Nothing But The Beat

Rolling Stone (p.68) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[I]t does show how good he is at making Eurohouse's thumping trounce and jet-engine synth whoosh feel like natural elements in the hip-hop, R&B and even rock continuum." Spin (p.82) - "[A] 12-track hit parade of monster club anthems..."

French DJ David Guetta’s R&B-meets-house formula had topped the charts around the globe by the time his 2011 effort, Nothing But the Beat, saw release, so it shouldn’t be surprising that this star-studded collection of big-room tunes plays like a hits collection. His previous album, One Love, felt the same way, with every track a potential single, but the differences are in each album’s appropriate title. This one plays like Now That’s What I Call Guetta 2, with Snoop Dogg acting as an avenging disco Doggfather on the Auto-Tuned “Sweat,” while Nicki Minaj does a pole dance on the operating table for “Turn Me On,” which turns a doctor visit into double entendre overflow. Jennifer Hudson guests on the cut “Night of Your Life,” making it the diva uplift track you’d expect from such a title, and Sia’s “Titanium” is a decent stab at Coldplay-for-the-house-music set. But something’s missing, something along the lines of “When Love Takes Over.” Without that soulful kind of anchor, Nothing But the Beat offers the same experience as one of Guetta’s numerous remix sets, which is a compliment if you’re a dancefloor and a caution if you’re a pair of headphones. ~ David Jeffries

世界的なヒットとなった『One Love』やブラック・アイド・ピーズのプロデュースによって、ついに全米ブレイクを果たしたデヴィッド・ゲッタ。2年ぶりとなるこのニュー・アルバムでも最近のアーバン人脈をフル活用して、前作以上のパーティー・ロッカーぶりを見せつけてくれている。先行シングル“Where Them Girls At"に招いたニッキー・ミナージュとフロウ・ライダーをはじめ、アッシャーやクリス・ブラウン、リル・ウェイン、エイコン、スヌープ・ドッグ、ジェニファー・ハドソンら豪華なゲスト陣とのコラボだけでもお腹いっぱいだが、＜Electronic Album＞と題された豪快なインスト集も含む2枚組という体裁からは、もともとフレンチ・ハウスを世界に広めたオリジネイターとしての意地も見え隠れする。
bounce (C)高橋玲子