Published on Mar 29, 2006
Eminem only shocked us once. He really nailed us when
he killed his wife, advocated date-raping a 15-year-old and wished
various deaths to anyone who stood in his way from grade school
through 8 Mile.
Now, in Slim Shady’s alleged retirement, I’m just
tired. By his sophomore record, he was already bitching about the
censors and perils of fame that plagued his career.
In 1999, you were severely uncool if you hadn’t heard
“My Name Is,” didn’t play it on repeat in the vehicle you shared
with your parents, or couldn’t sing along at underage drinking
parties. But since then his once-incendiary rants have gradually
evolved into more introspective background noise that is less
applicable to middle American vice.
“The Way I Am,” from his defining Marshall Mathers
LP and “My Name Is,” from his debut appropriately lead up to
“Stan,” perhaps his songwriting pinnacle. “Lose Yourself,” which
follows, stands on its own as a Rocky theme for the iPod
generation.
Things putter out with token greatest hits add-ons
like “Shake That,” a stereotypical Nelly-like jam that would have
never made it onto an Em full-length. Ditto on the pointless and
disgusting (even for him) “FACK.” While it sports an amusing “Stick
a gerbil in your ass / Do the tube,” chorus, it feels phony behind
more pointed shock music like “Cleanin Out My Closet.”
On that note, it is in the “you just don’t
understand” tunes that Em’s trademark flow and vitriolic tirades
tend to sparkle. The new “When I’m Gone,” a story-style portrait of
a star who just wants more time with his daughter and estranged
wife, caps off a string of memorable reflection pieces like the
“Dream On”-reviving “Sing For the Moment,” lecturing “Like Toy
Soldiers,” and lullaby-worthy “Mockingbird.”
The for-radio hits like “Without Me,” “The Real Slim
Shady,” and “Just Lose It,” are stupid, but expose Em’s rather
sharp sense of humor — toilet and otherwise. Unfortunately, the
album lacks the pitch-black humor and grit that made the Slim
Shady LP such a remarkable debut. Only “My Name Is” and “Guilty
Conscience” are available here, which makes the inclusion of two
new throwaways all the more frustrating.
Em has enjoyed high points both as vessel of social
ills and critic of that suburban culture. No greatest hits
collection shows such a division in an artist’s career, save Elton
John and Stevie Wonder, as this one.
There’s an advantage in listening to both chapters
and deciding for yourself on Curtain Call, but the Slim
Shady and Marshall Mathers LPs are much better
introductions to Eminem. For those of us who lost interest in his
later years, Curtain Call does include some of those label-,
censor- and self-woe highlights from one of this generation’s most
provocative artists.