Beyoncé - ACT II Cowboy Carter (March 29, 2024) • Page 7

This is a lot to take in. Going to need multiple listens but I already have quite a few early favorites.

 

Really hittin in the gym this AM

 

Again, it's a nice cover, but on an album that IMO needs to lose at least 20 minutes, tossing two of the most overdone songs of all time is not your worst option.

 

I’m not quite through my first listen, so I can’t say what I’d cut to tighten this up (if we’re saying that’s a thing that should’ve happened, which, idk yet). But it absolutely would not be “Jolene.” Familiar elements are a feature, not a bug, to this whole Acts project.

Btw this rules.

 

I'm hard-pressed to call it a country album but it's not on me to place an album in a genre.

It's fine, can't say it's great, but it's a good listen.

 

Black metal Beyonce when?

 

So glad I get to roll into Holy Weekend by alternating between RENAISSANCE and COWBOY CARTER. (Very good counterpoint/companion to how much Ethel Cain I’ve played and replayed recently, lol.)

Love how this Acts era is all about carving out space for all kinds of people, and connections between those spaces/people, in such a rebelliously celebratory way. It’s like Bey is curating not just a series of albums, but also (to put it needlessly dramatically or mystically or whatever) reality itself.

(Granted, some of what I’ve listened to and thought about, etc., recently put me in this mindset in advance, so like. There’s certainly a level of me being that to the album as much as the other way around, if not more. But hey, maybe I’m just doing the same work of “carving space and connections” in a far smaller, sillier way? Idk, lol.)

The only thing I’m not 100% on is how the topic of genres comes up more than once, in a shockingly overt way. Part of me would prefer her doing it without commenting on it. I do, however, see a case for that being necessary: She’s naming, directly, what she’s doing, and fuck anyone telling her she shouldn’t do it.

 

Sampling/interpolating "Good Vibrations" and "These Boots ..." on the same song is about as close as you can get to purchasing a hit.

 

At least three times now I've said "I think this is the last song".

 

Oh man, American Requiem was so fun and then I audibly rolled my eyes when Blackbird started.

 

I would be like "Gotta be getting near the end," and then I'd check and realize, "Nope, still a half hour left."

 

I think it flows pretty well to the point I don’t really notice or care about the length

 

I'd notice any album being 80 minutes long.

 

There’s some good stuff in here, but you have to dig through a lot to get to it. It’s not bad but probably not an album that will ever be in regular rotation for me.

 

I do agree with this but that also means it just becomes background listening.

 

BEYONCÉ RELEASES COWBOY CARTER

“This album took over five years," she says. "It's been really great to have the time and the grace to be able to take my time with it. I was initially going to put COWBOY CARTER out first, but with the pandemic, there was too much heaviness in the world. We wanted to dance. We deserved to dance. But I had to trust God's timing."

 

Metal Beyonce makes me think of Wicked Wisdom

 

haven't been able to confirm yet, but i'm hearing word from Twitter that 5 tracks are missing from the current pressing of the vinyl:

SPAGHETTII
FLAMENCO
THE LINDA MARTELL SHOW
YA YA
OH LOUISIANA

the CDs apparently have FLAMENCO, so i'm assuming that counts as the so-called bonus track? either way, that's really annoying to have to deal with.

update: after doing some more digging, this seems to be the case, as you can hear LEVII'S JEANS flow right into DESERT EAGLE.

it looks like the album was originally going to have the webstore cover and be called BEYINCÉ (which is her mother's maiden name and can be seen on this alternate cover, as well as this image from Amazon with the original hype sticker).



i guess somewhere along the way they manufactured copies of the album but went back and added the 5 other songs, shot a new cover, and renamed it COWBOY CARTER - meaning they still had manufactured copies of the first run they needed to offload (although apparently the CD versions do have a hype sticker saying COWBOY CARTER). my assumption is that there will eventually be a version with the extra songs and packaging matching the RENAISSANCE vinyl set.

 

This shit is exhausting, y'all.

 

as much as i dislike it, i get wanting to go back and modify the tracklist after manufacturing an initial batch, but at least specify up front that this version is different. for example: the previous AURORA album was sold in two versions - the standard version, and a pressing that was marketed as having an alternate tracklist with 2 songs not present on the standard album (replacing 2 others that made the final cut) and a different sequencing altogether. it's disingenuous to get consumers to buy your records without letting them know they're not getting the final product. at least this isn't as egregious as Nicki Minaj only pressing 10 songs from Pink Friday 2.

 

Shabooezy adlibs for the win

 

The 1975 - I like it when you sleep
Miles Davis - Bitches Brew
Bruce Springsteen - The River
The Beatles - White Album
Say Anything - In Defense of the Genre

prob the ones I notice an 80min runtime on least

 

15 songs in so far and my stand outs so far are:

American Requiiem, Texas Hold Em Bodyguard, Daughter and Spaghetti

all so good tho

 

That 1975 album might be the one where the 80 minutes seem to fly by most quickly.

To be clear, I’m not saying no album justifies that length, rather that 1) I tend to listen to those albums less than a tight 40-minute album, just because they’re bigger time commitments; and 2) I don’t love the current trend of extremely long albums that feel long for the sake of good streaming numbers. I have yet to make it through the new JT album, for instance.

 

Only just started but damn is this a hell of an opener