Wu-Tang
Chamber Music
In the past month the internet has yielded five, count ‘em, five leaked tracks from this album. There’s no doubt that they’ve all been hella impressive. The problem is that once you actually listen to this 35 minute Wu-compilation you realize that you’ve already heard most of the good tracks. This is largely due to the fact that of the 17 tracks, only eight of them are actual songs. The rest being minute-long interludes featuring the RZA offering up some head-scratching discombobulated monologues on God knows what over Shaolin-style instrumentals.
In any case, for as skeletal a project as it is, Chamber Music actually packs a nice punch. It’s a golden-age rap fan’s wet dream to hear AZ, Ghostface and Inspectah Deck go in over the sinister guitar licks on ‘Harbor Masters.’ Hell, with The Revelations providing live instrumentation, it’s an honor and a pleasure to hear the Wu-vets go in over any of the tracks, especially when you’ve got them paired with the likes of M.O.P., Sean Price, and one half of the original ‘Symphony’ line-up (Masta Ace and Kool G Rap).
One of the gems that actually didn’t make it to the blogs before the album’s release, ‘Sound the Horns,’ features a pleasantly surprising guest appearance by Sadat X. On ‘Radiant Jewels’ Cormega does the unthinkable and out-shines Raekwon the Chef on his own track in one of the bar-for-bar upsets of the year. This is a must-have for any Wu-fan. And don’t get it twisted: this isn’t exactly a new Wu album. Just think of it as a nice experimental side-project – one that’s 10 times better than their last major one.
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