Title: Album Review: Another Earthquake
Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Source: Friday Sooner Edition
Source: Arts & Entertainment, Pg.29
Date: September 20, 2002
Topic: Another Earthquake Album Review
1 1/2 Stars
Little girls will want to buy this for the photos, of which there are eight, all variations on the same expression.
If only "Another Earthquake" were as easy on the ears.
On the opening cut, he raps, as ill-advised a bid for credibility as anything since David Cassidy's nude photo on the cover of Rolling Stone. And bringing in the Baha Men to lend a hand on "Summertime" results in a cut that's amazingly worse than I would have imagined. Carter raps again on "My First Ride" while dreaming of the day he's old enough to step behind the wheel, a fantasy nearly everyone in Carter's target demographic can relate to. And with "America A O," he responds to Sept. 11 with a hockey-anthem thud and shouts of "U.S.A. bang your heads to this/Come on!"
Things get better when young Aaron tries his hand at ballads (especially "Keep Believing") and frothy guitar pop in the style of Sugar Ray (with help from LFO's Rich Cronin) on "To All The Girls," a teen-pop remembrance of "pink bikinis everywhere" and "listening to CDs after dark/Outkast blastin' 'Rosa Parks.' " He sends the chorus out to "all the girls who sang along with me" and adds, in a moment that's certain to be a highlight of his live performances, "I want to thank you for being good to me." You can't say Carter doesn't know his audience. But it's hard to imagine those audience members wanting to listen to this album after they've been driving for a while.
