Album Review: The Black-Eyed Peas "The END (Deluxe Edition)"

Following a hiatus that saw breakout member Fergie release a mega-successful solo album, The Black-Eyed Peas have returned, poised for more success than ever before, with their new album The END, or “The Energy Never Dies.” Arguably the Peas’ most outspoken member, will.i.am was inspired by dance music while making the digital-themed album. The BEPs were aiming to bring something different to the industry with The END & judging by their first single, the reigning #1 hit “Boom Boom Pow,” it seems to be working out so far.

The END starts off with a cheesy intro at the beginning of the catchy “Boom Boom Pow,” which is followed by the equally fun “Rock That Body.” I’m not nearly as fond of their slower material like “Meet Me Halfway” though. Probably my favorite track on the album, “Imma Be,” is a banger that speeds up towards the end & shows the Peas at the top of their game. Next up is second single “I Gotta Feeling,” which is growing on me, but isn’t particularly my cup of tea.

The slow jam pairing of “Alive” & “Missing You” is, respectively, just alright & a little better, thanks to vocals from Fergie. I, again, much prefer the uptempo sweetness found in “Ring-A-Ling” & “Party All The Time.” When it comes to “Out Of My Head,” I don’t suppose the musical styling of the song is that different from even my favorite offerings on The END, but with the lack of a catchy hook & emphasis lyrically on “going crazy” in a not-quite-as-innocent-type way, it just doesn’t do it for me.

“Electric City” is an interesting one; I love the Jamaican influence. “Showdown” is pretty good—a little filler-ish—but I do suppose they needed a little something like this before the next couple tracks. I do not like “Now Generation” or “One Tribe.” They are as preachy & stupid as you can imagine. How big IS will.i.am’s ego? He needs to realize that people do not buy records from The Black-Eyed Peas to hear about how his wonderful self is single-handedly revolutionizing the music industry or his political views. Didn’t he get that out of his system with the Obama tunes? Anyway, the standard edition closer, “Rockin’ To The Beat,” is an instrumental & feels a little pointless, but serves well as a calming mechanism for anyone who just listened to the preceding pair of songs.

The deluxe edition disc kicks off with “Where Ya Wanna Go,” which is nothing special. Probably your best bet from this disc is the creative “Simple Little Melody.” I’m not huge on the Filipino anthem “Mare,” but it’s not that bad. Before we get into the remixes, the forgettable “Don’t Bring Me Down” is offered up. I’ll be honest: It’s difficult enough getting through a whopping 25 tracks in one sitting, let alone lasting all the way to the 19th one, so these filler tracks may seem better should you take a break between discs.

I liked the idea of re-imagined versions of past BEP songs & the result is definitely worth at least picking up the deluxe edition of The END, especially “Shut The Phunk Up,” the remix to “Shut Up.” As for the main album, I like it as a whole. I find it difficult not to skip the songs I don’t like as much, mainly because no matter the actual track length, every song has a tendency to feel really long, as if they ran out of ideas two minutes into each song, but continued ‘letting the beat rock’ for another couple minutes. Still, The END is a fun album, especially for summer, & features The Black-Eyed Peas in their prime.

Rating: 4/5 Stars