Customer Reviews

Eat at Whitey's

5 star:		(52)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

In the interest of full disclosure, let me say that this is only the second rap record I've ever bought, the first being Everlast's "Whitey Ford Sings the Blues." I'm a 47-year-old rock fan who grew up on the Stones, Cream, and Hendrix, and know very little about hip-hop. I heard of Everlast through his guest spot on Santana's album, and after seeing him open for Santana, decided to try one of his records.

That said, this is one of the most enjoyable new albums I've come across in years. I literally can't get enough of it, and have gone so far as to buy a second copy, so I can have it available in the car as well as at home.

True, this is mostly a rock record. The tracks "I Can't Move," "Black Coffee", "Babylon Feeling" and "Graves to Dig" are worth the purchase price, featuring lush arrangements, great lyrics, and powerful themes.

Having been drawn in by the songs, I've discovered at my advanced age that there's a lot to be said for driving down the highway with some thundering rap vibrating the windows and annoying neighbors.

When I heard his previous solo album 'Whitey Ford Sings the Blues', I wished there was more folk rock on it like "What It's Like". Well, Everlast just granted my wish. But now I wanna take it back :o)

This album is excellent. But it doesn't have much rap on it and experiments more with the folk blues thingy - expanding on that. There's nothing wrong with that though. It's a great blend of a little bit of everything. Great production. I like the cello and violins added to his music. It gives his style a warmer and wider sound. Just listen to the intro "Whitey" and hear how much potential it has.

But, like I said before, it lacks a bit in the rap department like WFSTB's "Funky Beat". I loved that one. That album was slightly better. But you should still get this one. It's great! Let it grow on you and you'll love it. After a while I did notice I was skipping a few tracks occasionally. But that's mostly because I'm too anxious to listen to my fave tracks of the album.

Those still are "Black Jesus", "I Can't Move", "Love For Real" and "Black Coffee". I think the latter is the best and most underrated song on the album. A true masterpiece. Such a simple but soothing and powerful song. But maybe it means so much to me cos it touches me personally and reminds me of past events of my life.

So far I'm more than pleased with Everlast's work. His two latest albums made him my favourite contemporary artist. His music is timeless.

For some people, this would count as Everlast's "difficult second album" regardless of the accuracy of such a statement ("Forever Everlasting" was his debut solo album, making this his 3rd). But, there have not been many albums in the 90s which are so focussed and perceptive as this one.

Everlast would appear, on the surface at least, to have jumped on the "let's try some odd combinations and see if they work" bandwagon which seems to be taking a lot of the music world by storm (Wyclef, I am looking in your direction). Not that this is a bad thing, but there's only so much that can be got out of it.

On closer listening, the album reveals the first of its many secrets. The apparently random nature of the guests is actually organised so that Everlast can demonstrate his own skills in performing many different styles.

All the tracks on this album are moving in some way or another - maybe not on first listening, but after you've got past some of the symbolism you'll beging to feel very emotional at most of them.

"Black Jesus" - Everlast singing what sounds like a very old blues song with modern lyrics ("Bloods keep bloodin'/Crips keep crippin'") while playing an acoustic guitar - may have been the lead off single but isn't the strongest track on the album, despite the power invested in the lyrics by Everlast's deep growl.

The better tracks here seem to be the quieter, reflective tracks. "I Can't Move", "Love For Real", "Babylon Feeling" and "Black Coffee" all have the effect of making the listener stop and take stock of the situation. "Graves To Dig" is another track in this vein but the abstract nature of the lyrics creates a feeling more of fright rather than anything else.

Another one of the best tracks is "Children's Story". According to the liner notes, Rahzel provides "human beatbox, human bassline, sound effects and all other cool stuff" on this track. The effect of having all the sound effects ("Uncle Whitey, tell us a story" and so on) being provided by Rahzel gives the track a comical edge which belies the harsh anti-crime message of Everlast's lyrics. The bassline is done so well it takes a long time to pick up that it isn't computer generated.

The album also features cameos from rappers such as B-Real. While this has the feature of showing that Everlast is true to his roots, it also shows just how much above the hardcore of hip-hop he has risen since the end of House Of Pain.

The only downside to this album is the simplicity of Everlast's guitar playing. But, when you're as talented as he is with the words and can get people like Carlos Santana to provide the music, you really don't need to be perfect everywhere.

In short, another superb album to expand the horizons of the hip-hop listener and introduce more people to the delights of the top end of hip-hop.

Though this album has some really great songs, if you want Whitey's best then just pick up Whitey's Ford Sings The Blues , his best album

Amazing cd, a hard-core rapper turned rock musician, his opening flow says it, "think i stopped rhyming, because I started singing, picking on a six string wrist bling blinging". It was nice to see someone take the time and write a meaningful lyric, he experiments with new sounds adding violins on some tracks and a noticeable harp on "graves to dig". Its got a folk feel mixed with hip hop attitude. This is one of the best cd's of the year, it is noticeable that he took his time to create each track, and our ears are the beneficiaries. Until this cd, I had never heard a bassline hit with a violin stringing in the back, great cd, If you are tired of hearing meaningless rock/rappers spit then pick up everlast and join in the passion every track has.

Here is the truth: Everlast is not that great of a guitar player, not that great of a singer, not that great of a songwriter and not that great of a rapper. Yet, you still have to respect what the man is doing. Putting all he knows in a blender and letting you see what it is. Of course, the Santana track is going to definitely stand out, but each song kind of wanes, lyrically, after the first verse and hook. I normally wouldn't give a record three stars with so many holes in it, but I'll give it to Everlast on shear creativeness.

Everlast is still rockin, in his own unique way. The folk raprock has more of a rock edge this time around than previously. This is still definitely a worthy followup to Whitey Ford Sings the Blues. The production is much more interesting this time around. From the drum n bass interlude (!) to "Babylon Feeling," to the simplistic "Black Coffee," to the well layered anti-violence anthem "Graves to Dig," the production shimmers with both beautiful guitar tone and Radiohead-esque overtones. A great album.

Ever since I heard "Black Jesus" on the radio I was hooked. I can hardly name another band that plays this style of music. Everlast left only a small amount of hip-hop in his music, and added a lot of R'N'B, acoustic guitar rock, a touch of soul music, and even a string quartet. The resulting innovative blend appeared to be top-quality music that is suitable for serious listening and appealing to fans of different genres. We can say that Everlast addressed the R'N'B roots of hip-hop, but it also sounds very modern.

The diversity of styles presented here is impressive. "Deadly Assassins" is the closest thing to House of Pain times, while "Black Coffee" is almost a ballad. "Love for Real" has this specific bluesy feel, and "One, Two" is a mellow rapping flow. "Children's Story", a cover song, is impressive. Actually, I like the entire album, and I'm particularly impressed with the integration of cello and violin in a music like this. Carlos Santana's desire to work with Everlast is a quality approval mark, and the result is very good.

If your interests in music are broad, and you are not a "rap-fan-till-I-die", then I can't see how you won't like this record. Everlast is not the best singer, and neither he is a skillful guitar-player. But he is an excellent songwriter, sincere lyricist and emotional performer. This is one of my best purchases of recent years.

As one of the founding members of legendary Rap Group "House of Pain"....Everlast (aka `Erik Schrody'), would soon leave the band after their third album to pursue a Solo career of `Folk-Rock / Rap-Rock' (Whaaat????), but as horrifying as it sounds...Everlast's hybrid of Folk-Rap/Grimy Hip-hop & Rock-Rap is a masterstroke in conception & execution, the delicate Folk inspired acoustic guitars of "Black Coffee", to the latin-esque flavour of "Babylon Feeling" (courtesy of a guest "Carlos Santana"), and straight up B-Boy Hip-Hop/Rap, with Cypress Hill's "B-Real" leading real heavyweight support. Somewhat bizarrely, for someone with such a Distinctive Hardcore Rap background, there are various mentions of `Religion' proliferated throughout the album (maybe due to his Irish-American background), but nonetheless this is an album of sufficiently powerhouse themes & Ideas, to ensure that this is an album more far diverse, complex, innovative & accomplished than any of his contemporary peers.

Very few albums stay in my CD player years after their release. But Everlast's last 2 albums are in my top 5 albums that I've ever bought. While Eat at Whitey's has not come anywhere near the commercial success that Whitey Ford Sings the Blues did 2 years before it, it is easily just as good, if not better.

Eat at Whitey's is a very experimental album for Everlast. Maybe he heard the cries from many of the people who bought WFSTB after hearing What It's Like, who thought they were scammed because the majority of it was a hip hop album. Eat at Whitey's relies mostly on Erik's incredibly unique singing voice, rather than his rapping. He's much more comfortable with his voice this time around as he shows on Black Jesus and Black Coffee. Instead of the somewhat monotonous singing tone that he displayed on many of the blues songs on WFSTB, he sings with much more emotion that keeps you hanging on every word.

There are no bad songs on the album, but there are a couple that are a notch below the rest of this spectacular album. Deadly Assassins uses a very generic beat from the usually stellar Alchemist, and the lyrics by Ev and B-Real suffer because of it. One, Two is not a bad song, but once again is brought down a bit by an average beat and average lyrics from Everlast and Kurupt. Unlike WFSTB, the hip hop songs don't match the quality of the songs that Everlast sings on.

All in all, Eat at Whitey's will keep you satisfied for a long time. Songs like I Can't Move, Love For Real, Black Jesus and Graves to Dig will have you in awe at Everlast's songwriting versatility. This album is definitely the most under appreciated album of 2000.