What makes a Wu-Tang Clan album? If you guessed one member overseeing a Brooklyn soul crew (The Revelations) recreating samples live in the studio, to which other members would drop in and rhyme, you’d be right. But by any other definition, Chamber Music is not a proper Wu-Tang album.
The forthcoming Chamber Music compilation, due June 30 from E1 Music/Universal, is being hailed as “a welcome flashback to the era when it felt like a new Wu-affiliated album came out every week.” It’s being packaged and promoted as a callback to the old styles, the original grit. How you can do that without the complete involvement of all players involved, much less with ODB six feet under, is beyond me – but I’m not the one writing the checks.
Chief orchestrator RZA put his own spin on it: “This album has a very live element of today’s musicians playing the vibe of Wu-Tang. The vibe we would normally sample, the vibe of things that we would accumulate through old soul songs, jazz songs, kung fu movies, whatever, now you’ve got musicians that can play this vibe with Wu-Tang MCs rapping over it. The goal of this album is definitely paying homage to our early sound.”
A total of six Wu-Tang members make their presence known at least once on the album, but mostly in small doses. How can Chamber Music be called a proper Wu album without GZA on wax? And where’s Meth? I’m unsure, but in his place are an assortment of other rap veterans from the New York scene, including Masta Ace, Sean Price, Cormega, M.O.P. and even Kool G Rap.
Ghostface Killah appears on two tracks, only one of which is noteworthy (the excellent Harbor Masters), while Raekwon destroys the mic on “Ill Figures” – but gets his ass handed to him by Cormega and Price on the standout track Radiant Jewels (just wait for the line “Fuck a flow, this is the lyrical aquaduct”). Despite the track’s quality, the rhyming is so uneven that one wonders why they chose to release it in the first place. If anything, it detracts from the Wu legacy… but that’s pretty much the problem with the entire album.
Inspectah Deck, meanwhile, makes a strong showing on Sound The Horns, another album standout right from the gate, with heavy debt to Sadat X and U-God.
Aside from the liberal use of the Wu name, the biggest beef to be found with the album is that, all filler aside, the album’s only eight actual songs – the rest are samplicious segues and random nonsense that don’t do much to supplement the tracks with actual meat. Enlightened Statues is an exception, a stony step into philosophical self-preservation conversation, but once the rainsticks subside RZA owns the final track, NYC Crack. Unfortunately, it sounds about as fitting for a Wu-Tang album as a Jay-Z track. It’s an uneven fit, an end-tacking move that RZA seemed to want for his own promotional devices.
The album is solid, albeit short, and the live-band sound is a refreshing sidestep – but the fact that Chamber Music is being promoted as a Wu-Tang album is downright misleading. It’s essentially a re-run of the piggybacking Wu-Tang Killah Bees album they put out in the early ’90s, relying on the Wu-Tang name and peppering a project with flavor from a sampling of the Clan.
- 1. Redemption
- 2. Kill Too Hard (w/ Inspectah Deck, U-God & Masta Ace)
- 3. The Abbot (w/ RZA)
- 4. Harbor Masters (w/ Ghostface Killah, AZ & Inspectah Deck)
- 5. Sheep State (w/ RZA)
- 6. Radiant Jewels (w/ Raekwon, Cormega & Sean Price)
- 7. Supreme Architecture (w/ RZA)
- 8. Evil Deeds (w/ Ghostface Killah, RZA & Havoc)
- 9. Wise Men (w/ RZA)
- 10. I Wish You Were Here (w/ Ghostface Killah & Tre Williams)
- 11. Fatal Hesitation
- 12. Ill Figures (w/ Raekwon, M.O.P. & Kool G Rap)
- 13. Free Like ODB (w/ RZA)
- 14. Sound The Horns (w/ Inspectah Deck, Sadat X & U-God)
- 15. Enlightened Statues (w/ RZA)
- 16. NYC Crack (w/ RZA)
- 17. One Last Question
theres three ghostface songs. Its called “Wu-Tang Chamber” music, not “Wu-tang Clan – Chamber Music”, its a little side project. Quit hating like this was some major record or some shit, getting promoted as an official Clan album. It is for the fans. And how are you not going to write anything about Evil Deeds?? That track is ridiculous. Shitty review, all the songs on this are dope its just a short record. quality > quantity
Evil Deeds didn’t blow my skirt up. This is being pushed as a Wu-Tang album, and that’s pure bullshit.
So when Rza is clearly telling in interviews ->
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/music/news/e3ied6fab8616f8c1a1c09e28bad5801feb
that it is “Not a Wu-tang Album, its Wu-tang Inspired” that is pushing it as a “Wu-tang Clan” album? have you ever heard the cds The Swarm · Wu-Chronicles · Wu-Chronicles, Chapter 2 · The Sting · Disciples of the 36 Chambers · Legend of the Wu-Tang Clan · Wu-Tang Meets the Indie Culture · Mathematics Presents Wu-Tang Clan & Friends Unreleased????? Like i said its “Wu-Tang Chamber Music”, not “Wu-Tang Clan – Chamber Music”, and on the back it clearly says “Rza presents GFK, Rae, Deck, U-god, Rza, with Masta Ace, AZ, Cormega, Sean Price, Hav, etc”. If there was a “Wu-tang Clan” album coming out, wouldn’t we have heard of it sooner than like 3 weeks ago? a “Wu-tang” album and a “Wu-tang Clan” album are completely different, and they have been pushing shit like this for years.
And nothing to say about Ghost being on 3 songs as opposed to 2? Did you listen to the album before you reviewed it? Too busy fixing your skirt? Like i said, shitty review, do your homework.
i suspect that the marketing people that send shit out to blogs and review sites are treating us like idiots by pushing it as a wu-tang clan album, despite what the artists are saying. johnny, was that the case?
Its a good old case of a site that specializes in reviewing a broad spectrum of music, handing off a review to someone that decides to wiki what Wu-Tang is, and publish a review which is more about speculation, instead of the music on the CD. Pretty sure Koch(the label) and RZA have been completely honest with what this album is. http://www.myspace.com/rza has had the entire album up, as well as koch has had several songs and videos discussing the album on Youtube. Get someone with pants next time your dealing with art.
we don’t “hand off” reviews, and as a dude who has been working with johnny since 2000, i can tell you he doesn’t half-ass his writing. we had a conversation about this album before the review went up- and it was being pushed at us as a wu-tang album. maybe not by the artists involved, maybe not by the label even, but the artists and labels rarely do the majority of the pushing anyway- marketing and pr firms hype shit up and break their backs to figure out how to make people give a damn, because most of what they’re pushing is too weak to speak for itself.
so if we’re guilty of anything it might be taking a press release or email submission at face value. that may make our review less subjective, maybe less accurate. and if that’s the case then we’ll take future hype from the same firm with a big chunk of salt. i’ll let johnny confirm or deny that scenario, i don’t want to speak for him too much. but i will vouch for his integrity as a writer any day of the week.
with that said, we appreciate the feedback. thanks.
Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-dodododododod BOBBY DIGITAL
Since I purchased this album my penis has grown 4 inches
Some tracks on this album were hot, don’t entirely agree with this review.. but after a good playback, i was coming back.. saying “cant get this beat out of my head”
This Album Iz Hot!..it more like a mixtape 2 me tho! I Dnt Agree wit the review..and wit 2dayz music datz bullshit and everything soundin tha same.. it good 2 hear some real HIP-HOP! WU-TANG IZ 4 EVER!
yes skwerl, that was the case – as for Apocalypse, somebody please shoot over a translation manual.
This album is really good. I wasn’t liking the skits in between the songs at first but if you take the time to listen to the whole album, you see that it goes well. There’s not one wack track on this album, its just damn short. Ghostface murdered every song he was on and the production was on point.
I don’t know why antiquiet even reviews hiphop…..stick to your lane of alternative rock b/c everytime a rap/hip hop album is reviewed it’s clear the author doesn’t really know what he is talking about. I respect the rock reviews and trust them, but as far as hip hop leave it to hiphopdx.com or someone credible in that genre!