The Tipping Point＜Black Vinyl/限定盤＞

ザ・ルーツの2004年アルバム『The Tipping Point』のLP。

ヒップホップ・バンド、ザ・ルーツがゲフィン・レコーズから2004年7月13日にオリジナル・リリースした6作目。マルコム・グラッドウェルによる2000年の著書からタイトルをとった、2002年『フレノロジー』に続くアルバム。雑多ながらポップ・オリエンテッドなサウンドと、勇敢さや政治的見識、社会批評を伴った歌詞があいまり、前作までとは趣を変えた作風となった。また、ソウル、ジャズ、ファンクからの影響を表面化/強調した作品として記憶されている。

Rolling Stone (p.108) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[With] buttery pop choruses, hard-as-hell hookless spitting, jittery programmed beats...and it's got a bunch of impressive ideas." Spin (pp.101-2) - "THE TIPPING POINT is a different kind of change-up: a straight-ahead rap album with tracks culled from a variety of mostly unknown producers....The last tracks is a testament to the group's golden A&R touch." - Grade: B Entertainment Weekly (p.76) - "[A]n eclectic and often breezy reimagining of hip-hop's energetic essence." - Grade: B+ Q (p.113) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[With] structure, innocence and a polished pop sensibility, albeit of a subtle, measured kind....It feels like a whole lot of fun." Vibe (p.140) - 4 out of 5 - "[O]pting for politically charged rhymes and melodic, accessible beats, Black Thought, ?uestlove, and company overflow with potential singles." Mojo (Publisher) (p.92) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[I]t's on the swarming, free-form 'Outro' that The Roots sound most alive....[The] tension makes THE TIPPING POINT's finest moments so electrifying."

The delivery of any new Roots album is rarely talked or written about without the words "highly" and "anticipated," and The Tipping Point is no exception. Besides the usual expectation for the band's superior lyrical skills and attention to detail, there's the previously announced concept that The Tipping Point would be recorded through free-spirited jams that would later be edited down. Sounds like a don't-care-about-the-final-package, music-for-music's-sake release, but the album is a well-constructed ride from start to finish that's perfect for a headphones-on, lights-out evening and a gift to fans who found 2002's Phrenology a bit mannered and forced. To paraphrase the album's "Pointro," the tracks here are mostly warm and organic "life music" that "thrusts its branches from the muck of wackness" without any overly calculated "hypnotic donkey rhythms." The ghost of Sly & the Family Stone is summoned for the opening "Star," an exuberant soul rocker that creeps along with a Timbaland-style beat, only it's live. On the other hand, there's the perfect for popping, locking, and robot-dancing "Don't Say Nuthin'" with its solid electro and Black Thought's quirky mumbled verse. The shifting from the sticky, stately reggae of "Guns Are Drawn" to the Cohiba-puffing swagger of "Stay Cool" is just one example of how the album overcomes its noncommitment to any particular groove by giving the listener nothing but fully formed, inspired tracks. The band's renewed love of head-bobbing jams also helps keep it together although the album's long stretches of rap-less jamming might alienate those just here for the message. For them there's the lyric-filled "Boom!," which may not be enough. Take off your academic backpack for a change and bask in an album that's comfortably loose and ends with an over-the-top, celebratory cover of George Kranz's "Din Daa Daa" that's unnecessary but extra fun. The Tipping Point is too modest to be the "idea that spreads like a virus" that's explored in the Malcolm Gladwell book the collection cops it title from. What the album lacks in ambition and social commentary, it makes up for with deep soul. That should be enough to make whatever this group does next "highly anticipated." ~ David Jeffries

〈ネオ・フィリー〉と称されるフィラデルフィアのシーンを90年代から切り拓き、導いてきた唯一無比の存在である彼らの新作。今回より彼らが主宰するアーティスト・コミュニティーをレーベル化した〈オーケープレイヤー〉から登場となる本作は、多彩な要素を取り込んだ実験的な内容で物議を醸した前作『Phrenology』から一転、もしくは進化したというべきか。のっけからスライ&ザ・ファミリーストーンの“Everybody Is A Star”を使った〈仮想共演曲〉で始まるなど、一聴してストレートに心躍らされるような傑作曲がズラリ。スコット・ストーチによるシンプルなシンセ・ループがクセになる先行曲“Don't Say Nothin'”から、スタジオでのジャム・セッションをそのまま封じ込めたかのようなスリリングなものまで、彼ら自身も「これまでの活動の集大成」と話しているように、その仕上がりには微塵の迷いも感じられない。まさに入魂の一枚だ。
bounce (C)卯之田 吉晴