Oh yeah, sing for the moment is a great song too any time he samples another song like that its usually fiyah, Stan with Dido and that song Beautiful off Relapse.

Production wise, didnt he start doing a lot of his own production on this album? Then he did away with it on Relapse with the Dr. Dre overload?

A good solid follow-up to the MMLP. Some really great cuts, but numerous misses as well - to this day I'm still not feeling "White America", "Sing for the Moment", or "Without Me". One song that I hated but grew on me quickly was "Cleaning Out My Closet". The first time I heard the chorus, I was like "WTF is this warbling singing shit?!" - but it's now one of my favorite Em songs, trailing only "Say What You Say" (just a fantastic, dope beat) as my favorite song on the album. Other solid faves are "Till I Collapse", "Superman", and filling the "this song is so corny, but I can't help myself, I like it" role: "My Dad's Gone Crazy".

Overall: let's say.... 7.5 out of 10. About the same as the SSLP, but that one is more steadily consistent while this one has higher highs but lower lows. Years later, it's probably the Em album I sleep on the most for some reason. Every once in a while, I'll come across the CD or see it on the ipod and think "man, it's been a while, I forgot how good this album is". Always refreshing to give it a listen or two on those days.

I loved The Eminem Show. It's my second favorite album of his behind SSLP. There's some weak tracks here and there but I listened to the whole album today in it's entirety and it holds up very well.

Released: November 12, 2004

Tracklisting:

1. "Curtains Up" (skit)
2. "Evil Deeds"
3. "Never Enough" (feat. 50 Cent & Nate Dogg)
4. "Yellow Brick Road"
5. "Like Toy Soldiers"
6. "Mosh"
7. "Puke"
8. "My 1st Single"
9. "Paul" (skit)
10. "Rain Man"
11. "Big Weenie"
12. "Em Calls Paul" (skit)
13. "Just Lose It"
14. "Ass Like That"
15. "Spend Some Time" (feat. Obie Trice, Stat Quo & 50 Cent)
16. "Mockingbird"
17. "Crazy in Love"
18. "One Shot 2 Shot" (feat. D12)
19. "Final Thought" (skit)
20. "Encore" (feat. Dr. Dre & 50 Cent)

I think this is definitely Eminem's worst album overall. I do like 'Like Toy Soldiers' and 'Yellow Brick Road', and I can tolerate 'Just Lose It', 'Mockingbird', and 'Crazy In Love', but that's it.

Songs like Puke, Big Weenie & Ass Like That were just ridiculously bad.

Yeah, no thesis from me this time around. This album simply isn't up to the standard set by his previous work. I agree, Tarantino, those three songs are just awful. "Mockingbird" and "Spend Some Time" are good, and my (now shameful) infatuation with Martika that I had in high school made me like "Like Toy Soldiers" probably a little more than it warranted. Sadly, IMO, 50's verse on "Spend Some Time" was better than anything Em spit on the album.

Overall: a 5/10.

Terrible album. I do listen to it every once in a while to see if it can get better but it doesn't.

suckfest, I dont even remember any of the songs, I think toy soldiers might have been decent.

Yeah not a whole lot to really like on this one. 1 or 2 solid tracks on there and even those don't seem to find a way into any playlists of mine. Whole album was a huge letdown.

A two-fer post...



Released: December 6th, 2005

Tracklisting:

1. "Intro (Curtain Call)"
2. "Fack"
3. "The Way I Am"
4. "My Name Is"
5. "Stan (Feat. Dido)"
6. "Lose Yourself"
7. "Shake That (Feat. Nate Dogg)"
8. "Sing for the Moment"
9. "Without Me"
10. "Like Toy Soldiers"
11. "The Real Slim Shady"
12. "Mockingbird"
13. "Guilty Conscience (Feat. Dr. Dre)"
14. "Cleanin' Out My Closet"
15. "Just Lose It"
16. "When I'm Gone"
17. "Stan (Feat. Elton John)" (live)

And since I forgot it earlier...



Released: October 29, 2002

Tracklisting:

1. "Lose Yourself" (by Eminem)
2. "Love Me" (by Eminem, Obie Trice & 50 Cent)
3. "8 Mile" (by Eminem)
4. "Adrenaline Rush" (by Obie Trice)
5. "Places To Go" (by 50 Cent)
6. "Rap Game" (by Eminem, 50 Cent and D12)
7. "8 Miles And Runnin'" (by Jay-Z & Freeway)
8. "Spit Shine" (by Xzibit)
9. "Time Of My Life" (by Macy Gray)
10. "U Wanna Be Me" (by Nas)
11. "Wanksta" (by 50 Cent)
12. "Wastin' My Time" (by Boomkat)
13. "R.A.K.I.M." (by Rakim)
14. "That's My ***** Fo' Real" (by Young Zee)
15. "Battle" (soundtrack version) (by Gang Starr)
16. "Rabbit Run" (by Eminem)

Yeah, I was actually going to suggest posting the 8 Mile Soundtrack as well, has some good stuff by Eminem.

Love Me is probably one of my favourite Eminem songs. There's just something about the vibe of the song that I really dig and Em, Obie, and 50 all have great verses.

Lose Yourself is good as well, if a bit over-played back when it came out.

Lose yourself has to be on a lot of people's top 5 lists of his, It was overplayed of course.

I think a greatest hits album, 4 records and about 5-6 years into your career is a joke.

The 8 mile soundtrack only got a few spins from me. Other than em and Jay-z, Im not really checking for anyone else. 50 was already on the downfall by that album. No use for d12. I have xzibit and gangstarr cd's but neither is consistent enough for me to get excited for a song of theirs, unlike Jay and em who bring it 9 out of 10 times

I actually really like D12. Devil's Night is a very good album and D12 World is a decent follow-up. Proof is actually one of my favourite all-time MCs. Searching For Jerry Garcia is a brilliant album and one of my favourites.

I was never a fan of D12 either. I think that the 8 Mile soundtrack was pretty good, and of course Lose Yourself was a huge hit. It doesn't bring back any memories for me though, like the first three albums.

The greatest hits album I bought for the extra songs, all of which were terrible.

Agreed. Also I prefer the other 8 Mile soundtrack called More Music From 8 Mile. It had a lot of the mid-90's songs that were in the movie like Mobb Deep - Shook Ones, B.I.G. - Juicy, Wu Tang - C.R.E.A.M., Ol Dirty Bastard - Shimmy Shimmy Ya, etc.

Released: May 15, 2009

Tracklisting:

1. "Dr. West"
2. "3 a.m."
3. "My Mom"
4. "Insane"
5. "Bagpipes from Baghdad"
6. "Hello"
7. "Tonya" (skit)
8. "Same Song & Dance"
9. "We Made You"
10. "Medicine Ball"
11. "Paul" (skit)
12. "Stay Wide Awake"
13. "Old Time's Sake" (featuring Dr. Dre)
14. "Must Be the Ganja"
15. "Mr. Mathers" (skit)
16. "Déjà Vu"
17. "Beautiful"
18. "Crack a Bottle" (featuring Dr. Dre & 50 Cent)
19. "Steve Berman" (skit)
20. "Underground"



Tracklisting:

1. "Forever" (with Drake, Kanye West & Lil Wayne)
2. "Hell Breaks Loose" (featuring Dr. Dre)
3. "Buffalo Bill"
4. "Elevator"
5. "Taking My Ball"
6. "Music Box"
7. "Drop the Bomb on 'Em"

This in the 4 out of 5 range. Its right there with the SSLP and the eminem show. I can't really say which of the 3 albums are better. Im thinking Dre's production made this album better than what it could have been. The accents are annoying.

I'll skim through the album as a refresher and write my opinion, here goes.

3AM is alright, I think the lyrics are ok, content is kinda amateurish for em.
"My mom" really dig this one good beat, Tired subject, but it clued us into a little more about his upbringing. His mom crushing up pills and force feeding him them. She was looking for public attention for her sick child it seems, "what kinda mother would want to see her/ son grow up to an undera-fucking-chiever" That sums up the whole song. That beginning of the 2nd verse is a sick flow about mixing the paint thinner, painkillers and valiums into thanksgiving dinner and spinach dip etc.
Insane- great, but I just don't believe what he's saying in that, I can't believe someone would admit to that.
Bagpipes is funny.
"Hello" and "same song" are just ok, not my favorites off the cd
We made you is his typical first MTV-friendly video song
Medicine ball is nice, good lyrics good beat
Stay wide awake is dope, one of the better songs
Old time sake, accent annoys me on this one
Must be the ganja and deja vu and beautiful are some of the better songs. Beautiful is the same formula as Stan and that song with the aerosmith sample.
Crack a bottle is a fun song, seems like a radio play type song
Underground is one of the top 2 songs off the cd might be my favorite that or "my mom"

Not as familiar with the bonus tracks, but here goes
Forever is a classic
Hell breaks loose is a banger
Buffalo bill, good stuff
Elevator funny stuff
Taking my ball, waste of a dope beat with some half ass lyrics
Music box, good beat lyrics are alright, content not so much
Drop the bomb on em-decent I dont really see anything wrong with it, just not appealing to me

Really not impressed with Relapse. It seemed kinda blah to me. Eminem even addressed this on Recovery. Just seemed like a lot of songs about nothing and seemed uninspired.

Released: June 18, 2010

Tracklisting:

1. "Cold Wind Blows"
2. "Talkin' 2 Myself" (featuring Kobe)
3. "On Fire"
4. "Won't Back Down" (featuring Pink)
5. "W.T.P."
6. "Going Through Changes"
7. "Not Afraid"
8. "Seduction"
9. "No Love" (featuring Lil Wayne)
10. "Space Bound"
11. "Cinderella Man"
12. "25 to Life"
13. "So Bad"
14. "Almost Famous"
15. "Love the Way You Lie" (featuring Rihanna)
16. "You're Never Over"
17. "Untitled" (hidden track)

Incredible album from start to finish. The more I listen to it, I think this actually might be my favourite Eminem album.

There's only a few tracks I don't really like (Won't Back Down, W.T.P., and maybe a few others), but even those aren't that bad. My favourites are Cold Wind Blows (although I wish the intro rap was its own track), Talkin' 2 Myself, Not Afraid, Seduction, 25 To Life, Love The Way You Lie. Everything else is great though. Even though I'm not a fan of Lil Wayne, No Love is pretty great as well.

This album has a lot of what I think makes Eminem such a great artist. I like that he was able to recognize he could do better than Relapse and whereas some artists might follow-up with an as weak or weaker effort, Eminem dramatically improved. I'd even argue that in some ways it is his best album to date. If not the best it's definitely up there with his first three albums in quality.

Give me an introspective Eminem willing to look at and reveal to us his faults and shortcomings over the more club and joke oriented Eminem any day. This album has a lot of dark, but potentially uplifting tracks. The production values are great, the lyrics are worthwhile and complex, and Eminem's delivery is top-notch. You can really sense the growth from The Slim Shady LP to Recovery; Eminem is more mature, more complex, and I'd say more talented. If he retired with this album, at least he could say he went out on the top of his game.

I also think that Recovery is my favorite album by him to be honest. The Marshall Mathers LP and The Eminem Show are very good too, but this just goes to a different level. Cold Wind, I'm Going Through Changes, Not Afraid, 25 To Life, Love The Way You Lie are all classic songs. Everything else is really really good too. To me the weakest track on it is Almost Famous.

I'll list my rankings and come back later to elaborate:

1.Marshall Mathers LP - 10/10 (Second best rap album of that decade)
2.Eminem Show - 9.5/10
3.Recovery - 9/10
4.Slim Shady LP - 8/10
6.Relapse - 6.5/10
7.Encore - 6/10

8 Mile Soundtrack - 8/10 (Rabbit Run is one of his best tracks, period)

BTW, personally it seemed like you burned through these too fast. A few days between albums would have been a better pace, IMO. Not my thread though.

wow Almost famous is one of my favorite tracks.

Love the woman's voice sample, love his energy. love the lyrics, love the theme.

Recovery is probably my 2nd favorite album behind MMLP. Its pretty close to his best.

I agree that Won't back down and WTP are some of the weaker tracks, although WTP is still my favorite of his dance type songs I dont like the other ones he has made.

I was getting 2 replies in 4 days. I figured no one had any interest.

Quickly catching up:

Relapse - really liked it upon it's release - it's faded for me a little as time has moved on. Was a good "comeback" album after some letdowns. Still love "Hello", "Insane", and "Same Song and Dance". "Crack a Bottle" is another good one, I actually really love just listening to the instrumental version of it. 7/10

Recovery - still think it's held back somewhat by some weak choruses, but it's good album. I actually like "WTP" for some reason, and I love "Talkin' to Myself", "No Love", "Not Afraid", and "Space Bound", as well. Not a big fan of "Won't Back Down" and I always start to lose interest during the "Cinderella Man" through "Almost Famous" stretch. He does finish strong with the last few songs, though. He kind of overdoes it with the metaphors on the album, but they work for me, overall. 8.5/10

D12 discussion: Loved "Shit on You" and the first album, particularly "Pistol, Pistol" and "Purple Pills". Didn't really like the follow-up.