Oh come on, it's not that bad
G. S. Ruben | Manhattan Beach, CA United States | 05/18/2006
(4 out of 5 stars)
"About a year ago I decided to go visit some nearby pawn shops to look for a drum set. While I didn't find the drum set, I noticed that this CD was pretty much ubiquitous throughout the stores. I later noticed it for (re) sale at Goodwill and decided to give the album another listen to see why people hate it so much and are so willing to sell it.
Frankly, I don't really get it. Half the album sounds exactly like "Unbelievable" so it seems like the people who bought it after hearing that single (probably like 90%) would like the rest of the material. It's great, poppy-as-hell, alt-dance music. I listened to it again today and noticed all the layering that they did. In a way that's similar to an album which gets slightly better reviews but is still slightly controversial, "Smile" by Brian Wilson, hooks and themes are repeated throughout the CD. Some call this repetitive. I agree, however, in the way that it's presented it is really quite creative. I think EMF sort of broke the mold for pop acts at the time and are still more or less an oddity that deserves real attention. For all you naysayers, give this CD another chance, preferably on a large stereo so you can hear all the layers. I'm just hoping that someday it gets produced as a 5.1 DVD audio, I think it would be a great candidate for that format."