Recovery Appreciation Thread

[shadyphantom91]

I can understand why people don't like Recovery. But I think it is a dope album as it was the album where I became a fan of Eminem although I have checked out other stuff in his catalogue since then. I prefer it to Relapse which was a little too much overkill and trying to shock people. I enjoy songs on this like On Fire, Cold Wind Blows, Ridaz, So Bad, Not Afraid and Almost Famous.

[kkaniff]

8/10?
Damn
It's a 6.5 at best in my opinion.

I think the concept; the parallels between an aging rapper afraid of fading into irrelevance, and a Recovering drug addict afraid of a Relapse, was executed to perfection.
So the desperation, the intensity (screaming), the try-hard punchlines, basically everything about Recovery (even the outside production) practically defines an uphill struggle, one which you aren't particularly certain that you're going to win, which is why when I hear that Recovery resonates with an extremely large amount of people (most esp recovering addicts) I'm not particularly surprised, it captures those emotions perfectly.
It would help if you stopped thinking of Recovery as what Eminem was going through at the time (he had been clean for about a year plus IIRC) and start to think of it as what he wants you to see.
It makes a lot of difference.

[Mr Change]

A really like a majority of Recovery. Songs like Cold Wind Blows, Going Through Changes and Almost Famous are some of my favorite post-comeback songs.
Going Through Changes is one of the best Eminem songs of his career imo. Not Afraid is also one of the most important songs of his career for what it is, and it along with LTWYL pretty much saved Em another decade or so of relevancy no-matter what he does from now on lol.

Sadly this album will always go down as 'the punchline album', and rightfully so. It's the most mainstream/poppy album Em will ever come out with (hopefully), and I feel like the punchlines help support that. Definitely not his best decision.

Production is also pretty awful, some of the worst of his career.

Overall though I think the content of the better songs is really good and definitely needed for Em at this point in his career when he came back from psudo-retirement with an album like Relapse where he didn't really address anything with a serious reflection.

[Mr Change]

Relapse [...] didn't really address anything with a serious reflection.

Deja Vu would like a word with you

Nah man that is true. Deja Vu is a great story of how things had been happening, he even (mostly) dropped an accent. But what I mean is he didn't really reflect on how he was feeling and stuff ala Not Afraid and Talkin' 2 Myself.

He didn't come out and talk about how bad of a place he was in and assure us he was getting back, nahmean?

[TheBoss123]

When I first heard Recovery I really really enjoyed it. Its lost quite a bit of its luster for me, but I still really enjoy it.
Going Through Changes and Almost Famous are some of my favorite songs since his comeback. I dont feel hes shouting as much as people make it seem, hes definitely loud, I think in large part to the mixing of the vocals. But I wouldnt say hes always screaming. There are some bad punchlines, but overall, in comparison to other shit, I never thought they were so terrible. I think something can be simultaneously clever and corny, and for the most part even many of the corny ones do fall into that category.

The worst part for me though is definitely the production, not because its poppier than his past albums. But a lot of the beats dont resonate with me in anyway, also a bit too noisy on some occasions. But overall I dont think the album is bad.

Cold Wind Blows, Seduction, Going Through Changes, So bad, Cinderella Man, Almost Famous, Talkin 2 Myself, WTP, and No love are all good songs in my eyes.

[superman11]

Not an overall great album, but has some great individual tracks that I love to bump all the time. Cold Wind Blows is still amongst my favorites post comeback and probably my fave not including MMLP2.

I was thinking the other day about the tracks he was making before his transistion to the overall sound Recovery had. It makes Relapse 2 or a happy medium between Relapse and Recovery even more intriguing. Tracks like Cold Wind Blows, So bad, GTC, On Fire, Almost Famous, Untitled and Ridaz. I love the overall sound of these tracks.

[DetroitSkills]

stupid people are stupid.

anyways, good album imo not great but i personally enjoy plenty tracks

[Shpongle]

My major problem with this album, is that i feel it's kinda "all over the place" it's Em trying to get back on his feet again..some decent tracks on it but far from being my favourite...

[DoYouEvenRelapseBro]

8/10 album, slightly better than Encore.

What do you rate MMLP 14/10 btw Recovery is 3.5/10

[AAAAAAAAAAND]

Longtime lurker, first time poster.

The thing about Recovery is that a lot of the songs (Cold Wind Blows, White Trash Party, Cinderella Man, So Bad) SOUND good, but have mediocre lyrics compared to pretty much every other Em album, possibly even Encore at times. However, I shamefully put catchy-ness above lyrical quality sometimes, making Recovery a guilty pleasure of mine. From a catchy, musical standpoint, Recovery is one of Em's best, if not his best.

So yeah 7.5/10. Would Calm Batman again.

[AAAAAAAAAAND]

Longtime lurker, first time poster.

The thing about Recovery is, a lot of the songs (Cold Wind Blows, White Trash Party, Cinderella Man, So Bad) SOUND really good, but have mediocre lyrics compared to pretty much all of Em's other songs, even some from Encore. However, I shamefully put catchy-ness over lyrical quality sometimes, so Recovery is a guilty pleasure for me. From a catchy, musical standpoint, Recovery is one of Em's best.

[kkaniff]

What do you rate MMLP 14/10 btw Recovery is 3.5/10

And here I was thinking Recovery was a strong 8/10.
Thanks for setting me straight, fam.
Also, @AAAAAAAAAND kinda gets it, of course the lyrics aren't as dense/clever/witty as Relapse or MMLP2, anthems seldom have deeply introspective lyrics, same as war chants and jingles, it's less about what you're saying as it is how you're saying it.
The entire album was meant to sound triumphant and anthemic, and it succeeded brilliantly.
If any post-hiatus album is going to be considered a classic in the near future, it's going to be Recovery.

[Mr Evil]

If any post-hiatus album is going to be considered a classic in the near future, it's going to be Recovery.

Zoinks!

[AAAAAAAAAAND]

What do you rate MMLP 14/10 btw Recovery is 3.5/10

And here I was thinking Recovery was a strong 8/10.
Thanks for setting me straight, fam.
Also, @AAAAAAAAAND kinda gets it, of course the lyrics aren't as dense/clever/witty as Relapse or MMLP2, anthems seldom have deeply introspective lyrics, same as war chants and jingles, it's less about what you're saying as it is how you're saying it.
The entire album was meant to sound triumphant and anthemic, and it succeeded brilliantly.
If any post-hiatus album is going to be considered a classic in the near future, it's going to be Recovery.

Yeah this is very true. Though, at the rate people are turning on it, I doubt Recovery will be considered classic any time soon. Though of course, peoples' opinions on Eminem albums shift every five minutes.

[AAAAAAAAAAND]

Longtime lurker, first time poster.

The thing about Recovery is, a lot of the songs (Cold Wind Blows, White Trash Party, Cinderella Man, So Bad) SOUND really good, but have mediocre lyrics compared to pretty much all of Em's other songs, even some from Encore. However, I shamefully put catchy-ness over lyrical quality sometimes, so Recovery is a guilty pleasure for me. From a catchy, musical standpoint, Recovery is one of Em's best.

All four songs you mentioned both have great beats and lyrics though lol

Yeah the beats are great. Like I said, they sound awesome, and the beats contribute to that. I personally don't mind the lyrics, but I can't say that they're as good as what he was coming up with on Relapse and MMLP2, let alone his prime albums. Recovery lyrics are mediocre COMPARATIVELY.