By shelz.

Concept albums have been released this year in abundance and for the most part with wonderful results.  Janelle Monae, Arcade Fire and The Gorillaz, among others, managed unique stories with grand soundtracks attached.  The last of the 2010 class is Diddy-Dirty Money with Last Train to Paris, a story of doomed trans-continental love. Did Diddy and his crew of thousands pull off yet another concept win?  Sort of.

Last Train to Paris is an innovative listen, evocative of all the dark sentiment Diddy was attempting and incorporates a myriad of influence from house to Hip-Hop to alt-Rock.  The songs are expressive and intricate, sweeping you from the lows of one way infatuation to the lower lows of problematical love.  The numerous features are generally good (Usher and Chris Brown’s contributions on “Looking For Love” and “Yesterday” respectively are superb) with a few missteps here and there.  A couple of the songs roll too long with a steady tedious pulse, but it’s not common here. Honestly, our host Mr. Combs provides the lion’s share of the issues on this project, but that’s okay because he’s really not around that much.

Diddy’s story is simple from a cursory listen.  It’s about the chase.  While in Europe he meets her.  He loses her.  Then he decides she’s worth keeping, so he sets out to capture her for good.  But she’s not going without a fight. Dirty Money ably provides the female voice as Diddy’s special lady’s feelings meander from emotional paranoia born of long distance loving (“Yeah Yeah You Would”) to relationship negotiation (“Last Night Part 2.”)

The heavy lifting is handled by Dawn, Kaleena and a cavalcade of male crooners including Chris Brown, Usher, Drake and Trey Songz.  Diddy adds color commentary to the somewhat jumbled narrative. His delivery skips around depending on mood, but regardless of whether he sings or talks or raps there is always someone there more talented.  It’s unfortunate, but Mr. Combs is out-shined on almost every track.

That’s not to say all of the features are exemplary.  The trio of Lil Wayne, Justin Timberlake and Diddy manage a confusing mess of spoken word and contrived sexiness on “Shades” and “Ass on the Floor” has one of the best foundations on the LP, but Dirty Money’s brutal overuse of the MF word is hard on the ears, especially after the overdose of MF’s on the previous songs. Wiz Khalifa is dull on the equally monotonous “I Know.”

If the Lectro Black mixtape was haute couture, Last Train to Paris is ready to wear. The abstract house and dance concepts have been traded in for more conventional song construction.  A who’s who of beat masters including Alex Da Kid, Jerry Wonda , Swizz Beats and Rodney Jenkins provide enough heat to keep the asses shaking, but manage to ice it over with enough chill to give it a tinge of European aloofness.  There are hints of Marshall Jefferson (“I Hate That You Love Me”) and disco era Moroder (“Looking For Love.”) “Someone To Love Me” even presents a skeletal reggae/club hybrid that pushes all kinds of genre borders even in its simplistic state.

The last few songs find all the chaotic posturing replaced with some legitimate compromise, but it doesn’t sound like he brought lady love back with him from Paris.  Bummer.

Last Train To Paris is an ambitious project that took three years to make and it will take several listens for you to hear it all.  There are layers upon layers of top notch and style-melding production and more vocalists than you can shake a stick at, but the large group of features is this album’s saving grace. Diddy could not have pulled this off as the lone male singer/rapper/talker and I’m sure he was aware.  It’s not perfect, but it’s an interesting listen and the best project Mr. Combs has released in a very long time.

3.5 out of 5

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