Adele - 21 (2011)

I'll note up front Adele's 21 appears in the most recent edition of 1,001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

I've heard "Rolling In The Deep" way too many times. I wish it wasn't the first song on 21, because it was also the lead single off the album, and I hate it when albums start with their "best song". As for the song itself, it's a great exhibition of Adele's voice. I really like how her backing vocals are much softer than her lead vocals. It's so effective I had to check the personnel listing on the recording to make sure it wasn't a different singer. I wish the song didn't build up as quickly as it did. If you're going to start a song softly, I'd rather it build slowly, or else the rest of the song just sounds like a retread of the same idea.

"Rumor Has It" is next, and I really just don't like this song. The refrain is obnoxious and repetitive, and the backing "Oooooos" drive me nuts. The bluesey breakdown near the end is forced and out of place. And now that I've heard the song again it won't leave my head for the next 2 weeks. Erg.

"Turning Tables" is OK, just a little derivative, but at least I haven't heard it a million times. "Don't You Remember" brings me back to a thought I had listening to 19- If Adele runs out of ideas for awesome songs, she would have no trouble making it as a lame country artist. There is a neat key change late in "Don't You Remember" that makes the song slightly better than lame, but there's also a stupid fake dropped beat at the end of the chorus that pisses me off.

Huh... I completely forgot about "Set Fire To The Rain" even though I also heard this song about five million times. It's probably easy to forget because it's way poppier than the other songs. I could easily see this song covered by another pop princess or even a boy band, whereas I doubt anyone could do an effective cover of "Rolling In The Deep". That's kinda how I feel about most of the tracks on this album. They're good songs, well produced and performed, just not really special. 21 does have a more classic soul feel, but I felt like 19 had a better mixture and was less bland.

21 closes with "Someone Like You". I've talked about this song before, and I still feel the same way. Despite the minimal arrangement I feel like the song is trying to do too much. It works better as a soft ending for 21, which featured lots of epic string arrangements and heavy backing vocals, than it does as a single. I'd still like to hear this played with a less severe performance- a softer piano and less yelling by Adele. It is a nice melody though.

21 is a pretty good album. I think I liked 19 better... or maybe not... I'm not really sure. 21 certainly features more memorable songs, but I felt musically it was more of a lateral move than a major step up. Either way, I sorta liked it. 3 stars.