It’s been almost a year since I last featured Eminem on the blog, and about that long since I’ve listened to him at length. But every time I do, I’m reminded what a fascinating and talented artist he remains.
In fact, I consider his most recent album, Recovery, among his very best work. It lacks the shock value of The Marshall Mathers LP but it’s a more confident record musically and lyrically.
Check out the admirable sense of symmetry by the random iTunes man. Last Saturday he served up a track from Eminem’s worst album, 2004’s Encore, and a week later he delivers a song from the rapper’s comeback album, 2010’s Recovery.
Listening to those albums back-to-back, it’s striking to note the difference sobriety makes. Eminem recorded Encore while hopped up on pain pills and Recovery after taking a couple of years to get clean.
Best Songs of 2010 – #7
Eminem was the comeback kid of 2010, releasing one of his very best albums, Recovery, following a long dry spell. That slump was due in large part to a drug addiction that nearly killed him and Recovery tackles that experience head-on.
But the album’s best song reached back to another of Eminem’s favorite topics — the (literal) battle of the sexes. ‘Love the Way You Lie’ is a portrait of a couple whose passion turns to physical violence. Perhaps tapping into personal experience, Eminem has always been expert at portraying anger fused with romance.
Eminem’s sixth studio album, Recovery is perhaps more notable for what’s not on it than what is. You won’t find Paul here, or Steve Berman or Ken Kaniff. No skits at all, in fact, among the disc’s 17 tracks. No D12 collaboration, no MTV-friendly celebrity-obsessed party jam. And most surprising of all, no Slim Shady. That is, none of the schoolyard accents and serial killer fantasies that have typified Marshall Mathers’ alter ego since he got his start more than a decade ago.
What you do get in Recovery is easily Eminem’s finest album since 2002’s The Eminem Show and a true rival to his masterpiece, 2000’s The Marshall Mathers LP. By definition, Recovery can’t deliver the shocking cultural drop-kick of that album — Eminem is a thoroughly known quantity now — but artistically it’s right there with it.
Meet Me In Montauk 