Chamber Music Review

After that post a day or 2 ago about how awesome Wu-Tang is/how many heads they chop, you HAD to know this was coming. Or maybe you didn’t, since apparently I’m one of the few people that know this album has actually come out. Regardless, this album is supposed to appeal directly to the real hardcore Wu fans. Why? Since the Clan was pretty much impenetrable (read: they didn’t work with nearly ANYONE outside the clan during their heydey) during the 90’s, they are now going back (from what I’ve heard under RZA’s POST-Hollywoodartsycutesybullshit guidance) and going back to ubiquitous kung fu samples, raw beats (although this time with live instrumentation), and working with the peers NOW that they should have worked with back then. Hopefully these guests will step their game up, as some of the premier clansmen are notably missing throughout the entirety of this album (GZA, Method Man, Masta Killa)

This is supposed to be the album that makes people care about the Wu again (for all those dissappointed by 8 Diagrams). But will it be?

Chamber Music Album Cover

REDEMPTION

This might not be a track of any real value, but it is VERY reassuring. With a grainy triumphant horn interlude, a Kung Fu movie sample comes in that talks about having something to prove. I mean the track is named redemption for christ sakes. The Wu KNOW that they have something to prove on this album, and this has me FUCKIN PUMPED.

KILL TOO HARD (8)

The Wu know I have a soft spot for fighting samples, and they continue the kung fu flick intros onto this track, which is just great. Inspectah Deck still isn’t at the level he used to be, but he’s better than he had been recently (he sounded downright horrible a few times on 8 Diagrams), U-God somehow sounds…decent?…and Masta Ace doesn’t outright steal the show, but he DOES have the best verse.

THE ABBOT

This is an interlude that also features a short clip of RZA bragging about himself. I’m guessing THIS is the kind of stuff Rae and Ghost were tweaking balls about.

HARBOR MASTERS (6)

Although I like the isntrumental, Ghostface doesn’t sound his normal over-coffeed/PCPed out/Energy Drink chugging self, and it comes across as just lazy. AZ and The Rebel INS sound alright, but the hook is pretty shitty.

SHEEP STATE

Remember what I just wrote about The Abbot? Imagine I wrote that comment here, but replaced “bragging about himself” with “rambling about the Nation of Islam”

RADIANT JEWELS (7)

Raekwon sounds a little more awake than he usually does, Cormega starts off with a good opening salvo and continues well throughout the rest of his verse (including a line that I’m sure will NEVER be thought of again including having a lyrical aqueduct instead of having a flow), and Sean Price doesn’t fuck it up too bad.

SUPREME ARCHITECTURE

Did RZA agree to make this album just so long as he could put these in?

EVIL DEEDS (8)

Ghostface tries his hardest to sound energetic, and does manage to pull it off to some degree, but these instrumentals are just not built for him. At first I absolutely HATED RZA’s hook, but now I find myself actually liking it. Don’t worry, though, his verse is bad enough to make up for all that lost hate. Havoc simultaneously comes across as grimy and able to spit, which is always a plus.

WISE MEN

Holy shit. How many of these is he gonna do?

I WISH YOU WERE HERE (6)

Really? A Ghostface song about a girl featuring an R&B song? THIS is how you’re gonna bring back the hardcore Wu fans?

FATAL HESITATION

This one gets a pass from me, because it contains an actual kung fu sample instead of RZA’s ramblings.

ILL FIGURES (8)

Even though Raekwon sounds better here than he did on Radiant Jewels, was he really the first choice for a track with MOP? If you find yourself dozing off during Rae’s part, MOP INSTANTLY wake your ass up, and Kool G Rap comes across similar to Raekwon…technically proficient but not exactly the life of the party.

FREE LIKE ODB

RZA apparently realized that he hadn’t done a snippet of his ramblings in over 2 tracks (!!!) so he had to put one in. This track is supposed to be a tribute to ODB? ODB WOULD HAVE THOUGHT THIS TRACK WAS BORING AS SHIT! THROW THIS IN THERE INSTEAD:

Yes, I know, I put that in my last post too, but that shit is just TOO AWESOME

SOUND THE HORNS (7)

Inspectah Deck decides to use a flow/rhyme scheme VERY similar to Joe Budden’s on “Pump It Up” for the beginning of his verse. Pump It Up came out in 2003, but I guess this is good, because the further Inspectah Deck goes the better he will apparently get. If you can get past Sadat X’s voice, you’ll find that his verse is pretty good, and U-God of course finds a way to name-drop his own album which came out recently. It’s this kind of stuff that make everyone hate him (including him saying at multiple times that the Clan was holding him back), but at least he doesn’t sound as awful as usual. Actually, THAT might be why everyone hates him.

ENLIGHTENED STATUES

RZA again…

NYC CRACK (7)

For a RZA solo track, this is surprisingly not that bad or boring. The asian sounding singing certainly helps, and so does the fact that he’s pissed off at the bunch of ringtone rappers bastardizing the game.

ONE LAST QUESTION

This one last track was so short, so stupid, so pointless, and so self aggrandizing that it honestly managed to piss me off almost as much as the rest of the interludes did combined.

It’s Wu Tang! Should I run out to the stores and buy it?

Consider this: The album in its entirety is 35:38. Roughly 27 minutes of it is actual tracks. This is not an official Wu-Tang Clan album, it’s a Wu affiliated compilation album.

Damn.

I know. It’s depressing that this doesn’t make the future of the Wu-Tang immediate, but it IS a step in the right direction.

How so?

More kung flu sound bites/influence, beats aren’t as overproduced.

So does this mean? Could it be?

Wikipedia lists Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang as coming out in 2010. That’s certainly wishful thinking, but this COULD hypothetically serve as a good teaser for it.

Should I hold my breath?

I wouldn’t. A year is an awful long time. You might pass out.