Stankonia Review

The tempo is the change. They sped everything up, brought in guitars and hard electronic drums, and made a record with the physical urgency of rock while keeping every bit of the strangeness. B.O.B. is the proof, one hundred and fifty five beats per minute with a gospel choir and a guitar solo, and twenty five years later almost nothing sounds that reckless.

Ms. Jackson is one of the great pop singles of its era and one of very few hit songs genuinely about an apology. So Fresh, So Clean is effortless. Toilet Tisha and Slum Beautiful show the range is still there under the noise. It sprawls across twenty four tracks and a handful of skits could go. What it never does is compromise, and the fact that this was also their commercial breakthrough is the most encouraging thing about the whole story.