Posted on: February 26, 2009 Posted by: anfnewsacct Comments: 0

Dennis Bagwell has the onerous honor of garnering one of the lowest ratings ever given by NeuFutur. However, it’s been about 6 months since I reviewed eir last album, “A Random Litter of Thought”. “All Our Friends are Enemies” has a weak version of President Bush’s set of vocals doing some stream of consciousness rant as looped samples of vocals are played throughout the background. The rhymes are all obvious and do not go for the more clever or trying links.

A mix between slam poetry and rap, Dennis Bagwell’s vocals bury themselves in the red line the entire time. Perhaps moving away from the microphone or allowing the producer to mix the different parts of the track would be a move forward. I mean, I like political commentary and wish more acts would do it, but this commentary should exist in either spoken word form or should be meshed full-cloth inside of a song. This middle-ground of Bagwell’s just does not impress, and makes individuals struggle to even get through the first track on “Paid in Full”. “Scars and Stripes Forever – Part II” uses the American anthem as it sounds coming out of a fifty year old radio, and is hidden in the background by the same irritating and weak flow achieved by Bagwell.

Include a zine with your next CD, talk on a few tracks, just do something that removes your flow from the tracks here. It is not as if the backing beats are much better, simply consisting of distorted and chopped up quotations and songs, but still. The level of talent expressed in this Frankenstein’s monster of slam poetry is the equivalent of those spoofs of slam poets showcased by shows like Kids in the Hall, Saturday Night Live, and Cheap Seats. I bet that Bagwell has strong convictions, and I love that. I bet I would agree with most of what ey Is saying throughout the entirety of the disc, but even I can’t get through the twenty-five minutes of “music” that are presented to listeners during “Paid in Full”. I would give Bagwell one final chance, just for the “three strikes and you’re out” prophesy to become true. I hope other reviewers for other magazines and media outlets find the beauty in Bagwell’s “Paid In Full”, but I can’t and not lie to myself and my readers. Pass on this disc and this artist for now.

Top Tracks: None

Rating: .4/10

Dennis Bagwell – Paid in Full / 2006 Batteryface / 10 Tracks / http://www.batteryface.com / Reviewed 25 February 2007

[JMcQ]

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