Product Description

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Track Listing

1. A Public Affair
2. You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)
3. B.O.Y.
4. If You Were Mine
5. Walkin' 'Round In A Circle
6. The Lover In Me
7. Swing With Me
8. Push Your Tush
9. Back To You
10. Between You & I
11. I Don't Want To Care
12. Fired Up
13. Let Him Fly

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #44502 in Music
• Released on: 2006-08-29
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

Amazon.com
A Public Affair is a disco-studded, stunningly entertaining, 13-song slab of energetic white-girl pop. From the summer-fizzy first song and title track--which lifts, improbably, from both Madonna and the Supremes--Simpson tears out of the gate refusing to fall back on stale-sounding power ballads, something of a signature in the past. "You Spin Me Round" updates the Dead or Alive '80s hit; the vampy and innovative "B.O.Y." borrows from a vintage Cars track; and "Walkin' 'Round in a Circle," about as sleepy a track as you'll find here, seems to put a kind of pop spit-shine on a tune both Stevie Nicks and Ryan Adams popularized. Later tracks, including the excellent Louis Prima-inspired "Swing with Me" and the shockingly urban-sounding "Fired Up," bring Simpson's inner femme fatale to the fore. Let's hope it doesn't slink away anytime soon--other Simpson discs have been forgettable, but this is an affair to remember. --Tammy La Gorce

Customer Reviews

What Happened??
I think Jessica had the potential to make a great album, but this album is terrible! The first single, A Public Affair, is catchy and fun. The rest of the songs on this album are dreadful. I don't even know what style she is trying to do on this album; it is such a mess!! I was excited to purchase this album, but after one listen, I feel I made a terrible mistake. Just very disappointing, because I was expecting SO much more.

Her 15 Minutes Are Ticking
Either she is getting bad business advice or she really is this clueless. To be this young and doing so many remakes is not a smart move. On this cd, she covers dance rock group Dead or Alive and country artists Patti Griffin and Dixie Chicks. She also uses many samples from many artists, including Madonna.

The other thing that irritates me about her is Jessica can sing, but she has always lacks uniqueness in her voice. That is why her previous albums never sold anything. Therefore, it is my opinion she decided to go for a kitty-like voice this time so she could sell records. It is clear to anyone listening to this cd, that Jessica looks up to Madonna. What Jessica fails to see is Madonna has never been a powerhouse vocalist, but her voice is unique and she has amazing star quality which is something Jessica lacks. Jessica also fails to realize is Madonna is no longer the force she used to be and copying her at this point is not a smart idea.

This cd is worthless! Jessica, please find your own backbone and just be yourself on your next record.

Decent but could be way better
The title song, "A Public Affair", is great. It was a wise choice for first single and showed off her fun side and how she could be creative and sing something other than ballads and love songs (which seemed to be the focus of many of the releases from her last album, 'In This Skin'). Yet, the first single fools you.

The good side of this release is that Jessica Simpson is all over the place musically. The lyrics aren't all about love or relationships; "A Public Affair" is just about going out and having a good time, "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record" is a nice take-off of an old song about being caught up in someone, "Fired Up" is about going to the club and just letting loose. The down side to having such a wide range is that the really good songs stand out and then when compared to others that aren't as strong, you're in for a disapointment and let down. The first three tracks are great; fun, light, creative for her. A lot of the others seem weak and come off as filler tracks or B-sides to past works.

"The Lover in Me" is a nice sort of power ballad with the Jessica Simpson big-voice, runs, showing off that you'd expect from her. She's also joined by a choir on that track. "B.O.Y." sounds interesting, like a song out of the 1980s era. "Swing With Me" has rather tongue-in-cheek lyrics with a big band era production that really stands out and shines on the album. "Between You and I" will remind you of a song like "Unchained Melody" and it's okay, but the music is a bit better than the lyrics. Yet these mild to good tracks are brought down by others like "Push Your Tush" which sounds as if it wasn't well thought out and recorded quickly. They're forgettable, or sound under-produced. "Back to You", "I Don't Want to Care", "If You Were Mine" and "Let Him Fly" all come off as sleeper tracks; rather dull and slow moving and simply uninteresting.

The 2 stars are just for inconsistancy. You can tell that some of these tracks were recorded a while ago and just tossed in with more recent recordings. It would have been great if she'd done a complete upbeat pop album, as it seems like she's doing with the first three songs. For once, the ballads and love songs just don't really seem to work for her. Her heart and creativity comes through when she's being upbeat, playing with different sounds and styles, having fun and dancing. Not sure if it's completely worth buying but there are some really good songs on here that you should check out. Just know that all of her songs aren't like 'A Public Affair' which may be a good or bad thing, depending on what you're looking to get out of listening to her.