Hot like hot wings with hot chocolate in hell

Continuing my trip back through the 2001 album charts.

23/09/01 : The Id - Macy Gray


I always think Macy seems like an interesting (if slightly mad) person but I didn't think I particularly liked her sound - but it turns out I actually quite liked her previous album so maybe I should go in with more of an open mind than I was previously planning. 

Yeah, this is a bit more bonkers than her debut - it's interesting but not, for me, overly enjoyable because I just find her voice a bit grating. It's certainly not boring though which is often something I find with nu-soul tinged R&B, which is a category this seems to fall into for me. And, even though I don't like her voice, you're never in any doubt that she's making the noises she wants to and she's backed by some pretty talented musicians laying down some funky grooves. So overall, I'd say this is a decent album but just not for me - 56 minutes was a bit of a struggle.

We're at a surprisingly high #1 in the chart with a new entry this week on the start of an eight week run which featured a drop in each week. The rest of the top five were Jamiroquai, Spiritualized (another new entry), Nelly Furtado and Dido with the next highest new entry being Michael Ball (#11). 

Wikipedia has very little text on the album - it's her second album and didn't do as well as her first. She's got an impressive roster of guest artists though with Slick Rick, Erykah Badu, Angie Stone, Questlove, Billy Preston, John Frusciante and Mos Def all popping up in places. Critically, it was received well enough (although only 2.5 stars from NME) and commercially, it did pretty well globally, making the top ten in most countries (although only #11 in the US) and getting to #1 here and in Denmark. 

discogs.com tells us this just avoids being a fifty pence album, making it to the dizzy heights of 75p, but it was also issued on vinyl so you're going to have to shell out £45 if you want that. And I can see some people going for it because this album is going to have its fans and I'm happy enough with that - but I'm not one of them.

30/09/01 - A pleasant revisit

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