Janet Jackson at the apex.
Distant Voyageur | Io | 10/23/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This edition of Janets creative apex, Rhythm Nation 1814, now comes with her collection of videos entitled "The Rhythm Nation" on DVD. I tell you, Janet has never been better than during this era that stretched from August of 1989 to well into 1991 and it's a classic that must always be available for the generations. Unfortunately she would sadly go downhill with the creative slide Janet, rebounding a bit with The Velvet Rope, before collapsing into musical limbo with the sorry All For You. I consider this Janets "Thriller". The music is top-notch with sonic punch, loud slamming beats, strong vocals, both solo and chorus, and amazing and powerful songwriting and her first song she wrote all by herself "Black Cat" is truly angry and powerful especially with the loud crunchy heavy-metal guitars and sledgehammer beats. The albums theme, like we all know, is about how to counteract the wrongs in the world as the title track says. Not all of it is like this as some tracks are on the fun side. Alright fits into this category with it's stunning New Jack Swing beats, and cheering voices. Listening to this song, it makes me yearn so much for the Janet of this era again. Alright is Janet at the apex. The last three tracks are haunting ballads and far surpass almost every ballad she's done since(Not that they're all boring or bad). The first one, Lonely, is a dark haunting song with beautiful Spanish guitars and powerful lyrics and ambient atmosphere. The next one, Come Back To Me, continues the feel of Lonely but adding a bit of a more orchestral sound. There were two version both of which I like. The version on Design Of A Decade has dingling keyboards at the beginning, the parent album version has the haunting multilayered chorus at the beginning. I happen to like both but I like the multi-layered chorus version a little better. The last one, Someday Is Tonight, is Janets first true ... song by Janet. Where as they would get worse with each CD afterwards, SIT works perfectly and benifits by having a ominous stormy atmosphere, eerie melody, multi-layered chorus, drippy trancy beats, and also by not having any ridiculously graphic lyrics like All For You has(Would You Mind & Love Scene made me sick!). I love the muted trumpet playing by trumpeteer Herb Alpert. ....And now for the Rhythm Nation Compilation......The DVD that comes with this edition of Rhythm Nation is a collection of Janets seven ground breaking videos and are absolutely amazing with the astounding choreography from Tina Landon and also I also loved her clad-in-black image too from this era in her career. In fact, while I might be recieving angry replies but I thought she looked alot prettier during this era than when she became a "...-kitten". My favorite videos are the dynamite Miss You Much with the classic chair routine, the dance army video of the title track, the carnival influenced Escapade, the 1920s Chicago style Alright, and Black Cat(Love those tight jeans and leather boots, Whew!). In fact, every video is classic. I watched the RN compilation in VHS and have worn out like two copies over the years and it's almost on the border of being an honor to have these amazing videos on DVD! The next album, Janet, while good, was an artistic slide IMHO. The next one, The Velvet Rope, is a little better with some more creativity put into it. All For you on the other hand sounds like sorry excuse for record sales. Her latter works are good but compared to Rhythm Nation 1814, I'm not nearly as impressed them like I am with this amazing, and unbelievable album. The only other album by Janet that comes close to being this good is Control and I hope they can re-release that album with a DVD of her videos from that era. Overall, while it may cost more with this edition, this CD/DVD set is a great buy. Even if you have Rhythm Nation 1814 already on it's older edition, this CD/DVD set should be bought as a companion to the other version. Don't throw out the older version of Rhythm Nation. Janet, we need more music like this from you again! And also get rid of the hip-hop dreck of All For You and make some more guitar based music. RN 1814, Control, Design Of A Decade, and The Velvet Rope are all you need to hear Janets strongest material. :)"
The real and most exciting janet jackson era
Distant Voyageur | 05/31/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This era sums up the real janet jackson. Excellent album, excellent production, excellent vocals, excellent songwriting, excellent melodies, excellent harmonies, excellent beats, and excellent music videos, excellent choreography. Janet was indeed at her creative peak with this era and maintained it with janet and velvet rope, but after that, the albums and videos grew weak."
Track Listings (20) - Disc #1