Eminem - Recovery Review

Posted by Aaron Titan on 06.21.2010

Instead of the previously-announced Relapse 2 disc, Marshall goes with Recovery instead, and he’s more focused than ever…

The Backstory

Eminem (b. Marshall Mathers) released his album Encore in 2004 and it was met with very mixed reviews. I personally didn’t dig it as a collective album of work, though I can’t deny that there were song damn good tracks on there ("Never Enough," "Mosh"). Lackluster album though...

After the Encore buzz died down, we really didn’t hear a whole lot from Eminem. He put out a greatest hits album, Curtain Call: The Hits, in 2005 and a new single with it, “When I’m Gone.” The vibe we all got was that Eminem was tired of the spotlight and wanted to bow out and be at home with his daughter and two adopted daughters. And hey, I was cool with that, because the dude had enough paper to last him the rest of his life. Plus, it seemed like he was going to go the Dre route and just stick with producing new artists primarily.

Then we started to hear that Eminem was gaining a ton of weight and of course, there was the hospitalization over the winter holidays in late 2007. At the time, it was attributed to pneumonia, and that was probably part of it, but in a recent interview, Eminem discussed his addiction problems that led to his emergency hospital stay, saying "Vicodin, Valium and Ambien and, toward the end, which caused my overdose, methadone," when asked about his addiction specifics. "I didn't know it was methadone. I used to get pills wherever I could. I was just taking anything that anybody was giving to me."

So, essentially, we fast-forward to Eminem’s return to hip-hop in 2009 with Relapse. I saw it as a triumphant return with a batch of very strong songs, but there was something missing. He was pissed off and angry, but there wasn’t that fire that we saw on The Slim Shady LP and The Marshall Mathers LP. Plus, the bulk of the production left something to be desired in a way.

On a skit on the album, Eminem drops the official announcement that he had recorded two discs worth of material and that his talk of a Relapse 2 was pretty legitimate. Relapse came out in the spring last year and Relapse 2 was rumored to be ready for a late fall 2009 release, but as we all know, it was ‘pushed back’ like any other major hip-hop release is anymore.

Then, this April, Eminem tweeted that there would be no Relapse 2 and the collective music media world started to freak out that Marshall was really done this time. A few days later, he announced that what he had intended to be Relapse 2 would be replaced by Recovery:

"I had originally planned for ‘Relapse 2’ to come out last year. But as I kept recording and working with new producers, the idea of a sequel to ‘Relapse’ started to make less and less sense to me, and I wanted to make a completely new album. The music on Recovery came out very different from Relapse, and I think it deserves its own title."

So, skip ahead to the album leaking two weeks early and the release date being moved up one day, and here we are! Right, Vince?









The Tracklisting

1. Cold Wind Blows (Produced by Just Blaze)
2. Talkin’ 2 Myself Feat. Kobe (Produced by DJ Khalil)
3. On Fire (Produced by Mr. Porter)
4. Won’t Back Down Feat. P!nk (Produced by DJ Khalil)
5. W.T.P. (Produced by Supa Dups)
6. Going Through Changes (Produced by Emile Haynie)
7. Not Afraid (Produced by Boi-1da)
8. Seduction (Produced by Boi-1da)
9. No Love Feat. Lil Wayne (Produced by Just Blaze)
10. Space Bound (Produced by Jim Jonsin)
11. Cinderella Man (Produced by Script Shepherd)
12. 25 To Life (Produced by DJ Khalil)
13. So Bad (Produced by Dr. Dre & Nick Brongers)
14. Almost Famous (Produced by DJ Khalil)
15. Love the Way You Lie Feat Rihanna (Produced by Alex Da Kid)
16. You’re Never Over (Produced by Just Blaze)
Bonus track: Untitled (Produced by Havoc)



The Album

I’ve probably listened to Recovery in its entirety about four times. Upon first listen, two things struck me.

The first was that it sounded quite different compared to his previous works. The beats weren’t very ‘Dre’ or ‘Shady” in nature. As you can see from the production credits I listed above, Dre only co-produced one track total and Eminem doesn’t even have primary production credits on the album at all, opting to focus on spitting as he did on Relapse as far as production responsibilities go.

The second thing I noticed was that there weren’t any skits at all. On every Eminem album, we’ve always at least had an intro and a few skits to serve as interludes, and for most of the albums, an outro of some kind. On this one, we get 16 tracks that are all songs, including the untitled bonus track. It seems Eminem was going for the all killer-no filler formula here.

And for the most part, that’s indeed what we get!. The album starts out with Eminem singing immediately in a haunting intro bridge for the song “Cold Wind Blows:”

Cause some things just don’t change
It’s better when they stay the same
Althought the whole world knows your name
So on the biggest days they came to see you spit your game
Ooooohhhhhhh
It shouldn’t be difficult to explain
Just why you came back again, you hate the fame
Love the game, cold as ice you remain
fuck em’ all, tell ‘em all eat shit, here we go again.

And from here, it flows into yet another Eminem “I’m back” track. It’s not bad, but the hook kind of makes we want to skip over it upon future listens, as it’s rather uninspired compared to the actual bars of the song:

Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh, I’m as cold as the cold wind blows
When it snows and it’s twenty be-low
Ask me why man I just don’t know know know know know know know
I’m as cold as the cold wind blows blo-blo-blo-blo-blo-blows
Oh oh oh oh oh!

Yeah, that’s pretty annoying to read, isn’t it? It’s about that tough to listen to as well, but like I said, Eminem addresses his reasoning and intentions for his sober and focused return to hip-hop and really, we expect the “I’m back” song to begin each Eminem album, so it’s not too bad, all things considered.

Then, the album really takes off with “Talkin’ 2 Myself” on which Eminem addresses the lowest of lows he hit with his addiction and where he has his sights set on. He even admits his last few albums weren’t quite up to snuff, saying, “Encore I was on drugs, Relapse I was flushing em out. I’ve come up to make it up to you no more fucking around.”

He also addresses how he almost made a dis track about Lil’ Wayne and Kanye West, as they were the biggest MCs around during his absence, but he thought better of it and realized how his feelings against them were ultimately ones of jealousy. This is some of the first indications of vulnerability we’ve seen from Eminem ever as far as his vision of himself in the hip-hop game are concerned.

“On Fire” is probably my favorite song on the album, just for how disturbing and out-there it is. Em starts the second verse by saying, ”I just wrote a bullshit hook in between two long ass verses. If you mistook this for a song, look. Then, in the hook he kind of halts and mutters, ”Man I’m so fuckin sick I got ambulances pullin me over and shit.” You just don’t hear shit like that and the song comes off so weird, it works.

“Won’t Back Down” is an example of an atypical beat for an Eminem song with driving bass guitar and pounding, unrelenting drum kit beat and the crescendo organ howl for added badass effect. Pink doesn’t sound too bad on the hook either, and it’s a nice break from the Eminem-sung hooks that dominate the album.

“W.T.P.” was the mystery track that I wondered about when the tracklisting was announced. What does it stand for? “White Trash Party”…. and it sucks. It’s the only silly, filler track on the whole album and is pretty much there to lighten the otherwise focused, somber mood of the rest of the album. It just doesn’t belong on there and I’m trying to figure out why it made the album proper instead of a bonus track like the untitled one (which I will not be factoring into my comprehensive review of the album), which is also in the silly vein of past Eminem songs like “We Made You” and “The Real Slim Shady.”

The Black Sabbath-sampled “Going Through Changes” works well as it transitions into the victory-oriented (and new sports anthem) “Not Afraid.” Then, we go into the really moody, swagger-heavy “Seduction,” on which Eminem talks about earning a woman over another rapper because he just plays the game – hip-hop and love – better than the ‘other guy.’ It sounds kind of corny, but it kind of works in a weird way in the context of the album.

The sequel to Eminem and Lil’ Wayne’s “Drop the World” collaboration, “No Love,” is awesome and I ended up liking it more than their first effort together, which surprised me, because I didn't think I would. Perhaps it’s because they use a sample of Haddaway’s “What Is Love” song (you know, that one from Night at the Roxbury). It’s another ‘overcoming’ swagger song that I could easily see being blasted before NBA games next season, especially if he chooses to release it as a single. That might be difficult, as he tends to film music videos for singles, and well, Wayne’s locked up for the rest of the year!

“Space Bound” comes off as Em’s final ode to his estranged ex-wife Kim (my interpretation, as he hasn’t officially dissected the lyrics for the public yet as far as I know), and he really puts out his sorrow for the relationship not working out, though the murderous Slim Shady from the song “Kim” peaks his head out in the end:

Drop to my knees and I’m bleedin, I’m tryna stop you from leavin’
You won’t even listen so fuck it, I’m tryna stop you from breathin’
I put both hands on your throat, I sit on top of you squeazin’
Til I snap your neck like a popsicle stick, ain’t no possible reason
I can think of to let you walk up out this house and let you live
Tears stream down both of my cheeks now I let you go and just give
And before I put that gun to my temple I told you this… (Gunshot)

(sings)

And I woulda did anything for you
To show you how much I adored you
But it’s over now, it’s too late to save our love
Just promise me you’ll think of me everytime you look up in the sky and see a star.”

The rest of the album is kind of a coast-out, entertaining, heartfelt celebration of life with a dash of swagger thrown in for good measure (he can't let the hip-hop world think he's a pussy, right?), but it’s more meaningful that how Jay-Z’s swagger came off on the majority of Blueprint III (though I still like that album for what it is). On “25 to Life,” Eminem paints a vague grey over “Space Bound” as he raps about emerging from a mentally-exhausting relationship and wants to divorce this other person, only to reveal at the end that this scourging female in his life was actually the hip-hop game to begin with. It’s kind of a mind-fuck of a track and I really dug it a lot. “Love the Way You Lie” is along the same degree of vagueness, in that Rihanna is singing the hook and says, ”I like the way it hurts. Between her and Em addressing issues of staying in a painful, negative situation (Rihanna’s with domestic abuse, Eminem with substance abuse), there’s a lot of meaning there and really, I found myself applying the song to past relationship in my life as well.

“You’re Never Over” is Eminem’s version of Kanye’s “The Glory” from his Graduation. It’s that track of triumph towards the end of the album though Eminem paints a more vivid picture of the struggle of addiction and personal pain he experienced that made the triumph that much sweeter. He directly touches on losing his best friend and fellow D12 member, Proof, for the first time here too.

Speaking of Kanye, Eminem namedrops him in support several times on the album. That surprised me, even considering their first-ever collaboration on Drake’s smash “Forever.” There must be some sort of Midwest kinship between the two. On the aforementioned “Talkin’ 2 Myself,” Em raps about several MCs he supports that came to fame in his absence (plus the late DJ AM):

”I'm back with a vengeance homie, Weezy keep your head up
T.I. keep your head up, Kanye keep your head up
Don't let up, just keep slaying em
Rest in peace to DJ AM, cause I know what this s**t is like
I struggle with this s**t every single day.

The 411: When it’s all said in done, the album is pretty much golden. It’s incredibly relatable and you find yourself cheering for what Marshall Mathers has overcome in the last several years of his life. What makes Eminem great is that he addresses aspects of his life in his lyrics in a very unabashed, vulnerable way that you don’t see a lot in mainstream hip-hop. It takes a lot to put yourself out there the way he does on this album, and I would say it’s his best work since 2000’s The Marshall Mathers LP, though if you stack that album and Recovery against each other, you’ll undoubtedly see the vast amount of personal and musical growth Eminem has undergone in the last decade. I probably would've gone to a 9 or 9.5 for the rating on the album, but there's some definite filler here, so I've got to take the whole collective album into account. Damn good though, and it's totally worth checking out, especially if you're an Eminem fan. The serial killer stuff is kept to a minimum on this one, so heck, if you grew up a little bit since The Marshall Mathers LP, you might find that Eminem did a little bit as well.

Final Score:  8.5   [ Very Good ]