, but on Word of Mouth it almost takes a back seat as the most original tunes are saved for the chorus. getting to the refrain on the relatively bland “miserable exaggeration” is a chore but the unexpected off beat sound is appreciated. Getting a chorus to help with “universal” was more unforeseen than good, but the albums routine does get shaken up some with “curiosity”. The intro and on is a good rock rap, a component which is direly missed on this project, but it falls when the chorus comes around. “Cool te underdog” has a repetitive, but catchy chorus and finally the hip hop, pop act it revealed in its highest dose on “cool the underdog”.
True to form John Rueben takes his humor, and his strong Biblical worldview to work on his newest project, only this time there is a different spin. Among a more vague John Rueben than we are used to it’s clear that “Word of Mouth” isn’t just a cleverly written song without an origin (Ecclesiastes 1:9) and “miserable exaggeration” is a glance at what we are searching for. “Curiosity” and “good evening” both has great lyrics, but listeners may miss out on the message of the song overall and be distracted by the witty and seemingly proverbial lines (‘Rap's a game that mostly amateurs play/and there are very few professionals that are getting paid’ on “make money, money”).
Not so much solid rock as fans are used to, as catchy more original, catchy, light rap is being introduced, while the lyrics focus on the business side of life and how it affects our relationship with others and God. While it’s somewhat odd what was done with Word of Mouth it only furthers John Reuben’s skill as a song writer and his about “amateur” rap music.
View All Music And Book Reviews By Nathan | View Nathan's Profile
|
