'Won't Back Down' has Pink jostling shoulder-to-shoulder with Em on one of the album's tightest tracks, the one that boasts his harshest, most effortless flow. The last from that list features Lil Wayne, but it's another, more surprising guest spot that plays a bigger part in bringing a pulse to Recovery. Here, we get an intrusive grab from Ozzy's 'Changes' on 'Going Through Changes', the lazy use of Lesley Gore's 'You Don't Own Me' on 'Untitled', the completely jarring Gerard McMann's 'Cry Little Sister' on 'You're Never Over' and just plain bizarre bounce of Haddaway's Eurodance classic 'What Is Love' on 'No Love'. There was the inspired ('Stan'), cheeky ('Without Me') and just perfectly-deployed ('Sing For The Moment'). Em used to be the King of the neatly-swiped hook, which elevated his rhymes and frequently transcended their source. With a bit more quality control and a touch more bravery, Recovery could have been a much stronger statement. Just because a CD can physically hold nearly 80 minutes of music, doesn't mean there's a need to fill it with limp tracks like 'On Fire', 'Space Bound' and 'Almost Famous'. Not for the first time, someone, somewhere needed to get into the studio with the mantra that less is more and a pair of scissors aimed squarely at the master tapes. It might well make you recoil in disgust, it certainly does me, but hey, at least he's got that about him this time around.Įlsewhere we're not so lucky. Hell, there are even lyrics horrible enough to actually shock rather than bore, something Marshall Mathers III hasn't managed in the best part of a decade ("I'll kick a bitch in the c**t till it queefs and sounds like a f**kin whoopie cushion"). As a double-pronged attack with opener 'Cold Wind Blows', there's finally enough fizz to match the raw energy and hate of those first two Aftermath records. "This time around it's different," he promises, "Last two albums didn't count / Encore I was on drugs / Relapse I was flushin' 'em out." I'm not sure if I buy that as an excuse - the mouth and brain behind the brilliant 'My Fault', 'Role Model' and 'Drug Ballad' didn't exactly seem straight-edged - but either way there's a hell of a lot of self-deprecating self-analysis mixed up with the swagger here.Īlthough that theme gets pretty tired by the end of the 17 tracks, early on it's a real thrill to hear Em sounding so genuinely furious, even if it's mainly at himself. On 'Talkin' 2 Myself' he actually thanks us for our patience for bearing with him over the last few years and even apologises for his last couple of records. Formerly the Most Important Artist In Hip-Hop, the quality of Em's work definitely wobbled either side of his "retirement", even though his sales have remained rock-solid. Eminem's back (again!) and this time he's clean, fighting fit and ready to take the world on.