Yahoo! Music Album Review

Released on 24/07/06
Label: Virgin

Pharrell Williams' credentials as a hit-maker have been exhaustively documented but more important is his role in two of modern R&B's finest albums and a string of hip hop productions long enough to qualify him in a hall of fame somewhere between Marley Marl and Timbaland. We're thinking of Kelis' "Kaleidoscope" and the now deleted first version of NERD's "In Search Of" - the studio programmed one recorded before it was reworked with hapless Star Trak house band, Spymob. Both suggested the hit or miss, track-by-track nature of the R&B album could be transcended and pointed to a place where the planetary-gazing tradition of psychedelic black soul found perfect expression in the deceptively radical sounds of the US chart.

And yet, here we are confronted by an indulgent solo project with all the substance and imagination of an episode of "Home & Away". It's probably a story of 'yes men', rampant ego and the resultant breakdown of all aesthetic judgement again, isn't it? Certainly, Pharrell has never shown signs of self-doubt, punishing self-criticism, indeed, humility. He imagines himself as skateboarding uber nerd (hence, the teeth-gnashingly sh*t nickname, Skateboard P), platinum-shining super producer and rap star, falsetto-bothering soulman, rock'n'roll hellraiser and panty-loosening sex symbol. At least a couple aren't too far from the truth but it's quite a cargo load of semiotic activity for one superstar to travel with.

So, should it come as a surprise that his album-length solo star vehicle fails to concern itself with anything so peripheral as good music? Like the best-seller in Pharrell's head (working title, "The Many Sides of Me"), "In My Mind" spreads itself too thin. He can do loverman: the sloppy Casio breathiness of "Take It Off (Dim The Lights)" on which he comes perilously close to pleasuring himself with an item of underwear (?!) and the ringtone soul of recent single "Angel", where he likens his lady's behind to a loaf of bread. A stone-baked ciabatta, perhaps? Then there are the dim-witted guest spots on which he calls in favours from all the A-listers graced by his midas touch at the boards. None convince and we're left thinking of more fruitful hook-ups: Nelly's "Hot In Herre", Snoop's "Drop It Like It's Hot", Jay-Z's "I Just Wanna Love U", Clipse's "Grindin'" and Slim Thug's "Already Platinum".

Beyond the artificiality of this album's every attempt to be loved, what's most surprising is Pharrell's failure to program so much as a decent beat. We know that the knack hasn't deserted The Neptunes - recent work for Clipse ("Mr Me Too") and the sinister and screwed "Skunk Out" by Famlay prove that whilst the continued dominance of the south is confusing many of their peers, with help from their Virginia homies, Chad and Pharrell are still inspired and inspiring in the new hip hop landscape. Incidentally, Chad - the humble and retiring ying to Williams' yang, who has been sighted wearing Stereolab T-Shirts - sat this album out. You'd be well advised to do the same.

    by James Poletti