Most Popular
-
7-Up vs. Coke Part 2
Heir to a fortune, Andrew Gladney went from John Burroughs to Yale and came home to found the dot-com darling Savvis Inc. Then he squandered it all. The spectacular flameout of a St. Louis soft-drink scion.
-
Red Alert: Everything they really don't want you to know about those pesky traffic-light cameras
-
Ludo is fired up and ready to play on the national stage
-
Curious Gorge: Ian tests the animal magnetism of Three Monkeys
-
Feel a Draught?: Tigín opens an outpost in a Hampton Inn downtown? O'Really!
-
Seeing Red: Partners battle over a Wash. Ave. eatery's ownership (9)
-
Red Alert: Everything they really don't want you to know about those pesky traffic-light cameras (9)
-
7-Up vs. Coke Part 2 (6)
Heir to a fortune, Andrew Gladney went from John Burroughs to Yale and came home to found the dot-com darling Savvis Inc. Then he squandered it all. The spectacular flameout of a St. Louis soft-drink scion.
-
Will Ian flip for the Original Pancake House? (4)
-
Is a Wash. U. dean destroying alumni records and making unjust department cuts? (3)
-
Have two Nirvana producers helped create the next Metallica?
-
"The Sex Song": Not TASTiSKANK's homage to Matthew McConaughey
-
Bret Michaels (sort of) talks dirty to RFT
-
The 75s make an extra-fancy splash with its debut record
-
Producer nonpareil Pharrell Williams is happy to be just one of the band again
-
Go! 3/7-3/9
06:00PM 03/07/08 -
R.E.M. Accelerate: An Advance Review and Song-by-Song Analysis of the Band's New Album
04:06AM 03/08/08 -
Your Weekly St. Louis Food Blog Digest
03:45PM 03/07/08 -
This Is Hawkwind -- Do Not Panic
06:08PM 11/09/07
What we are writing about
- Acuvue
- A Delicate Balance
- Bad Dates
- Best of St. Louis
- Bob Dylan
- Broadway Bound
- Bud Starr
- Cole Porter
- Dogtown
- Dracula
- Edward R. Murrow
- Greetings!
- Halloween
- Jockey
- Joe Edwards
- Kiss Me, Kate
- New Jewish Theatre
- Playhouse Creatures
- Repertory Theatre of...
- Richmond Heights...
- Sage
- Saint Louis University
- Sister’s Christmas...
- South Broadway...
- Star Clipper
- Starrs
- suicide
- William Shakespeare
- wine
- wrestling
Recent Articles By Michael Roberts
-
Puscifer
"V" Is for Vagina
-
Coheed and Cambria
No World for Tomorrow
-
Puscifer
"V" Is for Vagina
-
Coheed and Cambria
No World for Tomorrow
-
Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals
Lifeline (Virgin)
National Features
-
Houston Press
"It Was Like an Armageddon Movie"
For days after Hurricane Rita, a Texas prison was hell on earth.
By Chris Vogel -
SF Weekly
The Candidate
Our columnist knows Ralph Nader's running mate all too well.
By Matt Smith -
The Pitch
How Not To Be a Rap Star
First of all, lay off the Ecstasy.
By Nadia Pflaum -
Village Voice
Project Runaway
What becomes a gossip columnist most?
By Michael Musto
Timbaland
Timbaland Presents Shock Value (Blackground/Interscope)
By Michael Roberts
Published: April 25, 2007Tim Mosley's megalomania is totally justified. He's among the most consistently inventive producers of the past decade, and recent hits on which he's both dial-twister and co-star have raised his profile even higher. However, Shock Value proves he's a better supporting player than a main attraction and his attempts to stretch into new stylistic areas stretch his credibility instead. Granted, there are plenty of masterful arrangements here: Take the martial chorale heard throughout the 50 Cent-Tony Yayo number "Come and Get Me." But Timbaland's monotonal flow clogs up regularly and grows tiresome, and his over-reliance on the same heavy synth tones he used on smashes by Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake doesn't make new collabs such as "Give It to Me" seem poppin' fresh. Worse by far, though, are hybrids like the snoozy Elton John featurette "2 Man Show" and the disastrous faux-rocker "One and Only," which will leave anyone who's occasionally tried to defend Fall Out Boy with absolutely nothing to say. If that's a shock, it certainly isn't a pleasant one.







