So I tried listening to Recovery again....

[EminemBase]

I'm listening to Recovery right now and every time I do it's a highly enjoyable album to me...

When I then try to think back and rate it, it always feels murky and confusing, as if it was an average experience; and I think that's due to the production only...

Because every time I listen to it, I rap every single word and enjoy the fuck out of it.

Also, there seems to be more continuity in style the more time goes on, if you take like... "25 to Life" and "Almost Famous" for example - that kind of mixture of abrasive and harsh production, with the light, breezy choruses... that contrast seems to feel pretty present throughout the album.

You enjoy everything eminem does

Nope...

I find his continuous, literal introspection tedious and most of Encore sucks major ass. Not to mention most of his work on the Re-Up and in that entire period until Relapse.
> I bet you he says something like 'I dunno, tell me...' <
So... that's literally disproved your statement flat-out. Wow, how does it feel to be wrong.

[EminemBase]

I'm listening to Recovery right now and every time I do it's a highly enjoyable album to me...

When I then try to think back and rate it, it always feels murky and confusing, as if it was an average experience; and I think that's due to the production only...

Because every time I listen to it, I rap every single word and enjoy the fuck out of it.

Also, there seems to be more continuity in style the more time goes on, if you take like... "25 to Life" and "Almost Famous" for example - that kind of mixture of abrasive and harsh production, with the light, breezy choruses... that contrast seems to feel pretty present throughout the album.

I can never repeat lyrics like

"The last two albums didn't count, Encore I was on drugs, Relapse I was flushing them out"

"I almost made a song dissing Lil Wayne.... almost went at Kanye too... thank god that I didn't do it, I woulda had my ass handed to me"

"That last Relapse Cd was, ehhh"

Or the worst one....

"Fuck my last Cd that shit's in my trash"

Very insulting lyrics. Then ofcourse, the worst puns of Eminem's careeer which I'm not even going to bring up.


The only moment I felt that "flows" on the album is Not Afraid, Seduction, and No Love. That's probably due to the fact that the first 2 are shitty beats produced by Boi-1da while the last is an equally shitty and probably the shittiest beat ever made by Just Blaze. Add the Lil Wayne feature, and you have the one moment on Recovery that feels like a YMCMB album. It's a damn shame, because I really enjoyed Em's verses on Seduction and his verseon No Love, but this part of the album is the perfect example on everything that is wrong with Recovery.

A mixture of brilliant and shitty lyrics by Eminem, horrible production, and bullshit features.

Definitely horrible production.

As for the puns and those few bad lines or lines which I disagree with... those don't ruin the entire album for me, they're too insignificant... overall, songs like CWB and AF are overbearing powerhouse songs with psycho abrasive 'fuck you in the face' style deliveries and feels to them...

Many songs on Recovery make me feel badass and want to rap them... most notably CWB, WTP, Cinderella Man and Almost Famous... once again - definitely horrible production... the features I didn't find that much of a bother - Rihanna was a brilliant move, Pink was wasted and pointless... and Wayne was annoying as usual but didn't ruin the record too badly...

Overall I find it a collection of very enjoyable songs; some amazing, and a couple shitty.

I found 'flow' on pretty much every track so not sure what you mean by that. His flow on Cinderella Man for example in that last verse, and You're Never Over... awesome.

It's no Relapse, but it's enjoyable in its own right, I find anyway.

[EminemBase]

^ Oh okay @ flow... yeah I guess so, I think that's ENTIRELY sonic though.

I used to think that was due to song content but then I look at this classic albums and realize it has fuck all to do with the content of the song and is entirely sound-based, which is why I hate "Beautiful" so much on Relapse.

Because, look at MMLP - the songs feel like they flow pretty perfectly right? Despite the fact you have "The Real Slim Shady"... a song which is basically "My Name Is" part 2, right after a song rebelling that very notion and the fact he's put under the pressure to create such as song...

It all just works because the sounds feel like they're part of the same family. I think Relapse is actually his most sonically coherent even though, up until and including "Deja Vu"... to me, the way the tracks flow in to each other and all sound together is pure fluid classic up until then.

The thing you said about him 'being bipolar' on it though... I wouldn't attribute too much to that and actually his attitude is fairly consistent throughout Recovery... he's always contradicted himself on his albums - if you take MMLP even, on "Stan" he's takling about how it's not to be taken seriously and is very serious and compassionate and then goes straight back in to psychopathy and provocation as if it's all real... and I know he intended that but, contradicting himself in his material and having a range of mooods and ideas has always been what his albums are made of.

In terms of rap style and writing and attitude, Recovery is actually top to bottom consistent to be honest... it's just the shitty production which makes it all feel disjointed.

[Jimmy Conway]

'Definitely horrible production." - Recovery

Second definition "In other words.......it is bad"

Sorry, that's how it's listened in webster. Has a picture of a window pane beside of the definition. Thought that was unnecessary.

[mwm5952]

Base....Recovery is definitely consistent with it's style and attitude. I personally don't mind the yelling and flows he uses on Recovery because it sounds BAD ASS. The problem with Recovery isn't even the production, although it is prolly the worst production on any Em album, it's the style and lyrics that don't MATCH UP. He is rapping like a badass genius on half the album (Seduction, AF, etc), but then he sounds like he is trying to be a bad ass Lil Wayne for the rest of it. Em has always been creative in his word play, but it came off as natural and you had to rewind a song b/c you were like "did he just say..." However, on Recovery, his TERRIBLE puns and punchlines might have gone unnoticed, or possibly disregarded, if he didn't make them the focus of some of his verses. The fact that he sounds so incredibly serious when he says some of the corniest lines of his career is the reason why I downgrade the album so much. I can live with the majority of those bad lines, I don't want to let a single line ruin a song for me, it's just that he is rapping so ferociously and bad ass but then ends a verse with a window pane line. It's such a downer.

[cityfan31]

No Love beat is awesome to me.

Am I alone in thinking that?!

[Kill You]

I agree with that post too, but I never found the window pane line to be bad. Out of all the "bad" lines he's had, I think this is one of the better ones.

[Hopsinshadie]

And it sounds worse everytime I hear it.... I skipped through most of it.

I love Cold Wind Blows, Almost Famous, Going Through Changes, On Fire, W.T.P, So Bad, and Untitled. Eminem sounds comfortable on those songs and they are just fucking brilliant.

But the rest of the album sounds unfocused, forced, and messy. While the above listed are great songs, adding them with the rest of the songs on Recovery just makes it an even bigger clusterfuck. I know that some of you on here love this album, please share why....

I'm just having a hard time enjoying this album again, I felt at first listen that it was nowhere near his best work, but I still listened to it while it was new.

It's hard to call it a terrible album, because it isn't....

But perhaps I just expect more from the guy who has made my favorite hip-hop albums of all time.

Even Encore, as luck luster as it can be at times, sounds far more authentic to me.

I'm hoping he makes up for it on his next album, if not, I fear I may never hear another Eminem album I can enjoy for years to come.

Recovery is a gimmicky album. Every album he makes now, he ends up dissing it.