August 8, 200618 yr Author im sure mariah has done MANY rolling stones covers... christina has done 3, twice on her own and once with justin!! :D i think her BIG front cover this year was for GQ US... :wub:
August 8, 200618 yr Oh I know Mariah has done loads, I don't remember seeing Christina's cover with Justin though, I remember one of them...
August 8, 200618 yr Yep she'd look fab on the front cover, I'd get the issue from WHSmith, they sell import magazines there :wub:
August 8, 200618 yr Author Oh I know Mariah has done loads, I don't remember seeing Christina's cover with Justin though, I remember one of them... she had one from the genie era with her jeans undone showing her knickers then the VERY controversial one where she was naked with just a guitar and the justin one was with the black hair and what looked like they were doing tiger impressions!! :lol:
August 9, 200618 yr Author I think I saw the 2nd cover. :D well she has done FOUR covers now, which is a privelage with it being such a BIG magazine!! :o im sure you will see the fourth cover in the other thread... ;)
August 9, 200618 yr Maybe you could post the other 3 on the thread to refresh people's memory :o! Or even have a poll on the thread for your favourite :lol:
August 11, 200618 yr http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/music/r...icle1218243.ece Album: Christina Aguilera Back to Basics, RCA *** By Andy Gill Published: 11 August 2006 Christina Aguilera certainly has an unusual idea of getting "back to basics", which here involves not just the album you expect, full of shrill diva disco-pop, but an additional album on which she unveils her "new direction", full of simulated blues and big-band swing. Presumably, then, the album title is referring not to a stripped-down simplicity of approach, but to the roots, or "basics", of the R&B in which she plies her trade. Even the standard album features several tributes to her forerunners in the jazz and soul genres, notably "Back In The Day", built on a Jimmy Castor Bunch riff, before she even gets to the full-on jaaazz album. For the most part, though, it's business as usual, with the urgent discofied hysteria and vocal showboating of tracks like the single "Ain't No Other Man" and "Without You" interspersed with the overwrought sentimentality of the Madonna-esque "Oh Mother" and the concluding "Thank You", on which Aguilera's grateful vocal is punctuated with fans' answerphone tributes thanking Christina for her "guidance", a notion that truly beggars belief. In places her respect for her R&B ancestors pays welcome dividends, notably on the rolling horn-sample grooves of "Here To Stay" and "Slow Down Baby" and the gospelly "Makes Me Wanna Pray", built on a lift from Traffic's "Glad". But the shortcomings of the diva working method are plain on "On Our Way", whose chorus vocal jumps haphazardly about without establishing a coherent emotional tone. The touchstones for the "bold, set vision" of the second disc, she claims, are such as Billie Holiday, Otis Redding, Etta James and Ella Fitzgerald. Produced by Linda Perry, this set effectively finds Aguilera stealing the clothes off retro-swing-rapper Nellie McKay's back, calling out "come here big boy" over razzy big-band stripper music on "Nasty Naughty Boy", as if she were Madonna in "Hanky Panky" mode. The samples on this disc are more likely to be from an oompah or Marines brass band than funk or soul acts, though the album lurches towards an overbearingly maudlin, string-drenched conclusion with a clutch of impassioned big production numbers. And it's questionable whether the bogus Bessie Smith-style blues "I Got Trouble" is best served by the fake vinyl scratches and "antique" process through which her voice is filtered. But it's not quite the disrespectful farrago one might expect - and although it will rate few plays at the expense of the more mainstream material, she should, I suppose, be applauded for acknowledging her musical forebears. DOWNLOAD THIS: 'Slow Down Baby', 'Here To Stay', 'Makes Me Wanna Pray', 'Candyman' Christina Aguilera certainly has an unusual idea of getting "back to basics", which here involves not just the album you expect, full of shrill diva disco-pop, but an additional album on which she unveils her "new direction", full of simulated blues and big-band swing. Presumably, then, the album title is referring not to a stripped-down simplicity of approach, but to the roots, or "basics", of the R&B in which she plies her trade. Even the standard album features several tributes to her forerunners in the jazz and soul genres, notably "Back In The Day", built on a Jimmy Castor Bunch riff, before she even gets to the full-on jaaazz album. For the most part, though, it's business as usual, with the urgent discofied hysteria and vocal showboating of tracks like the single "Ain't No Other Man" and "Without You" interspersed with the overwrought sentimentality of the Madonna-esque "Oh Mother" and the concluding "Thank You", on which Aguilera's grateful vocal is punctuated with fans' answerphone tributes thanking Christina for her "guidance", a notion that truly beggars belief. In places her respect for her R&B ancestors pays welcome dividends, notably on the rolling horn-sample grooves of "Here To Stay" and "Slow Down Baby" and the gospelly "Makes Me Wanna Pray", built on a lift from Traffic's "Glad". But the shortcomings of the diva working method are plain on "On Our Way", whose chorus vocal jumps haphazardly about without establishing a coherent emotional tone. The touchstones for the "bold, set vision" of the second disc, she claims, are such as Billie Holiday, Otis Redding, Etta James and Ella Fitzgerald. Produced by Linda Perry, this set effectively finds Aguilera stealing the clothes off retro-swing-rapper Nellie McKay's back, calling out "come here big boy" over razzy big-band stripper music on "Nasty Naughty Boy", as if she were Madonna in "Hanky Panky" mode. The samples on this disc are more likely to be from an oompah or Marines brass band than funk or soul acts, though the album lurches towards an overbearingly maudlin, string-drenched conclusion with a clutch of impassioned big production numbers. And it's questionable whether the bogus Bessie Smith-style blues "I Got Trouble" is best served by the fake vinyl scratches and "antique" process through which her voice is filtered. But it's not quite the disrespectful farrago one might expect - and although it will rate few plays at the expense of the more mainstream material, she should, I suppose, be applauded for acknowledging her musical forebears. DOWNLOAD THIS: 'Slow Down Baby', 'Here To Stay', 'Makes Me Wanna Pray', 'Candyman' LifeLight
August 11, 200618 yr Author can we please make sure the reviews are posted in the 'B2B' review thread, thanks!! :D
August 12, 200618 yr Josh's Review :wub: Intro [back To Basics] I think a more of a massive opening to the album would do better then the Back To Basics to basics song. But I guess that is is alright 7/10 Makes Me Wanna Pray Yay! She should just get rid of the Intro and use this song as an opening for the album. Im loving this song more and more I listen to it! It's up beat with a light feeling. I love the whole backing "Pray, Pray, Praaay". Overall i love the song but I think this will probaly be one of those underatted songs that no one talks about lol. But as long as i like it then yay! 9/10 Back In The Day Hmmmm i dont know about this song. I hear it 3 times and i still cant renember how it goes lol. It jsut goes in one ear and out of the other really. But after hearing it again i guess it is alright, still cant renember it lol! 6/10 Aint No Other Man Brilliant choice in first single! It's not the best on the album but it's commercial enouth and I still love listening to it! Very upbeat, i think this song is the reason why I dont renember Back In The Day lol 9/10 Understand I dont have much to say about it lol, it's alright i guess 7/10 Slow Down Baby Should be a single! Maybe a 3rd one. It reminds me of a song but I cant think which one lol! But as a 3rd single it would do brilliant! 9/10 Oh Mother A b.e.a.utiful ballad! It really is beautiful! The lyrics and the sound! This song starts to show how good the album actually is! 9/10 F.U.S.S. Another sort of ballad. It's VERY short though if you ask me. It reminds me of a not as good version of Oh Mother really. 6/10 On Our Way I love the chorus. It's very moving and touching. 8/10 Without You Reminds me of On Our Way. But a bit better! 9/10 Still Dirty I was expecting alot from this. But I didnt get what I was expecting lol, but I still LOVE it! It's just not as good as I want it to be. But listening to it now It's got that beat thats really up beat. All it needs is for it to be a bit more rauchy and then it will be perfect! 9/10 Here To Stay Yay finally a proper up beat dancy song! It's like another version of Makes Me Wanna Pray! Well this Makes Me Wanna Dance wahay! lol 9/10 Thankyou This IS strange lol! But it's very nice that she done this! Im not really of a fan of mixing it with Genie In A Bottle, this is just really a hit and miss. 5/10 Enter The Circus & Welcome haha one of the most scariest thing I have EVER heard in my life lol! And I LOVE it! It's just so freaky and pooky! They should of used this as the intro on the first cd! Welcome - Praticly just a follow up from Enter The Circus. Love it! Both songs together are so dramatic! This really starts the album of! If only this was the first song, like i said above, it gives the rest of the album a good feeling! 10/10 Candyman Yay! Hopefully the second single, "Sweet, Sugar, Candyman". Brilliant song! It's one of the most up beat songs I've heard on the album so far! This HAS to be a second single. A brilliant follow up from Enter The Circus. At first I thought the song would be about THE candyman, you know, say his name 4 times and turn of the lights and BAM your dead loL! BUT thank god it isnt lol! I LOVE the song, one of my faves on the album! 10/10 Nasty Naughty Boy Haha the "Come Hear Big Boy" makes anyone want to listen to the song! This is like a 1000000 times better version of Dirrty! And it works well to! The song makes the hairs on your kneck stand up cause it's sexy lol! One of the sexiest songs i've ever heard, and along with one of my fav songs on the album! 10/10 I Got Trouble I like the song, it's just the style that I cant stand. I really dont get it, but i guess she is experimenting. Hmmm... 6/10 Hurt One of the most beautiful ballads on the album! Pushes all the ballads out of the way, it's more beautiful then everything I have said already is beautiful, if that makes sence. Or maybe not you get the idea. Should be a 4th single, like The Voice Within. 10/10 Mercy On me The begining bit is haunting. But another nice little ballad. Nice and powerfull to! And the long note at the end if pretty cool lol! 9/10 Save Me From Myself It's alot more gently compared to the other ballads. But it's sweet to. 7/10 The Right Man A LOVELY strong ballad! Wipeeeee and the chorus is nice and dramatic to! LOVE it! 10/10 Overall - Brilliant Brilliant Brilliant album! It's been 2 years now since I've heard an album as good as this! :o Buy this! It's soooo good it's deffinatly going to do brilliant in the charts! 10/10 Average score (I used a calculator btw so it must be right) 8.2
August 13, 200618 yr Author New York Post **** 4 out of 4 stars :wub: IT'S a grab bag of neuroses twists that'd make any armchair psychologist drool: Daddy fixation, virgin/whore complex and delusions of grandeur. They're all there in Christina Aguilera's new album "Back To Basics," which arrives in stores Tuesday. But as Sigmund Freud said: "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar." If you thought Aguilera's third pop album - it's hard to believe there's only been three since 1999 - might be a cathartic, soul-bearing work of art, think again. Listen to the 1,000-string orchestration in the waltz "Welcome," where Aguilera unveils the disc's essence when she sings, "What's behind the smoke and glass? Painted faces, everybody wears a mask." Translation: There are no confessions here. For this project, the curvy 5-foot-2 waif has turned herself into a sex bomb in the Jean Harlow/Marilyn Monroe mold, and she readily shows off her titillating assets in 40 pictures spread throughout the double-disc CD package. Clearly, the 26-year-old's two previous pop albums have taught her that sex sells, whether or not it's packaged well. And every one of the 22 songs here (except for the insufferable fan appreciation tune, "Thank You") is an expertly wrapped love song, sealed with a kiss. Aguilera calls "Back to Basics" a concept album. But don't look for the concept in her newfound pin-up girl image or retro-music accents - that's way too obvious. The theme is her exploration of love's many facets, from platonic to perverted. The first disc comprises her usual sample-heavy brand of dance music. There are few surprises in the consistently fine songwriting and the fusing of her sultry alto with hip-hop beats. On "Still Dirrty," a horn-powered funk workout, she gets her super-freak on with suggestive lyrics and a suggestive growl that her closest vocal rival, Beyoncé Knowles, would be crazy in love for. But the real sizzle of "B2B" comes on the second disc, where Aguilera stretches her voice to reach styles as diverse as jazz, blues and soul, not to mention the eight-to-the-bar boogie rhythms of "Candyman." A curmudgeon might toss a wet blanket on Aguilera's fire, accusing the singer of creating an unfocused collection that makes no effort to connect the dots between the jazz of the '20s and the soul divas of the '60s. But that's a losing argument. She isn't trying to teach us a scattershot history of pop - she's just an entertainer. And these new songs produced in old styles are very entertaining. There's the bluesy "I Got Trouble," which sounds like an old 78 rpm recording because Aguilera used a bass-drum microphone wrapped in cloth to muffle the highs in her voice. "Nasty Naughty Boy" finds Aguilera at her sexiest. Forget about her Lolita-like debut and "Stripped." On this one, she vamps her way through like Shirley Bassey belting out "Big Spender." She teases her way through the song's thinly veiled, ooh-la-la double-entendres, begging for "icing on her cake" and sweetening the deal by offering "the sugar below my waist." Even though Aguilera reveals little about herself, "Back To Basics" is a testament that she has more depth then Beyoncé and more staying power than Britney. It'll even make you wonder if Mary J. Blige actually is the rightful heir to Aretha's queen-of-soul crown.
August 13, 200618 yr Author Boston Globe Review, another good one!! From the looks of things, Christina Aguilera has passed through her high-raunch young adulthood (see 2002's "Stripped") and is settling nicely into the saucy sophisticate years. Goodbye, crotch shots and rough sex. Hello, vampy dresses and platinum tresses.But Aguilera, the thinking music lover's pop tart, isn't restricting her makeover to an aesthetic tweak (and a marriage). On Tuesday , she'll release a 22-track, double-disc concept album called ``Back to Basics." The first half, a sample-driven dance-floor collection, pays tribute ``to those before me who laid it down and paved the way," as outlined in ``Intro (Back to Basics)," the opening track. That includes pretty much every reputable R&B and jazz artist from Billie Holiday to Stevie Wonder, all of whom are name-checked in ``Back in the Day." Which begs the question: which day, exactly? All of them seem to merge into a general-purpose mash-up of 20th - century soul music and modern studio wizardry. The result ranges from evocative (``Understand" beautifully fuses Betty Harris's recording of Allen Toussaint's ``Nearer to You" with Aguilera's steroidal chops) to enervating (not even the strains of Candi Staton's ``The Best Thing You Ever Had" can transform the rote survivor's anthem ``Here to Stay" into something more than filler). Mainly, though, ``Back to Basics" comes off like a clever idea -- artfully produced, exuberantly rendered, and conveniently designed to relieve Aguilera from the need to have her own ideas. But credit where credit is due: Aguilera can sing anything, she respects her elders, and, most critically, made the astute first move of sending notes to various producers, accompanied by a mix tape of her favorite old songs, inviting them to mix, match, chop, and fuse at whim. Truly inventive arrangements, courtesy of DJ Premier, Kwame, Big Tank , and Rich Harrison, are the centerpiece of the project -- and a breath of fresh air in what's become an achingly familiar hip-pop terrain littered with itchy beats and quirky synths. ``Slow Down Baby" is a three-song pileup (two old, one new) that features a tangle of horns and pianos pushed to the edge of sonic sense. Lush pianos reappear throughout the disc, especially piquant in ``On Our Way," a dissonant, complex track skewered with staccato strings and topped with a smooth vocal hook. Steve Winwood makes a left-field appearance on ``Makes Me Wanna Pray," a classic rock/gospel fusion that samples the iconic piano lick from Traffic's ``Glad." The low-down, brass-heavy track on ``Still Dirrty" underlines the tune's message: ``They say that love has gone and changed me / But don't be fooled by everything you see / I still got the naughty in me." Aguilera, a no-nonsense diva, doesn't beat around the bush. ``Looks like I didn't need you / Still got the album out," she sneers to a former collaborator at the end of the deceptively warm keyboard ballad ``F.U.S.S." The title is allegedly an acronym for ``[Expletive] Scott Storch," the in-demand producer. The disc is choked with declarations of adoration for her new husband, Jordan Bratman, including the vivacious, funk-fueled first single, ``Ain't No Other Man," which is already a smash. Unfortunately, the adoration doesn't stop there. Aguilera closes down disc one with ``Thank You (Dedication to Fans. . .), an excruciating celebration of herself built around a sound collage of voice message s from fans who have averted suicide, transcended trauma, and survived the war in Iraq thanks to Aguilera's music. The second half of ``Back to Basics" was produced and co-written top to bottom with Linda Perry, the woman behind Aguilera's mega-hit ``Beautiful." The pair evidently set out to contemporize classic pop and blues of the '20s, '30s, and '40s, but wound up aping the Andrews Sisters (and ripping off ``Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy") on ``Candyman," making a curious stab at woozy, Weimar-era camp with ``Enter the Circus," and crafting an overmannered pastiche of Mae West and Jessica Rabbit on ``Nasty Naughty Boy" and ``I Got Trouble." It feels more like dress-up than songcraft. In deference to Aguilera's bold new direction, the pair back-loaded the disc with the power ballads, which actually sound wonderfully authentic on the heels of the preceding efforts. ``Hurt" is the statuesque sequel to ``Beautiful." ``Mercy on Me" is a textbook bombastic blues, but Aguilera belts it with conviction. The following track, ``Save Me From Myself," is startlingly intimate -- less for the lyric (another valentine to Jordan) and more because Aguilera sounds, for the first and only time during this marathon romp, like she's standing in the room and not on a stage. Aguilera is surely the most gifted vocalist among her contemporaries. She sings circles around Britney, Jessica, Hilary, and Pink. And her desire to pay respects and revive interest in the jazz and soul greats is admirable. Inserting herself into that artistic lineage, however, is a c**p shoot -- one that doesn't quite pay off.
August 13, 200618 yr Author Time Out New York ***** 5 out of 6 stars As a bluesy melody wafts from a record player, the frame zooms in on the backstage entrance of a 1920s jazz club. An obscured female figure in high heels climbs out of an old-fashioned car. When she steps onstage, we see that the performer is wearing classic red lipstick and a cocktail hat, and her platinum hair is done up in pin curls. It’s Christina Aguilera in the video for “Ain’t No Other Man,†the first single from her new double album, Back to Basics. The clip is an about-face from the one she filmed for “Dirrty,†the breakout song from her 2002 album, Stripped. While that video depicted a sweaty faux orgy in a grimy boxing ring, the new one announces her status as a one-man woman in a much more glamorous setting. advertisement Now 25, Aguilera is casting off her young-rebel image. She claims her recent marriage hasn’t changed her view on sexuality—Back to Basics even has a track called “Still Dirrtyâ€â€”but she has refocused her obsession with the subject. Stripped, her attempt to distinguish herself from the Britneys of the world, brought with it an aesthetically objectionable persona that eclipsed Aguilera’s vocal talent and undermined her very public desire to be taken seriously as an artist. Even some dedicated fans couldn’t help but shake their heads as she posed topless for her album cover, admitted to breaking dishes out of rage and bragged about having her nipple pierced. And then there were those chaps…. If Stripped was Aguilera’s way of telling the world she has sex, Back to Basics proves she has soul, and lots of it. She announces on “Intro (Back to Basics)†that her goal is to honor “the soul singers, the blues figures, the jazz makers.†On “Back in the Day,†she names Aretha Franklin, Etta James and Marvin Gaye. And there is evidence on these 23 tracks that one day she just might be worthy of standing beside her idols. Aguilera had left a string of tantalizing clues that she’s much more talented than a typical teen-pop singer: She sounded like a young Chaka Khan on “Underappreciated†(from Stripped), killed on her verse of the LaBelle classic “Lady Marmalade†(from the Moulin Rouge soundtrack) and turned the National Anthem into a fiery stream of vocal acrobatics at the 2004 NBA All-Star Game. A fearless live performer, she’s been known to utter a smug “hah†during a song’s intro, as if to say, “Watch me mash this thing.†As its title suggests, Back to Basics reins in Aguilera’s overblown diva tendencies and highlights her powerful voice, taking her a step closer to the serious-singer category she longs to be part of. The first disc finds her standing up to fat, horn-heavy club tracks. On “Slow Down Baby,†she belts preachy verses over a Gladys Knight sample; “Still Dirrty†has a fast-looping funk hook; and “Here to Stay†builds on soul singer Candi Staton’s 1973 song “The Best Thing You Ever Had.†Aguilera even goes straight-up church on the gospel-tinged “Makes Me Wanna Pray.†At other times, her music is bogged down by the same personal problems that fuel her career ambitions: Her abusive father resurfaces on the mediocre “Oh, Mother†(we first met him on Stripped). And there’s an ill-advised interlude called “F.U.S.S.,†presumably aimed at star producer Scott Storch, who cowrote six tracks on Stripped but declined to work on Back to Basics. Leaving most of her personal carping on disc one, Aguilera shines brilliantly thereafter. The second disc is a collection of exquisite originals—written with Stripped producer Linda Perry—that imitate early- to mid-20th-century American pop, displaying Aguilera’s remarkable versatility. The flirty, Andrews Sisters–style number “Candyman†leads into “Nasty Naughty Boy,†a lascivious burlesque bumper; “I Got Trouble†unleashes Aguilera’s spot-on Lady Day impression. The concluding wedding march, “The Right Man,†finds her soaring above a glorious choir with the realization that not all men are evil. If she stays this happy, her next album might be perfect.
August 13, 200618 yr Author The Advertiser (Oz Newspaper) **** 4 out of 5 stars :dance: In short: Amazing Aguilera finally transends trash. Will wonders never cease? is it possible over singing Top-40 pop princess Christina Aguilera can actually graduate beyond the realms of forgettable, glossy pop to the world of memorable music? Take a seat - the answer is a resounding and confounding yes. Aguilera and classy in the same paragraph (never mind same sentence)? Never, but here she is doing exactly that - across two CD's no less. Thanks to an incredable production team (an army of names) and what can only be described as an epiphany of taste on Aguilera's behalf, Back To Basics positively pulses with remarkable R&B backing (contemporising sould and R&B soudns from the 1960s and 70's), often important lyrical themes (including thoughtful musings on domestic violence and infidelity) and mature vocals. It gets worse: you'll be spoilt for choice with highlights. After several spins, I still can't find a straight-up dud (not even trash talking Still Dirrrty.) If amaing first single Aint No Other Man knocked your socks off, the rest of the set will be a TKO. Detractors prepare for a shock to the system, 'cos Chrissie has dropped the "sophomore $l*t" routine and grown up into a performer of esteem and style. Sure she might blow it all with the next release but, for this moment in time, she's actually delivered something worthy of critical acclaim. Someone pinch me, I must be dreaming.
August 13, 200618 yr Author looks like the mediocre reviews are slowing down and the GREAT ones are coming in thick and fast!! :yahoo:
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