by Rock Enthusiast NY Reviewed on January 11th, 2005
This album was compiled mostly of space fillers and weak reinterpretations of classic songs in an overly melodramatic tone, as an obvious push towards the band's political agenda against the war effort in Iraq.
It's sad really, because I never figured Maynard James Keenan to be the opportunistic figure like a Michael Moore, looking for a way to make money by stirring up the crowd, simply for an emotional reaction. It's just so simple, not to mention lazy, to do that nowadays. The title "Emotive" sums it up... (Emotion + Motive)- As tacky and self serving as the name of a Michael Jackson album, "HiStory" LOL.
What's really disappointing was the effect this album put on my perspective of their other efforts. Much like the effect commercialization has on classic songs; now every time I listen to one of A Perfect Circle's songs, it'll just draw up questions as to what agenda Maynard might have had when he wrote the lyrics to a given song. Agenda, is now forever attached to their music. It's just something I wished never happened because it'll probably show up on a VH1 special a couple of years from now, in something like the "least metal moments".
You can't blame the guy for caring though, because I'm sure everyone else does. However, rather than create a rational argument over any disagreement towards the US' intentions in Iraq, the maudlin representations of classics in this album instead, really just put a stainful mark on the musical and artistic credibility that Maynard has gained over the years among his many devoted fans including myself.
As any true Tool or A Perfect Circle fan might understand, the songs in their albums usually contain a high level of complexity musically, lyrically, and especially artistically. However, since this album was written with an agenda in mind, that complexity was disappointingly absent in this CD. I can definitely understand the intentions of this album, but really... they simply were not recognized in this lackluster attempt.
Personally though, what really did it for me was not the remakes of other artists' songs, because understandably remixes of other people's songs are usually lost in translation; but the terrible remakes of their own songs! One such song was the neutered version they made of one of my all time favorite songs "Vacant", now known as "Passive". Another one, "Pet", which was just ripped to shreds into the now randomized cut and paste remix, "Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums".
If there's any agenda worth listening to in any of Maynard's efforts, it's to simply think for yourself and not blindly rely on some figure or establishment to determine your interpretations or course of actions. Kind of a paradox since Maynard is a celebrity.
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