Eamon Blog

Today's Shelf Pull: Beyoncé, B'DAY (20th Anniversary Edition)

Rhythm with its sleeves rolled up

B'DAY (20th Anniversary Edition) brings the percussion, brass and dramatic changes of scale into a longer listening frame.

Some records invite you to settle in. Beyoncé makes a rather firmer suggestion. B'DAY (20th Anniversary Edition) puts rhythm at the centre of the room, with percussion, bright brass and tightly clipped guitar giving the voice plenty to push against. This is pop that understands the usefulness of friction. Nothing needs to lounge about when a sharp corner will do.

For today's pull in Listowel, the vinyl edition offers a reason to follow that energy beyond a familiar song or two. The original album arrived in 2006, Beyoncé's second solo studio album, and its confidence is audible in the way it handles pace. Force matters here, but so does knowing when to reduce the distance between singer and listener.

The broad ingredients are R&B, pop, funk and soul. Those labels identify the cupboard rather than the meal: the interest lies in how firmly the rhythmic parts hold one another in place.

Dense vocal layers add another kind of movement. Listen for the relationship between that vocal fullness and the clipped instrumental shapes, rather than treating the arrangement as a backdrop for a single commanding presence.

On the shelf today

Beyoncé - B'DAY (20th Anniversary Edition)

2LP / Pop / 2006

EUR34.99 / Available now

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