Mariah Carey
“Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel”
Release Date: September 29th, 2009
Label: Island
Genre(s): Pop, R&B

I’ve always been a fan of Mariah. I may not have been old enough to remember the disaster that was the “Glitter” project, but I have since seen (and heard) that mistake. I stayed with Mariah, believed she knew what she was doing. The media wasn’t so sweet, claiming that Mariah was officially a hasbeen.  Evenetually, Mimi made an attempt to shut them up — by releasing both The Emancipation of Mimi and E=MC2.

In retrospect, neither disc had that effect on critics and while fans ate up some of the singles (particularly “Don’t Forget About Us” and “We Belong Together”), the general reception was lukewarm at best. Not disasters by any means, but certainly no masterpieces either.

Unfortunately, Mimi’s 12th studio album follows suit — it has a number of truly great tracks, but also seems a bit heavy on filler. It seems like Mariah and her production team (which includes the likes of The-Dream, Tricky Stewart and even Randy Jackson) have trouble combing through tracks that are truly album worthy; those songs that should have either remained unreleased or be delegated to single b-sides or throwaway tracks to include on the inevitable “Ultra Platinum” re-release of Memoirs.

On the bright side, Mimi’s cover of “I Want To Know What Love Is” really is one of the standout tracks on this disc. I’ve already praised the track in my review for the single, so I won’t go into too much detail here — but this is one of Mariah’s best vocal performances of this decade. The production is tight, super-polished (possibly too much for some listeners) and it outdoes the original Foreigner version in every single way. Truly epic.

As much as I hate the tracks’ name, “Up Out My Face” is good, strong R&B-tinged pop and part of me things it will end up being a single for the album. It is full of hooks and actually isn’t TOO different from 2005′s “We Belong Together”. It’s a slower dance track and I’d imagine it would see some chart success if released as a single. Guess we’ll have to wait and see.

On the other hand — some tracks are truly bad. Mariah’s voice is NEVER bed, but the same cannot be said about the music or lyrics she’s performing. The album opener, “Betcha Gon’ Know (The Prologue)” has some of the most cringe-worthy lyrics in Mariah’s entire repertoire. Here’s an excerpt:

“A block from the house, slowly creep in the driveway
Tiptoe through the door, but you’re there wide awake
You’re like : Where you been?
I’m like : Sorry but I fell asleep on Jasmin’s sofa
I could have swore that RayRay called you and told ya
Your like : Are you OK?
I’m like : mmm, right go to sleep and I’ll be fine
But if you only knew what was in the back of my mind
really stung, but your really gonna find out in time “

Really? The “I’m like, you’re like” exchanges are bad enough, but the entire song reads like a page out of a 13 year old girl’s diary. A 13 year old girl who’s heart was just broken by her first crush. Which would be fine, except the track is about a woman walking in on her man having an affair with another woman. Not exactly heart-wrenching when a 39 year old woman sings about her man having a tryst from the perspective of a teenager.

My main problem with this disc is the absolutely useless reprisals. Starting with “Up Out My Face,” several tracks have reprisals that don’t flow well with the album at all — “Up Out My Face (The Reprise)” sounds like a terrible high-school band doing a Mariah Carey tribute. It is truly a nightmare. Chalk up “The Impossible (The Reprise),” “Angels Cry (Prelude)” and “Languishing (The Interlude)” all as pointless tracks as well. This is why people think Mariah can’t make a decent album — she throws in terrible filler material that simply does not work for her.

Luckily there are a few more good tracks — “H.A.T.E.U.” is another slower dance-pop track and Mariah sounds great. It is a bit more repetitive than I’d normally like (the background music is one continuous loop), but Mariah’s voice is so smooth that I can’t help to enjoy the track.

“Angels Cry” is another standout track, this time a full-on ballad, that brings Mariah back to the sound she had on her first two albums.  Her voice is so flawless, so serene that I can’t even imagine how much post-recording production went into the track.  Mimi may still have a great voice, but she isn’t flawless, so I’m sure the producers had their work cut out for them.  Regardless, “Angels Cry” is, in its final state, a truly great ballad from Mimi.

Overall, I can’t hate on the album as a whole.  Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel is much more pop-infused than Mariah’s last few efforts. Fans of Mariah’s older material, or those looking for slower, more sappy pop balladry should look no further — in between the filler lies some phenomenal material.  Come on Mimi, your fans love you  — but each of your last few albums has been overstocked with filler — you better learn how to cull that material before it’s too late.

By the way — If you buy the “special edition enhanced CD” you get four more tracks — club remixes of Memoirs’ first single, “Obsessed.”  Both the Seamus Haji / Paul Emanuel Radio Edit and the Cahill Radio Mix are clearly aimed at gay dance clubs, and as a result really really tug at my gay heart-strings.  Fabulous, if you catch my drift.

Rating: 7.0/10

Check Out: “I Want To Know What Love Is,” “Angels Cry,” “H.A.T.E.U.”
BAD: “Betcha Gon Know’ (The Prelude),” Any of the other reprises or interludes