Product Reviews
With Recovery, it becomes obvious that Eminem's richest albums aren't necessarily his most structurally sound, which isn't much of a surprise when considering the rapper's full-on embrace of flaws and contradictions. This lean, mean, bipolar machine began life as Relapse 2, but when Shady decided he wasn't really Shady at the moment, and that he was no longer keen on Relapse -- or the last two albums, as he states on Talkin' 2 Myself -- it became Marshall Mathers time again, so damn any 11th hour issues. This results in an album where a shameless but killer Michael J. Fox punch line ( The world will stop spinnin and Michael J. Fox ll come to a standstill from Cold Wind ) is followed by a song with another, less effective MJF joke ( Make like Michael J. Fox in your drawers, playin' with an Etch-A-Sketch ), although that song is the lurching heavy metal monster Won't Back Down with P!nk, and it could be used as the lead-in to Lose Yourself on any ego-boosting mixtape. Ignoring these contradictions, fans can feed on the energy, the renewed sense of purpose, and Marshall doing whatever the hell he wants, up to and including shoehorning a grand, D12-like comedy number ("WTP," which stands for "White Trash Party") into this emotionally heavy album. It s fascinating when Em admits Hatred was flowin through my veins, on the verge of goin insane/I almost made a song dissin Lil Wayne and then Thank God I didn t do it/I da had my ass handed to me, and I knew it, before sparring with said Weezy on the Haddaway-sampling No Love. When the recovery-minded Going Through Changes gets back on the wagon by sampling Black Sabbath s very druggy Changes, it s a brilliant and layered idea that s executed with poignant lyrics on top. Add the man at his most profound (the gigantic hit Not Afraid ) and his most profane ( You wanna get graphic? We can go the scenic route/You couldn t make a bulimic puke on a piece of corn and peanut poop from On Fire ) plus one of thickest lyric booklets out of any of his albums and the fans who really listen are instantly on board. It may be flawed and the rapper s attitude is sometimes one step ahead of his output, but he hasn t sounded this unfiltered and proud since The Marshall Mathers LP, so to hell with refinement -- bring on the hunger and spirit of 8 Mile. ~ David Jeffries, Rovi
Product Notes
2010 release from the Hip Hop superstar, the long-awaited follow-up to his Relapse album. Features production from Just Blaze, Jim Jonsin and Mobb Deep's Havoc plus guest appearances from Lil Wayne, Pink and Rihanna. "I had originally planned for Relapse 2 to come out last year," remarked Eminem. "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".