Album: Return to the 36 Chambers - The Dirty Version
Release Date: March 28, 1995
Producers: RZA (except "Brooklyn Zoo" prod. by Ol' Dirty Bastard and True Master, "Damage" co-produced by 4th Disciple, "The Stomp" co-produced by Ol' Dirty Bastard, "Drunk Game" prod. by Ethan Ryman and Ol' Dirty Bastard, "Harlem World" prod. by Big Dore)
Review: Return to the 36 Chambers is the third Wu-affiliated album straight to be produced primarily by RZA (although he's missing on four of the CD's 17 tracks) and sounds, at times, noticeably lighter than the cryptic Tical. In fact, the album doesn't have a murky track on it until the dark and catchy "Raw Hide.". RZA and ODB also roll the dice on some of the less accessible tracks on the album. They really gamble on "Brooklyn Zoo II (Tiger Crane)," which is a seven-minute mash-up track containing snippets from half the previous songs (including an alternate take of "Damage"); and "Drunk Game," a soul-inspired love song in which ODB fakes sex noises for the last minute or so.
Speaking of the vocal performance, ODB's rap style and personality are so wild and erratic that one could be forgiven for mistaking it for sloppiness or a genuine indifference to the material. He really has four kinds of songs on the album: with tracks like "Shimmy Shimmy Ya" and "Don't U Know," ODB spits a seemingly-random, loosely-structured stream-of-consciousness style that always seems to almost get the best of him. Next, his more concise solo tracks like "Brooklyn Zoo" perfectly balance Dirty's madness with a club banger. He also works damn well with others - "Raw Hide" features Raekwon and Method Man and may be my favorite track; his first closer "Cuttin' Headz" is an old-school back-and-forth duet with RZA that never lets us down. Finally, at other times on the album, ODB tests the casual listener's patience. The album is introduced with a five-minute spoken-and-sung piece parodying "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" as a raunchy oral sex song; "Brooklyn Zoo II" also features a 90-second bootleg clip of him hyping his audience at a show.
But somehow, in some intangible way, it all just works. Something comes together over the course of the CD's 66 minutes (including two bonus tracks that fill up nine minutes of the runtime) and the entire album is like a mad scientist's beautiful monster. It strikes odd chords with its audience like a David Lynch film, occasionally making us wait patiently while Dirty is let off his leash, but he always reels it in to form a cohesive album. If there could be any doubt that ODB and RZA are in perfect control of the chaos, it's dispelled by "Goin' Down" - one of the strangest songs on the album. In the middle of the track, Ol' Dirty spits a quick verse that's interrupted by a woman - presumably his wife - chewing him out about him seeing other women. For some reason, Dirty sings the chorus of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" - and with real soul, vibrato and all - over the sounds of being yelled at, still on top of the RZA beat. The song picks up again after that, with no explanation. Listen to that bizarre breakdown and, considering that the album features appearances by RZA, GZA, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Method Man, Masta Killa and other Wu affiliates, it's easy to picture Ol' Dirty Bastard as the ringmaster to his own drunk circus. Arms spread, singing the Judy Garland classic, unconquerable even by the forces of nature, he's the master of ceremonies to one of the most guest-heavy and unconventional albums in the Wu catalog.
Legacy: So much of the Wu-Tang Clan legend rests on the shoulders of Ol' Dirty Bastard. Like Heath Ledger's Joker in the film The Dark Knight, ODB was a barely-contained force of chaos. In The Wu-Tang Manual, RZA tells a story in which ODB, at the age of 15 or 16, was held up by men in a van. They rolled down the window of the van and pointed a shotgun at him, and without missing a beat, ODB grabbed the shotgun by the barrel, took it and turned it around on the muggers, who drove off. Return to the 36 Chambers is so evident of Dirty's infamous personality that it says more about him than almost any other source could. It introduced the world to the legend that is Ol' Dirty Bastard - a legend which followed with him cashing his welfare check from a limo on MTV and becoming one of the most lovable rascals in the history of music. Return to the 36 Chambers is also the first Wu-related album to be nominated for a Grammy for Best Rap Album - which he lost to Puff Daddy, prompting ODB to crash Puffy's acceptance speech and complain live onstage - and proof that Method Man's Tical wasn't the only solo Wu album that could make lightning strike. Dirty only released two solo albums before his death in 2004, cutting short a brilliant career; Return is the first half of an all-too-brief discography.
Recommended Tracks: "Brooklyn Zoo," "Raw Hide," "Goin' Down," "Cuttin' Headz."
No comments:
Post a Comment