3 Years, 5 Months And 2 Days In The Life Of...
Arrested Development
Chrysalis Records, 1992
REVIEW BY: Sean McCarthy
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 04/30/1998
The grass is greening. Bees are getting it on with other bees(as Bart Simpson would say). And some rays of happiness arestarting to seep into the tape player in my car. Yup, Spring isfinally here.
With my mountain bike resting comfortably on its mount, I hitthe trails. Sorry, Cowboy Junkies - maybe when it's raining,Portishead. The happy sounds of the Replacements ( Pleased To Meet Me era) and Missy Elliott are thuddingtoday. And so is 3 Years, 5 Months, And 2 Days In The Life Of... by ArrestedDevelopment. A tape that has since collected a layer of dust in mycollection.
In honor of Earth Day last week, I pulled this one out. Igrinned and nodded my head through most of the album. Butsurprisingly, it didn't connect with me like it did in 1992. Thesound has started a little too much like Sly and the Family Stone.As I've dug further back into r&b since 1992, some parts of 3 Years are starting to sound like old hat.
In 1992, 3 Years topped the critics poll in Spin, The Village Voice and Rolling Stone. Though still noteworthy, I'm left wonderingif this album truly belongs among the top 10 albums of the 1990s.But maybe it's better if I judged the album on its own musicalmerits - not the impact it made or didn't make in the rap world.The message that Arrested Development brought to the listener had arefreshingly organic feel to it.
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