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Electric Circus cost and won Common some fans. It was very exploratory, especially so for a rap album released in 2002, containing developments - some of which soared, some of which sank - that few longtime followers could have foreseen. Listeners either felt Common was picking up fresh, new inspirations, or that he was just being distracted by a whole lot of ill-fitting nonsense. With Be, it seems the MC has realized that not every album that's sprawling and eclectic is as good as Electric Ladyland or Songs in the Key of Life. More notably, he might've been struck with the fact that a high percentage of excellent albums are around 40 minutes in length and are built on a unified sound. Be is highly concentrated, containing 11 songs and involving two producers and a small number of guests. It's a 180 degree turn from Electric Circus, and in a bizarre way it's both a progression and a back-to-basics move. Kanye West and Dilla are key to the album's steadiness, rooting the sound in '70s soul and soul-jazz. That's no shakeup, but the two producers deserve some form of award for stringing together a consistent sequence of productions that is never monotonous, dull, or all that flashy. Even lead single InchThe Corner,Inch heard well before Be's , falls into the fabric of the album on first listen, as if that were where it belonged all along. Lyrically, Common comes back down to Earth - the narratives are sharp as ever, the gripes are more like observations than screeds, and the eccentricities need to be teased out rather than swatted away. Be isn't likely to be referred to by anyone as groundbreaking, but it's one of Common's best, and it's also one of the most tightly constructed albums of any form within recent memory Reissue of Common's 2005 LP Album Tracks 1. Be (Intro) 2. Corner - Common, the Last Poets 3. Go! 4. Faithful 5. Testify 6. Love Is 7. Chi

Around the Fur the follow-up to Deftones' passionate, aggressive Adrenaline, sees the California quartet expanding on the sheer rage of their earlier work, adding new, more sinister shades to their already extreme sound. The opening InchMy Own Summer (Shove It),Inch serves as an introduction to the album's sonic theme sinewy guitars and eerie whispers alternate with fast, violent crunch. Sepultura's Max Cavallero contributes guitar and vocals to InchHeadup,Inch while InchMXInch finds singer Chino trading off vocal lines with Annalynn Cunningham, (wife of Deftones' drummer Abe) in an acerbic take on the rock star mentality. Vocal acrobat Moreno attacks a variety of styles his breathy, psychotic recitations sound downright industrial, while the album's calmer, more brooding moments show his gift for haunting melody. Behind him, guitarist Stephen Carpenter's heavy wall of sound is astoundingly muscular, yet inspiringly agile. When Deftones' hellish fury hits full tilt, as it always does on this album, Moreno's voice erupts into screams which are best described as otherworldly, transforming this intense musical firestorm into a hurtling juggernaut of aggression. This LP version comes pressed on 180 gram vinyl. Album Tracks 1. My Own Summer (Shove It) 2. Lhabia 3. Mascara 4. Around the Fur 5. Rickets 6. Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away) 7. Lotion 8. Dai the Flu 9. Headup 10. MX

Limited 180 gram vinyl LP pressing. Purple Rain is the sixth studio album by Prince, the first to feature his backing band The Revolution, and is the soundtrack album to the 1984 film of the same name. Purple Rain is regularly ranked among the best albums in music history, and is widely regarded as Prince's magnum opus. Time magazine ranked it the 15th greatest album of all time in 1993, and it placed 18th on VH1's Greatest Rock and Roll Albums of All Time countdown. Rolling Stone ranked it the second-best album of the 1980s and 76th on their list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. The first two singles from Purple Rain, InchWhen Doves CryInch and InchLet's Go CrazyInch, topped the US singles charts, and were hits around the world, while the title track went to number two on the Billboard Hot 100. The album was certified thirteen-times platinum (diamond) by the RIAA. Album Tracks 1. Let's Go Crazy 2. Take Me with U 3. The Beautiful Ones 4. Computer Blue 5. Darling Nikki 1. When Doves Cry 2. I Would Die 4 U 3. Baby I'm a Star 4. Purple Rain