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Back to Basics | 
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| Artist: Christina Aguilera
Label: RCA
Category: Music
List Price: £11.99
Buy New: £3.56
You Save: £8.43 (70%)
New (66) Used (21) Collectible (2) from £2.98
Avg. Customer Rating:  71 reviews
Sales Rank: 923
Format: Enhanced
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 2
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.1
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 4.9 x 0.4
MPN: 82639
UPC: 828768963425
EAN: 0828768263921
ASIN: B000G759LW
Release Date: August 14, 2006
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: NEW BUT NOT SEALED. 2 DISC DELUXE PACKAGE. AVAILABLE FOR IMMEDIATE DESPATCH FROM THE UK (MON - FRI).
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| Tracks:
Disc 1
| » | Intro (Back to Basics) | | » | Makes Me Wanna Pray featuring Steve Winwood | | » | Back In The Day | | » | Ain't No Other Man | | » | Understand | | » | Slow Down Baby | | » | Oh Mother | | » | F.U.S.S. | | » | On Our Way | | » | Without You | | » | Still Dirrty | | » | Here to Stay | | » | Thank You (Dedication to Fans...) |
Disc 2
| » | Enter the Circus | | » | Welcome | | » | Candyman | | » | Nasty Naughty Boy | | » | I Got Trouble | | » | Hurt | | » | Mercy on Me | | » | Save Me from Myself | | » | The Right Man | | » | Back to Basics (Bonus Video) |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk Review
Back to Basics, Christina Aguilera's first disc in four years, refines and clarifies the--let's call it "sexy"--aura surrounding this platinum firebrand. Here, the best belter in a class that counts Jessica Simpson and Britney Spears on its roll call has turned her attention to love songs: the supercharged and ubiquitous first single "Ain't No Other Man," for one, and the hushed stunner "Save Me from Myself" for another. That doesn't mean she's foresworn being nasty, though. Dive deep into this set, past the gorgeous crackle that frames the old-school jazz-, blues-, and soul-inspired tracks on the first disc, and you'll reach a playful and familiar raunch; "Candyman" celebrates a "one-stop shop" who "makes the panties drop" to a boogie-woogie beat, and "Nasty Naughty Boy" sends out a heated, big-beated invitation to "sip on my champagne/Cause I'm gonna give you a little taste/Of the sugar below my waist." Thoughtful listeners should snap out of their fascination with Xtina's undiminished yet newly un-tramp-like sexuality, though, because what they'll really want to focus on throughout these 22 tracks is the honest-to-God artistry. While the rock producer Linda Perry helps disc two pop in interesting and unexpected ways (check the muffled blues number "I Got Trouble" and "Mercy on Me," an obvious nod to Fiona Apple), DJ Premier, a mainstay on Jay-Z and Nas projects, pipes a batch of aural high-fives into the nostalgia-bitten first disc (the deep-down funk of "Back in the Day," the strut-strut early hip-hop sound of "Still Dirrty"). Their nudges aside, though, Back to Basics is all Aguilera's baby--she executive-produced, and she's found herself artistically. Nobody would argue, in fact, if she swiveled around the chorus to "Ain't No Other Man," written for her husband, and aimed it at herself: "You got soul, you got class/You got style, you're bada--." --Tammy La Gorce
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| Customer Reviews: Read 66 more reviews...
 Old school with a modern twist September 21, 2007
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I have to admit, i wasn't a big fan of Christina when she first came out. I thought she would just turn out to be a typical bubble-gum pop icon. However this album has proved me wrong. In a word, this album is AMAZING!! When i was growing up my parents would always be playing old soul and blues music, which i loved, this album is like a tribute to that style of music. I think other artists these days should go Back to Basics, and make good listening music rather than just club tracks all the time. Stand out tracks include: Makes me wanna pray, Back in the day, Ain't no other man, Understand and Mercy On Me.
FANTASTIC ALBUM AND VERY UNDER-RATED!!! September 6, 2007
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
Once again Christina has pulled off another great album. Unlike most, she takes her time during the creation of the album and doesn't just release any old tripe.
Granted, it's not as good as 'Stripped' but I much preferred that era. But this album is worth EVERY penny. Amazing album, amazing songs and amazing vocals.
Very under-rated as far as reviews go, but the fan response has been brilliant... and I guess that's what matters!
 Back To Basics July 13, 2007
1 out of 6 found this review helpful
This is a good album the best tracks are the singles and still dirty slow down baby i got trouble and welcome! this was her first album to get to #1 in the uk charts! 8/10 buy it oh yeah i think she should do a song with ray from the X-Factor!
back to basics July 8, 2007
1 out of 6 found this review helpful
wow what a album, it has a touch of 40s glamour and is great, its fresh,original and one of my favs!!!!
buy it because its amazing
Honour the Example June 20, 2007
6 out of 8 found this review helpful
If you're not someone who's willing to take Christina Aguilera seriously, look away now. The following is definitely not for you.
I resisted buying this collection for a long time, because I'd liked Stripped so much that I knew I was expecting too much for a repeat. I was right, but the outcome is not all bad.
After the Intro, Makes Me Wanna Pray kicks off proceedings with a belting gospel sound, with Christina accompanied by Steve Winwood, who people of my generation will know from the Spencer Davis Group and Traffic.
Next up, Back In The Day is a dedication to the artistes who have presumably inspired the collection, opening with what sounds like a sample from Neneh Cherry's Buffalo Stance, and with voiceovers reminiscent of Greg Osby's Honor The Example from 3-D Lifestyles, though there are probably more people get namechecks - Miles, Trane and Otis Redding to name but three. If the song is successful in turning Aguilera's audience on to any one of the people namechecked then it's all right with me.
Understand samples the bluesy 1967 recording Nearer To You by soul diva Betty Harris, in which she was partnered by Allen Toussaint, which complements the main song well, but the sample also makes you want to hear more.
Oh Mother and Still Dirrty explore subjects Aguilera has tackled before - domestic violence and hypocrisy.
CD2 opens with a couple of circus-themed pieces, the first of which bizarrely brought to mind Emerson, Lake and Palmer's Karn Evil 9 (I'm sure Christina's never even heard of it!). The second, Welcome, is a good song, and uses Aguilera's cast-iron voice to full effect.
The set then moves on to three 1940s-style bump'n'grind songs. The first of these, Candyman, sounds maybe like the Andrews Sisters, but with lyrics that would have made the girls blush. Nasty Naughty Boy is like Cab Calloway meets Marilyn Monroe. It's about as good a tribute to Cab as Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby on Joe Jackson's Jumpin' Jive (recommended to anyone who wants more of this kind of thing).I Got Trouble, reminding me lyrically of Neneh Cherry's Trouble Man, and maybe inspired by Billie Holliday, finishes off the triptych. In its day, this kind of music was considered more risqué than anything on this record would be today by a mainstream audience - jazz, like rhythm'n'blues and rock'n'roll was originally, after all, slang for sex, and polite society in the forties was bigger than it is today and didn't talk about such things. Aguilera does a good job of inserting some of the risqué flavour with lyrics like "Makes the panties drop" and "I'm gonna give you a taste/Of the sugar below my waist."
Hurt, which follows, is more in a more familiar Aguilera style, as are the remainder. A moving song, well sung as you'd expect, and the video's good, too.
There are only two low points on the collection.
At the end of CD 1 there's a rather tasteless piece of apparent self-regard; supposedly voicemessages from fans, they're kind of sickly, and in a couple of cases quite worrying, as in the case of the boy who claims that because of Aguilera he now takes no notice of what others say. Is that really what she wants to say, or is she really saying we should think for ourselves?
And the final track on CD 2 seems like Aguilera making a bid for the wedding song market: The Right Man? Do me a favour! Who's this a tribute to? Susan Maugham? Annoyingly, though, it's really well sung (well, Susan Maugham could at least sing), so it's hard to be too cross, and I wouldn't be surprised to find it's going down well with brides-to-be.
Elsewhere, I've slated Joss Stone for conservatism on Introducing, and compared her material unfavourably with Stripped. Well, Christina hasn't quite managed herself to equal Stripped but, of the four I'm giving Back to Basics, one star is for taking a risk on putting together an eclectic package which manages to combine very nicely some nods to the past and some expressions of the present. This is a bold attempt at a tribute to the people Aguilera purportedly looks up to, and you have to respect the effort. She could easily have remade Stripped and cleaned up, but instead has gone out on the edge a little. I don't know much about Christina Aguilera beyond the songs I've heard and the videos I've seen, but I'd like to think there's a sign here that she wants to be more than just an entertainer. I hope that doesn't make me delusional.
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