More melodic than Channel
Orange, but not as compelling.
But don’t let that stop you.
Beginning with the stunning cover of Coldplay’s “Strawberry
Swing,” a psychedelic dreamscape of youthful nostalgia, the song becomes
overtaken by an alarm clock, waking Ocean from the golden slumbers of his
memorable cover, before segueing into the first great song that he’s composed. “Novacane” is a fascinating character study of
Southern California plasticity through the eyes of a wide-eyed Ocean who sees
the tragedy of a beauty lost, of potential unfulfilled, and of the general view
of entitlement that his Orange
County
Speaking of “wide-eyed,” Ocean channels a bit of Stanley
Kubrick’s memory, including entire sections of “Eyes Wide Shut” underneath
“Love Crimes,” and advising listeners that “this is some revolutionary shit” on
par with the late director.
That would come later, but Nostalgia, Ultra certainly hints at it and is far better than
anything that’s typically given away to fans.
Of course, one person who doesn’t know this kind of
generosity-Don Henley-threatened to sue Ocean over the liberal use of The
Eagles’ “Hotel California” during “American Wedding.”
It’s a throwaway, essentially the music with new words over
the top of it (How did Ocean get the master track to do this?) and he does the
same thing with the following track “Nature Feels” which lifts MGMT’s “Electric
Feel.”
The only redeeming thing was that it pissed off Don Henley,
and remind us of a time when MGMT were poised to becoming something great in
this fickle music environment.
They never reached their fullest potential, but Ocean
certainly has, transitioning from this-a formidable purveyor of “the mix tape”
displaying enormous talents that would later come to fruition with his debut, Channel Orange.
Nostalgia, Ultra
will be viewed as a legitimate entry, possibly too good to be given away, but
too layered with easy arrangements to pose a threat to anything that he has
done since.
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