#mr_freckles

I have to confess, I love Beyonce. I've seen her in concert- own all her albums, two live albums, two DVDs to boot and that's not even counting DC (Destiny's Child for the uninitiated). 

To say I was looking forward to her latest record would be an understatement. But ultimately with a lot of anticipation- comes disappointment (hello Born This Way)- due to the over profileration of promotion and simply; too much hype.

Beyonce has managed to set herself away from her pop comtemporaries by releasing an album that sound completely different from whats on the charts. While RedOne auto-tuned party tunes rule the charts- Beyonce has created a brassy, instrument heavy, R&B throwback with a lot of harmonised vocals. Risks have been taken- the beats of the album are challenging - Miss Knowles has gone out on a limb with certain songs and mostly it works, like stand-out End of Time and in other places it doesn't: the dire Who Run the World (I still question why this song was included on the album).   

Now for the bad news: while there are few truly awful songs, this album doesn't possess any mega-hits. There is no Halo, Single Ladies, Crazy in Love, Baby Boy or Sweet Dreams, lead single Girls has stalled at number 32 in the US- which by B's standard is pretty dismal. Follow up- Best Thing I Never Had is Irreplaceable Part 2, but merely a shadow of the latter.

The highlights of the album are the laid back,Kanye West penned;Party which features Andre 3000 and the delicious 80s throw-back Love on Top where Beyonce channels Prince and Whitney Houston and proves that you can never have too many key changes.

For members of the BeyHive- 4 delivers enough to satisfy. And the most exciting thing is anticipating the way Beyonce will perform these songs live on tour. I would stake my left arm that there will be a deluxe re-packed edition of this album and it will benefit from less ballads more party starter.

Rating: 3 Fs out of 5.

Download: Party, Love on Top, End of Time

4 is out now 

Columbia Records

HBO's fantasy epic Game of Thrones series one finale just aired over in the States, and it was the proverbial cherry on top of a great series. There was heads on stakes, there were whores, there was nudity....there was even D-...actually I won't give it away.

DAY 14:

Oh look it's Tom Dice Oskar Paradise, and he's representing Finland.