Customer Reviews

Special Herbs 5 & 6

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

MF does it again with this third set of Special Herbs. If you like beats and instrumentals, you have to like Metal Fingers. This album was good, with, as always instrumentals from DOOM albums. There were also plenty of original beats. Two that I particularly liked were #3 White Willow Bark, and #6 Lavender buds. But then again I could go on and on. Some songs are soothing, others stimulating, but they all are sweet and will put you in a better mood for having heard them.

MF Doom has done it again as his production alter-ego Metal Fingers. This album rates at the top of my list with instrumental albums, along with Pete Rock's Petestrumentals and Jay Dee's Vintage. It has a extremely 70's feel throughout the whole album and leaves you with sort of a retro Herbie Hancock-esque (circa Headhunters) feel. You can clearly see on the song 'Dragon's Blood' Metal Fingers favors the comic book world with his sample from the 1960's Spiderman cartoon. 'Myrtle Leaf' is one of the best tracks on this album easily leaving your head bobbing and repeatedly pressing the Back button on your CD player. MF Doom is one of underground Hip-Hop's hardest working producers/MC's and geniusly exhibits his talent on Special Herbs Vol. 5&6.

The Special Herbs collections are essentially instrumental-only tunes of what you have heard from MF DOOM / VIKTOR VAUGHN before and then some extra stuff that did not make it to the final cut and of course tunes that MF DOOM had being working on but had no place outside of an instrumental offering. Hence the name, Special Herbs! I would suggest that you search out a full MF DOOM collection and then get these supplements unless you are looking for instrumental-only hip-hop. If you are, then you have come to the right place.

Special Herbs: The Box Set is Special Herbs vol. 0-9. You get all five double albums for the price of two albums. So it is much better value.

MF Doom just can't go a couple of months without releasing an album of some sort. That's one of the main reasons I love him. His discography is so chalk full of originality and quality, that it's quite easy for a hip-hop head like myself to become completely enthralled with his career. These "Special Herbs" are a fine addition to his repertoire. Aside from his production on other albums (with rapping), this is a more in depth look at the man behind the mask. I recognized about 4 or 5 of the loops contained in this 13 track collection. It's a fun and chill ride of instrumentals that is sure to make you a believer in his moody production. The CD is also enhanced with some videos and pictures. The "My Favorite Ladies" music video was the highlight of the package for yours truly. Other videos include a live performance of "All Outta Ale", and a live "Special Blends DJ Set". Both of those live videos feature horrible sound quality and grainy video; leaving much to be desired. All and all, this is an interesting look at MF Doom's alternate agenda.

This Special Herbs album is one of the best yet. I've listen all the way thru to Special Herbs 9-10, and this one is still probably my favorite. It has the best assortment of tracks that aren't used on any of Doom' other albums (King Geedorah, MIC, etc.) and the tracks are smooth.

MF DOOM is one of the best mc/producers in hip hop right now, the man is consistantly dropping fresh material which is rare in this genre these days. So it was really no suprise that this CD quickly became one of my favorite instrumental albums from the 1st listen. There aren't any beats on this disc I wasn't feelin. Pick this up if you like good instrumentals. Also to you DOOM fans that don't know, Viktor Vaughn 2 Venomous Villian is supposed to drop August of this year.