Encore [Collectors Edition]

Disc 1
1	Curtains Up 0:46
2	Evil Deeds 4:19
3	Never Enough / D12 2:39
4	Yellow Brick Road 5:46
5	Like Toy Soldiers 4:56
6	Mosh 5:17
7	Puke 4:07
8	My 1st Single 5:02
9	Paul (Skit) 0:32
10	Rain Man 5:13
11	Big Weenie 4:26
12	Em Calls Paul (Skit) 1:11
13	Just Lose It 4:08
14	Ass Like That 4:25
15	Spend Some Time / Stat Quo 5:10
16	Mockingbird 4:10
17	Crazy in Love 4:02
18	One Shot 2 Shot / D12 4:26
19	Final Thought (Skit) 0:30
20	Encore / 50 Cent 5:48
Disc 2
1	We as Americans Bonus Track 4:39
2	Love You More Bonus Track 4:47
3	Ricky Ticky Toc Bonus Track 2:49

Barnes & Noble

With Encore, Eminem continues his reign as rap music's most controversial figure. On his fourth album, the Shady One continues to display the Jekyll and Hyde tendencies we've come to expect, detailing his love for his daughter Hailie ("Mockingbird") and disdain for his estranged wife Kim ("Puke") with equal aplomb. At times, his sonic experiments, such as the elastic cadences and nursery rhyme harmonies, make the album sound more alt-rock than rap, and post-pubescent listeners might be offended by the bodily function sound effects that pepper several songs, including the aforementioned "Puke." Fortunately, however, even when Em veers off track, the good Dr. Dre, who steers half the beats, keeps the music rooted in hardcore hip-hop, as on the plodding and melancholy chords of the politically volatile "Mosh." In the tradition of the Dido-sampled "Stan," "Like Toy Soldiers" samples Martika's "Toy Soldiers," adding snappy, military styled drums to the original's vocals as Eminem mulls the folly of his well publicized beefs with The Source Magazine and 50 Cent nemesis Ja Rule. These songs show that Marshall Mathers continues to tackle timely topics with reflective maturity, and that sort of soul-baring will make Encore a long running performance. Alvin Aqua Blanco

Barnes & Noble

With Encore, Eminem continues his reign as rap music's most controversial figure. On his fourth album, the Shady One continues to display the Jekyll and Hyde tendencies we've come to expect, detailing his love for his daughter Hailie ("Mockingbird") and disdain for his estranged wife Kim ("Puke") with equal aplomb. At times, his sonic experiments, such as the elastic cadences and nursery rhyme harmonies, make the album sound more alt-rock than rap, and post-pubescent listeners might be offended by the bodily function sound effects that pepper several songs, including the aforementioned "Puke." Fortunately, however, even when Em veers off track, the good Dr. Dre, who steers half the beats, keeps the music rooted in hardcore hip-hop, as on the plodding and melancholy chords of the politically volatile "Mosh." In the tradition of the Dido-sampled "Stan," "Like Toy Soldiers" samples Martika's "Toy Soldiers," adding snappy, military styled drums to the original's vocals as Eminem mulls the folly of his well publicized beefs with The Source Magazine and 50 Cent nemesis Ja Rule. These songs show that Marshall Mathers continues to tackle timely topics with reflective maturity, and that sort of soul-baring will make Encore a long running performance. Alvin Aqua Blanco

All Music Guide

Eminem took a hiatus after the release of his first motion picture, 8 Mile, in late 2002, but it never seemed like he went away. Part of that is the nature of celebrity culture, where every star cycles through gossip columns regardless of whether they have a project in the stores or theaters, and part of it is that Marshall Mathers kept busy, producing records by his protégés D12, Obie Trice, and 50 Cent -- all hit albums -- with the latter turning into the biggest new hip-hop star of 2003. All this activity tended to obscure the fact that Eminem hadn't released a full-length album of new material since The Eminem Show in early summer 2002, and that two and a half years separated that album and its highly anticipated sequel, Encore. As the title suggests, Encore is a companion piece to The Eminem Show the way that The Marshall Mathers LP mirrored The Slim Shady LP, offering a different spin on familiar subjects. Where his first two records dealt primarily with personas and characters, his second two records deal with what those personas have wrought, which tends to be intrinsically less interesting than the characters themselves, since it's dissecting the aftermath instead of causing the drama. On The Eminem Show that kind of self-analysis was perfectly acceptable, since Eminem was on the top of his game as both a lyricist and rapper; his insights were vibrant and his music was urgent. Musically, Show didn't innovate, but it didn't need to: Eminem and his mentor, Dr. Dre, had achieved cruising altitude, and even if they weren't offering much that was new, the music sounded fresh and alive. Here, the music is spartan, built on simple unadorned beats and keyboard loops. Some songs use this sound to its advantage and a few others break free -- "Yellow Brick Road" is a tense, cinematic production, yet it fits the subject matter. Eminem has decided to chronicle what's happened to him over the past two years and refute every charge that's made it into the papers. This is quite a bit different than his earlier albums, when he embellished and exaggerated his life, when his relationship with his estranged wife Kim turned into an outlaw ballad, when his frenetic insults, cheap shots, and celeb baiting had a surreal, hilarious impact. Here, Eminem is plain-spoken and literal, intent on refuting every critic from Benzino at The Source to Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, who gets an entire song ("Ass Like That") devoted to him. While the album is a little long, it's worth a listen to hear the moments that work really well, whether it's full songs or flights of phrase. Stephen Thomas Erlewine