Music Box - Carey, Mariah (CD 1993)

(Disclaimer: Those looking for a brief description of the album will find what their looking for in the "Album Overview" section. The section titled "Detailed Track Discussion" is meant only for those who want to read detailed descriptions of the songs, and they do not constitute the essence of this review. Lastly and most importantly, this review is not necessarily written by the point of view of a Mariah Carey fan.)

Introduction

I hate to play the devil's advocate, but (...on second thought, scratch that; I love to play devil's advocate...) but "Dreamlover" isn't that good of a song. Oh no, Starcollector just committed blasphemy!

Track Reviews

Best song: "Now That I Know"

Dreamlover B-
Hero B
Anytime You Need a Friend C
Music Box B
Now That I Know A-
Never Forget You C
Without You B
Just to Hold You Once Again C-
I've Been Thinking About You C-
All I've Ever Wanted B-

Overall Score: 4/5 (barely!)

Review Body

But some of the other songs are pretty good! Actually this entire album is pretty good and shows a marked improvement over Carey's previous two albums. OK, I probably overrated this album a bit considering this isn't nearly as good as other albums I've awarded a 4/5, but there should be at least some indication that Music Box is slightly more valuable than the 3-star Mariah Carey and Emotions.

First of all, the melodies are stronger. There's more in terms of memorability and the hooks seem to be better written this time. I noticed that first in the song "Hero," which ended up being too dumb and simple to warrant a score higher than a B , but the melody is nice! But my favorite song turns out to be "Now That I Know," which is an enjoyable party-time dance song.

Another improvement is the album's production quality. It's true that these songs' arrangements are uncreative, cliche and remain bad sometimes, but they're not nearly as poor as they have been previously. It's a true shame that Carey never was one to hang around real artists, but the production doesn't totally spoil things this time.

There are a few songs in here Carey would have done well to scrap. "Just to Hold You Once Again" is plain boring, and the hip-hop/R&B tinged "I've Been Thinking About You" isn't hooky at all. Likewise the gospel numbers are utterly mediocre. "Anytime You Need a Friend" relies on a poor hook at its core. The gospel song "Never Forget You" does nothing but take the life out of gospel.

Despite the album's rather sharp shortcomings, I discovered that there is enough likable about this Mariah Carey release to have made it worthwhile. That said, I can't say there would be an instance when I would listen to this again. I really don't know why I should give this four stars. But I will.

Detailed Track Reviews

OK, "Dreamlover" isn't that bad. My first impression of it wasn't too good, but it's grown on me after hearing it a few times. It has a good flow to it, and there's nothing about it that seems annoying to me. I guess since this was the No. 1 spot on the singles charts for forever in the '90s, it helps that it's not annoying. The problem with it, however, is that it's basically just forgettable. How a song can be so popular without really containing any good pop hooks is beyond me. It's true that I'm currently in my mid-20s and I technically should have grown up with this stuff, but I'm used to the pop music from Elton John!! Now that stuff is hooky!!! "Dreamlover" seems to consist of a repeated line of melody over and over with a dance beat. Carey gives her trademark fancy performance, which enhances the song I suppose. But where's the melody I can hum with? How can a No. 1 single for eight weeks on the pop charts not be catchy? Mariah Carey musta sold her soul to the devil!

"Hero" is exactly what I'm talking about with pop hooks. Yes, this song has pop hooks!!! Do you see how much better this is? It has a melody that I can hum along with! OK it's a shame that it has to be so dang cheesy ("There's a hero/If you look inside your heart/You don't have to be afraid/Of what you are"). Fortunately, I didn't eat yet today, so I don't have anything in my stomach to vomit. ... Like gravity, sucky Mariah Carey lyrics are a constant, so let's stop talking about them now. I really enjoy the melody albeit it's a bit too simple. The instrumentation is poor, but I remember it being quite a bit worse in previous Carey albums. So I guess this is a classic.

The problem with gospel music is that they all sound alike. Didn't she sing "Anytime You Need a Friend" in her last album? It seems like it. The song is moderately catchy, but the centerpiece hook doesn't actually seem to hook... The result is a song that just doesn't interest me melodically, although this is certainly a better try than most pop divas I listen to. Well, this song falls, but it doesn't fall hard ... even with the grand gospel choir.

"Music Box" is produced horribly! It's a shame Carey couldn't have found a less mainstream producer to arrange her songs, because they would have sounded pretty good if there were even an ounce of innovation. I like the melody this time, and Carey's frilly vocals make the song fancy and nice to hear. The cliche instrumentation is strictly by the book and done with TOO MUCH REVERB!!!! Other than that, this quiet, slow song is very pleasant and even engaging.

It's a disco dance song done '90s style (...well, I can't tell much difference between this and '80s style, but ... I guess we were still recovering from the '80s in 1993.) "Now That I Know" has a good beat that you can dance to! Heck, the song is even moderately catchy! ... The instrumentation was taken out of the Boring Mainstream Producer's Book of Cliches, which hurts it. But how can you say no to Carey who's giving this party-time song all of herself? ............ I can't say it.

"Never Forget You" is another gospel song. I seriously don't hate gospel music ... I just don't care for Mariah's take on them. This is a considerably slower song, but there's not much difference between this and the world's vast array of cliche gospel songs! So sorry!! It's true that she's especially able to show off her powerful voice with gospel songs ... she just ought to find something new to do with them! That said, Carey doesn't do anything new with anything.

Badfinger's "Without You" is covered here. Oh, how did she know that is among my favorite songs???? And, this is the first great melody that Carey ever sang. This song actually suits Carey's voice well although I think she overdoes it a little bit. As far as the cover goes, it's not a whole lot different fundamentally from the original, except it sounds more artificial here. ... Well, we expected that, right?

"Just Hold You Once Again" is where Carey tries to get ultra-dramatic, which seems like watching a mouse try to climb up a glass window. It's entertaining enough to watch, but it's pathetic and gets boring after awhile. Another gospel-tinged song; it is a big flop.

Hip-hop has its ugly influence over Carey in "I've Been Thinking About You." Well, in this song's defense, it's not horrible and Carey does seem to favor singing over rapping. The instrumentation is pretty poor and the hooks are highly sparse. It gets boring after a minute of it passes.

"All I've Ever Wanted" isn't bad at all ... the melody is weak though somewhat memorable. Naturally, the main attraction here is Carey's thunderous vocals, which she really seems to give it her all here. The weak spot, again, is the instrumentation, but I'm almost able to block that aspect out here. This is a nice little, shallow ballad. Only the kind Mariah can make.

Concluding remarks

This album is very good in terms of Mariah Carey. That's kind of a compliment and insult at the same time.