Continuing my look at the albums of 2006…

If I were making my list of favorite 2006 albums in 2006, I’m certain Christina Aguilera’s Back to Basics would have made the cut. I was very impressed by this album at the time, particularly because I had zero appreciation for Aguilera prior to its release.

I haven’t listened to it much in the last 20 years, not because it doesn’t hold up but because it fell off the way so many things do as new interests arise. Playing it this week, I was reminded how much I enjoy it.

Back to Basics, as its title suggests, found Aguilera reaching back to the jazz and soul music of the mid 1900s as inspiration. The double album dedicated one side to modern brush-ups of those genres recorded by a laundry list of pop producers (including Mark Ronson, who had major success the same year with similar work on Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black). Disc Two featured more bare-bones tracks written by Aguilera and Linda Perry.

Both discs contain very strong material as well as some skips. The theory that every double album would be better edited down to one holds some weight here, as maybe a Side One for the DJs and Side Two for the singer-songwriter material would have resulted in a leaner, more consistent collection.

But that also would have stripped Back to Basics of its admirable ambition. Stuffed with intros and interludes, it feels like a grand statement of artistic purpose, and even if it has some slow patches, they don’t detract from the impressive vision.

My favorite songs are almost all on the statelier second disc. Those include the gorgeous gospel piano ballad ‘Mercy on Me’ and the whispered love song ‘Save Me From Myself.’

I also love the techniques used to make today’s SOTD, ‘I Got Trouble,’ sound like it was recorded early in the last century.

As far as I know, Aguilera never again attempted anything as ambitious or special as Back to Basics. It was a pleasure to revisit it.

[Note: Happy Birthday to occasional commenter Amy!]