The Black Eyed Peas, “The Beginning” (Interscope)
No contemporary pop group understands the power of cross-promotion, branding and product placement quite like the Black Eyed Peas, so it should come as no surprise that their latest single plays like a free ad for a 23-year-old song that most everyone already knows.
Audacity more than inventiveness drives “The Time (Dirty Bit),” the song that introduces the Peas’ sixth album, “The Beginning.”
The single lifts its chorus from “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life,” the theme from the 1987 movie “Dirty Dancing.” It’s not the finest moment in the history of sampling.
“The Time” credits the original songwriters and it should, because without them the song isn’t a song anymore, just a jumpy electro beat with a few rap verses. That’s one way to guarantee a hit: Hijack the theme from a movie that has earned more than $214 million in revenue and slap it over a generic rhythm track.
Shamelessly or not, Peas mastermind will.i.am has delivered more ready-made best- sellers than just about any pop artist in the last decade. The Peas were a cool but commercially underperforming West Coast hip-hop crew in the ’90s, then were remade in 2003.
That’s when Fergie (singer Stacy Ann Ferguson) joined the group, and will.i.am focused on club-banging anthems, big radio hooks, and giggly celebrations of sex, partying and the boom, boom, pow: “My Humps,” “Let’s Get It Started,” “I Gotta Feeling” and, yes, “Boom Boom Pow.” These songs were everywhere, barging into any event involving large numbers of people getting down in front of oversized speakers: weddings, basketball games, and, coming in February, halftime of Super Bowl XLV.
Yes, the Peas throw a great check-your-brain-at-the-door party, as Oprah Winfrey and arenas full of madly dancing fans will attest. But those let’s- get-crazy moments are largely lacking on “The Beginning,” the quartet’s tamest, most hook-deprived album in the Fergie era. Greg Kot, Chicago Tribune
Dane Cook, “I Did My Best” (Comedy Central)
Greatest-hits collections are common among musicians but far rarer among comedians — mostly because comedy albums don’t sell as many copies as music albums.
That’s not a problem for Dane Cook. The blunt, hyperactive stand-up has amassed a worldwide following, performing at venues normally reserved for major-label bands and Cirque du Soleil shows, and selling over 4 million albums over the last decade. It’s why his two-disc greatest hits collection, “I Did My Best,” makes sense — at least from a business perspective.
“I Did My Best” is a lot of bang for the buck, with nearly 40 tracks totaling over 2 1/2 hours. For the most part it justifies this sprawling, comprehensive treatment. Bits such as “Not So Kool-Aid” and “Bathroom” have entered the pop-culture lexicon over the years, as rapid-fire and energetic as they are in their observational wit.
But two and a half hours is a lot of Dane Cook, and his breathless delivery and pandering tone starts to wear thin early into the second disc. Fans may love it, but “I Did My Best” isn’t likely to win over Cook’s detractors — and there are a lot of them.
Nothing about Cook’s stand-up is subversive or challenging (the way the best George Carlin bits were) but comedy doesn’t always need to break barriers to be memorable and entertaining. Cook’s stand-up may ultimately try too hard to please, but it succeeds a lot more than it falls flat. John Wenzel
