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The weird crappy live track. The album closes with a badly recorded live freestyle called “Pinocchio Story,” in which he plaints about wanting to be a real boy leading a real life. It sounds like a bootleg. Scott Plagenhoef dismisses it as a wtf curiosity, and coming at the end of such a shimmering, perfectly cold album it’s a surprise. But it’s still of a piece with the record, even on the level of its production.
Does he have anything interesting to say? Not a lot. It’s a breakup album. The one exception is “Amazing,” my favorite song on the album (I am probably alone in this). As you might suspect from the title, it starts as a paean to himself: It’s amazing / I’m the reason / Everybody [is] fired up this evening… And no matter what you’ll never take that from me / My reign is as far as your eyes can see / It’s amazing, so amazing etc. But then it shifts and reframes the chorus: I’m a monster, I’m a killer / I know I’m wrong… And no matter what you’ll never take that from me. And in the third verse: I’m the only thing I’m afraid of.
What’s the best song? Well, “Love Lockdown” is a solid jam, as has already been well-established; it’s your safest choice. I’m going to go with “RoboCop,” because I like things that try to do too much, even when they fail; things that are a bit off. On a chilly, careful album, it’s the only thing that sounds legitimately, honestly weird–over an aggro Portishead beat, West adds a pretty string quartet and relentlessly cheery, major-key vocals which are creepily sophomoric. Not metasophomoric like Eminem, but actually pretty childish. It’s kind of psycho.
