710. Arrested Development - 3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life of Arrested Development (1992)

Track Listing

1. Man's Final Frontier
2. Mama's Always On Stage
3. People Everyday
4. Blues Happy
5. Mr Wendal
6. Children Play With Earth
7. Raining Revolution
8. Fishin' For Religion
9. Give A Man A Fish
10. U
11. Eve Of Reality
12. Natural
13. Dawn Of The Dreads
14. Tennessee
15. Washed Away
16. People Everyday (Metamorphosis Mix)

Review

Well this is a different hip-hop album. It moves away from straight rapping into a more melodic style. This gives it just a little bit of an R&B feel which would be so popular with later hip-hop. Still, despite being less aggressive, it is still great hip-hop.

It is Southern hip-hop, which would probably have been the second best trend in "regional" hip hop to have achieved mainstream success... right after East Coast rap. But, as we all know it was West Coast gangsta rap that won it all. This is second best because it does not have the power of Public Enemy or the smart wittiness of the Native Tongues posse (De La Soul and Tribe Called Quest particularly).

Still, it is pretty enjoyable and fun stuff to listen to. It is not for purists, some of the songs are much too chipper for their own good (Mr. Wendel for example) but that also adds to a whole mood of positiveness in the album... although it is also a bit naive. That naivitè is one of the good things about it, it is endearing.

Track Highlights

1. People Everyday (Metamorphosis Mix)
2. Mama's Always On Stage
3. Mr. Wendel
4. Tennessee

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

It took the group three years, five months and two days to be offered a record deal, when Chrysalis Records sent A&R director Duff Marlowe to Atlanta's Bosstown Studios to meet with the group's manager Michael Mauldin. Arrested Development had already been offered a single deal for the song "Tennessee". Hence the name of the first album was 3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days in the Life Of..., which produced several hit tracks. These included "Tennessee", "Everyday People", and "Mr. Wendal", which hit the Top Ten. The group won a Grammy Award for Best New Artist, and were also named Band of the Year by Rolling Stone magazine.

People Everyday: