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█ Avant - Director
█░
█▓ ------------------------------------------------------------------
│█▓
│██ Artist : Avant
██ Album : Director
██ Year : 2006
▓█
▓█ ------------------------------------------------------------------
│██
│██ Genre : R&B Quality : 955kbps avg/441kHz/2 channels
│██ Source : CD Size : 438.80Mb
│██ Encoder : FLAC 1.3.1 Language : English
:██ Cat. Nr : 9854203 Label : Geffen
│██
│█▓ ------------------------------------------------------------------
│██
│▓█ Release date: 2020-02-22 Retail date: 2006-04-25
│██
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██
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1. So Many Ways 4:31 ██
2. This Is Your Night 3:48 ██
3. You Know What 3:47 ██
4. 4 Minutes 4:00 ██
5. Stickwitu (Urban Remix) 3:14 ██
6. With You 3:35 ██
7. Exclusive 3:26 ██
8. Right Place, Wrong Time 3:51 ██
9. Grown Ass Man 4:04 ██
10. Director 3:56 ██
11. Lie About Us 4:08 ██
12. Imagination 3:51 ██
13. Mr. Dream 3:53 ██
14. Now You Got Someone 4:06 ██
15. GPSA (Ghetto Public Service Announcement) 3:19 ██
16. Maker (Bonus Track) 3:32 ██
██
██
██
█▓
Total Runtime: 61:01 █▓
█░
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██ ░▄
██│ The man on the cover of Director, pulling up the collar on his coat --
██│ that's not the same man who sang "Your Body's Calling", "Ignition",
██│ and "Step in the Name of Love", and gave us the cliffhanging dope
██│ opera "Trapped in the Closet". The man on the cover of Director is
██│ named Avant. I promise. I won't even mention that other guy (or I'll
██│ at least keep it to a minimum).
██│
██│ That's how it's been for Avant since he first signed with Magic
██│ Johnson's record label (By the way, is there anything Magic isn't
██│ into? He's the real life Wizard Kelly from the Proud Family cartoon).
██│ Avant's debut, My Thoughts, eventually went platinum, as did his
██│ second album, Ecstasy. Yet, everybody -- and I mean everybody -- keeps
██│ comparing him to the Chocolate Factory crooner from Chicago, Illinois
██│ in the great U.S. of A.
██│
██│ Let's settle this once and for all.
██│
██│ Are they both R&B singers?
██│
██│ If you have to ask, you shouldn't be reading this. But yeah, they are,
██│ and both singers have their R&B patterns down pat, from the
██│ verse-hook-verse-hook-bridge-vamp to the verse-hook-verse-hook-guest
██│ rap-vamp, not to mention their skills on the remix tip (you'll like
██│ Avant's remix of Stickwitu with the Pussycat Dolls, but don't forget
██│ the Chicago guy's remix to "Ignition" that was "hot and fresh out the
██│ kitchen").
██│
██│ Do they look alike?
██│
██│ Yes, and if all you get is a quick glance then they are identical.
██│
██│ Do they sing alike?
██│
██│ Yes.
██│
██│ Do their songs cover similar lyrical ground?
██│
██│ Not really, unless you think two guys singing about romance,
██│ heartbreak, sex, and dancing counts as "similar".
██│
██│ All right, so they're similar. So what? Avant's his own man, the
██│ director of his own destiny, if you will. On his fourth album, he aims
██│ to prove it. That's all you need to know.
██│
██│ Ladies, look out. The Director's in the house with 15 new scenes.
██│ Wait, make that 14 new scenes and one remix, clocking in at a healthy
██│ 57 minutes and some change. He's back and, as he sings on the opening
██│ track, he's got "So Many Ways" to let the ladies know what's on his
██│ mind. "So Many Ways" is a strong start, with the eyebrow raising
██│ opening lines: "I'm your director / It's getting deep / we don't need
██│ a camera or a videotape / to make this ghetto love scene". Now I know
██│ he didn't mean that the way it sounded -- in reference to you-know-who
██│ -- so let's not go there. The beat's thumping and there's a synth
██│ groove quivering in the background like a rubber band. Just go with
██│ the flow.
██│
██│ But, ladies, when Avant gets you going with the flow, he doesn't mean
██│ for you to put up with just anything. He ain't playin' around. That's
██│ why the second track, "This Is Your Night", gets the romance groove in
██│ gear, with lines like:
██│
██│ Let me take this time and tell you how special you are
██│
██│ Called everything under the sun but "a shining star"
██│
██│ We forgot how to love you (but you do too much, Boo)
██│
██│ And ain't no amount of apologies gon' ever make up for it
██│
██│ In the wrong hands, those lines could've been a disaster. Avant works
██│ it well. Then he goes on to ruin us guys by disavowing our "tired"
██│ lines:
██│
██│ And I know you're tired of "I'm on my way"
██│
██│ And uhà"She's just a friend"
██│
██│ And them damn videogames
██│
██│ He was on a roll with the first two, but come on, man, not the
██│ videogames! He really didn't have to call me out like that just
██│ because I love me some Final Fantasy.
██│
██│ Seriously, there's not going to be much fuss about the first two
██│ songs. They're solid jams. The problems start at track three, because
██│ that's where listeners and reviewers will part company and disagree
██│ over which songs are strong and which are weak. Accordingly, my top
██│ picks for the album are: "So Many Ways", "This Is Your Night", "4
██│ Minutes", "Stickwitu (Urban Remix)", "With You", "Exclusive", "Mr.
██│ Dream", "G.P.S.A.(Ghetto Public Service Announcement)".
██│
██│ Picking up with "4 Minutes", we find Avant in the Cliffs Notes version
██│ of "Trapped in the Closet", true, but it's catchy and it's the perfect
██│ choice for attracting attention for the album. It's clever that the
██│ song length is exactly four minutes and the tick-tock of the clock
██│ adds a suspenseful touch in the background. As previously mentioned,
██│ The Pussycat Dolls offer a nice cameo in the Peter Mokran's remix of
██│ "Stickwitu", which should bring back memories of Avant's remake of "My
██│ First Love" with Keke Wyatt from his first album.
██│
██│ In fact, the cameos are well done here, with one possible exception
██│ (more about that a little later). Lloyd Banks provides the guest rap
██│ on "Exclusive", a high energy number with a distinctive chime in the
██│ background like Def Jef (the producer) is playing a set of wine
██│ glasses. It's creative departure from the norm as is Jermaine Dupri's
██│ appearance on the last song, "G.P.S.A. (Ghetto Public Service
██│ Announcement)". Here, the collaboration gives us a So-So-Interesting
██│ dialogue between Avant (in the role of concerned citizen and all
██│ around "grown ass man") and Jermaine Durpi (in the role of unconcerned
██│ citizen and all round hustler). It's faintly reminiscent of other
██│ dialogue-laden songs like the beefs between Mr. Bigg and that other
██│ singer from Chicago, or like MTV's Hip-Hopera Carmen, starring Mekhi
██│ Phifer, Beyonce, and Mos Def.
██│
██│ All in all, it's an entertaining public service announcement, with
██│ Jermaine Dupri's counterarguments steering the song away from becoming
██│ overly preachy. Some may say his concern for the world has no place on
██│ an album packed with romance. I, however, like the fact that he's more
██│ than a bump-and-grinder, plus the fact that he acknowledges the odd
██│ placement of the song at the outset, singing:
██│
██│ Now I know some people might not understand me
██│
██│ It might not go number one or win a Grammy
██│
██│ Two songs are marvelous simply because they break away from the
██│ album's more routine R&B staples. "With You" features longtime Avant
██│ collaborator Steve Huff on all instruments (especially those
██│ deliciously weird synth and tribal drum noises!) and additional vocals
██│ by Willie Taylor. Near the end of the set, "Mr. Dream" comes out of
██│ nowhere with its minimalist sound. It's built out of little more than
██│ a drum track, some strings, and Avant's ability to harmonize, as if
██│ McGyver produced it. It's one of the hottest songs in the collection
██│ because displays a skill every director must have -- knowing how and
██│ when to use silence.
██│
██│ It's not that the rest of the songs are bad; actually, they're not.
██│ However, they do tend to sound alike. "Right Place, Wrong Time",
██│ "Grown Ass Man", "Director", and "Imagination" take a few listens
██│ before they can be easily identified from one another. The other
██│ possible standout, "Lie About Us", is the one exception to the cameo
██│ success I mentioned earlier. Featuring fine vocals by Nicole
██│ Scherzinger, the song tells the story of a man and his mistress, with
██│ the man of course promising to treat his mistress right and vowing to
██│ come clean to the world about their affair. The surprise element here
██│ is that the woman isn't going into this blindly. She has doubts. But
██│ the song itself stands in such strong contrast to the message in "This
██│ Is Your Night" and other songs on the album that you wonder how it
██│ snuck onto the track list. Yet, even this slight misstep can be
██│ explained by one simple fact: Avant didn't write it. Another good
██│ fact: it does make for a nice duet.
██│
██│ Behind the music, the album lives up to its "Director" title. Thumb
██│ through the liner notes and you'll find a smorgasbord of creative
██│ elements. There are various writers and producers (Rodney Jerkins, The
██│ Underdogs & Antonio Dixon, Jermaine Dupri, Def Jef, Steve Stone, and
██│ Avant himself, among others). There are various mixers (Peter Mokran,
██│ Jean Marie Horvat, Dexter Simmons, to name a few). Pro Tools
██│ specialists include Tal Herzberg and Colin Miller. To set the mood,
██│ Ron Fair plays keyboards, The Pussycat Dolls orchestra plays strings,
██│ and Julio Miranda, Tim Stewart and Grecco Buratto were called in for
██│ guitar work. Geographically, the recording, mixing, and engineering
██│ took place in locales such as: Los Angeles, California; Atlanta,
██│ Georgia; Chicago, Illinois; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and New York.
██│ Sometimes, a song receives a patchwork of attention, like the mixing
██│ for "With You" taking place in California, while the Pro Tools work
██│ happened in Illinois.
██│
██│ The diversity on this album is as much a product of technology as
██│ eclectic workmanship. These days, artists lay vocals and mix their
██│ songs on their tour buses. As always, the challenge is to stem the
██│ learning curve that accompanies new tools. Here, what holds the
██│ project together is the vision behind it, integrating the patchwork
██│ into a seamless final product. For that, Avant's effort stands alone,
██│ without comparison.
██
│▓█
│▓█
│██│
██│ URL: http://www.avantlivemusic.com
██│
██│
██│
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