No, really – I think they might actually be too tight, too perfected. At least on record. That could be a bizarre complaint, but then, it’s also bizarre hearing a jam-band track that sounds this rehearsed.
As a composition, “Keep Me in Mind” offers some cool musical changes to pad out its slight theme. But the band moves through everything so smoothly that that padding also starts to seem slight. Even when they transition into a Luther-Vandross-R&B groove – audacious on paper – they do it with so little drama that you hardly notice it.
After a pleasant opening, the record starts to fade into the wallpaper, like a party guest whose presence you can take or leave and probably won’t remember either way. I’ll go for a less varnished live version if one comes out; for now, sounds like they’re all checking their watches.
Written by Zac Brown, Wyatt Durrette and Nic Cowen
A sound sentiment stuffed in a sound-impaired package.
The generic “moody” 90′s production does some of the damage, as does a patchwork melody that can’t seem to connect its phrases. But you can also hear McGraw still ironing out his vocal technique, as his likably nervous tremor in the verses meets a series of clumsy trills and some pitchy “baby”s and “maybe”s.
That great title sentiment shines bright, though, almost overcoming the facelessness of the story and the aforementioned sonic issues. Just not quite.
This may be the very moment where Dolly Parton emerges as a masterclass singer.
Goosebump-inducing vocal trills elevate an already excellent composition. Listen closely, and you can hear the styles of Reba McEntire and Lee Ann Womack being born.
Lately, I’ve been playing “Deep Down” on a loop, and it got me thinking…
What if one of the big female artists of 2011 were the first to release this song?
If Carrie Underwood recorded it in 2011, the song would be praised as one of the best she’s ever recorded, but she’d be criticized for over-singing and over-producing it.
If Taylor Swift recorded it in 2011, the song would be praised as one of the best she’s ever recorded, but she’d be criticized for missing every other note, even with the help of auto-tune.
If Miranda Lambert recorded it in 2011, the song would be praised as one of the best she’s ever recorded, and further evidence that she’s the messiah of contemporary country music, regardless of how she sang or produced it.
But alas, Pam Tillis recorded it in 1995, and the song went largely unnoticed, because a great song with a great vocal performance and a great production was expected, not special, coming from her.
Perhaps the best way to listen to country music in 2011 is not to listen to anything else in the genre’s history. That way the illusion that there is some great contemporary country music out there can be preserved.
Because it was soon overshadowed by a pair of crossover ballads, “Don’t Be Stupid” is something of a Come On Over footnote in North America.
The song has a nice Celtic flavor to it, even if it showcases Twain at her silliest. Who else would add “Max!” to the bridge’s “Relax!” the second time around?
So it isn’t one of the biggest or best country hits from the album, but it’s fairly entertaining in its original form.
Written by Robert John “Mutt” Lange and Shania Twain
Grade: B
International Release:
2000 | Peak: #5 (U.K.); #32 (Australia)
At the other end of the album cycle, “Don’t Be Stupid” served as the sixth and final single in Europe and Australia. By this point, Come On Over was one of the best selling albums of all-time in both the U.K. and Australia. Rather than release it in its international album version – which was just the U.S. remix version anyway – the song was completely reinvented.
Basically, they turned it into “Cotton Eye Joe”, making the original version a little more stupid but a lot more lovable.
If there ever was a song where traditional country perfectly mixes with honky tonk blues, here it is.
This mid-tempo gem, written by Jackson and Randy Travis, showcases production that still sounds vibrant almost twenty years later. With steel guitar and honky tonk piano aplenty, “She’s Got the Rhythm (and I’ve Got the Blues)” is simply a two-and-a-half minute sonic delight.
Furthermore, the song’s concept is accentuated by its clever title and Jackson’s amusingly mournful delivery, including a pitiful “Yee haw” that ends up sounding more funny than sad, which ultimately describes the song as a whole, despite the theme of lost love.
A good old-fashioned cheating song, from the days when songs such as this were very much in fashion.
It’s not as interesting or deeply layered as Barbara Mandrell’s “The Midnight Oil”, released the following year. But it’s a more believable pairing than most of the duets they sent to radio in this time period.
More cocky than clever, the strained metaphor that gives structure to the song errs too far on the side of ridiculous.
The only reason it’s listenable at all is the fantastic Western swing arrangement and Strait’s in-on-the-joke delivery. But it’s hard to believe that was ever intended to be more than album filler.
It’s impossible to review an album titled It’s All Good without indulging in a few witty remarks. Such a title tends to beg the question of whether or not the album really is “all good.” The vocals are all good, to be sure. Joe Nichols has already proven himself to be one of mainstream country music’s best male vocalists, and on his newest effort, his performances do not disappoint. The production, likewise, is consistently solid. Producers Mark Wright and Buddy Cannon back Nichols with arrangements that sound easily accessible and radio-friendly, while laced with traditional country trimmings of fiddle and steel, and it certainly is enjoyable to hear country music that is sonically recognizable as such.
For all its positive traits, however, the album at times falls into a rut of predictability, leaning on safely inoffensive radio-ready themes that have grown stale from overuse. In that regard, lead single “Take It Off” turns out to be an accurate preview of the album it foreshadowed. The single was released in May, just early enough to capitalize on country radio’s annual summer song mania, albeit with limited success, as the song topped out at #25 on the charts. It’s a fun enough tune, but it’s too forgettable, not to mention interchangeable with any other summer song, to be worth coming back to all year round. Likewise, the country boy hokum of “This Ole Boy” plays like a rote run-of-the-mill Peach Pickers tune that wasn’t particularly interesting when Craig Morgan sang it either, while the Blake Shelton-esque “The More I Look” is nothing more than disposable radio fodder.
Though the quality of the song material is inconsistent, Nichols’ performances often elevate it to a point. While the imagery of “I Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” is nothing to write home about, Nichols lifts the song to a higher level with his warm and expressive delivery, while a fiddle in the background lends an almost haunting quality to the track. With the title track, Nichols imbues his own distinct personality into a lyric about life’s simple pleasures, while the laid-back traditional country arrangement finishes things off nicely.
In spite of all its middling material, the album’s best moments simply shine. “Somebody’s Mama” offers a novel spin on the timeless theme of “the one that got away,” as the narrator is having a tattoo of his ex-lover’s name covered, and pondering over where she might have ended up in life, assuming that “She’s probably somebody’s mama by now.” The bittersweet lyric fully functions on par with the steel-laden arrangement as well as Nichols’ smooth vocal delivery. The title track “Never Gonna Get Enough” shows a loose and laid-back style along with lyrical imagery that recalls George Jones “Tennessee Whiskey,” while “She’s Just Like That” works well as a simple ode to a woman who is beautiful inside and out.
The album’s finest tracks offer a glimpse of what could have been had the overall caliber of song material been a few degree higher. In the end, we’re left with an album that sounds good, but that could have been better. Of course, the spot-on vocals and solid traditional-leaning arrangements make for an album that is sonically pleasant throughout, with not a single moment that sounds fingernails-on-chalkboard awful. While there are still plenty of listeners who will find such an effort wholly satisfactory, those who prefer country music with a little extra meat to it would likely prefer to cherry-pick it instead. As a whole, It’s All Good plays like a musical piece of candy – mostly enjoyable, but largely insubstantial. Good it is, but great it isn’t.
In this aggression-heavy era of Eric Church and Jason Aldean, it’s easy to take Keith Urban’s brand of swagger for granted. It’s a little smoother around the edges, a little less gritty – but when he finds the right song to marry it to, it’s as natural and dynamic as any in the field.
On “You’re Gonna Fly,” Urban trades his typical exuberance for this kind of cool confidence. He strips the title phrase of all its pomposity – just as he did with last decade’s “Who Wouldn’t Wanna Be Me?” - but retains its punch with an assured performance. Even the song’s refreshing blackbird and songbird metaphors take the backseat to his delivery; his “Baby look at you now” in the second verse is so three-dimensional that it practically pulls you into the bed of his truck.
Like the whistle that kicks off the the first chorus, simple touches give the otherwise paint-by-number arrangement a sense of urgency. But there’s a deeper, transcendental quality to “You Gonna Fly” that floats quietly behind its metaphors and whistles – Urban hits on love’s ability to lift us –“fly” us– to a different plane, spiritually and emotionally. That he approaches this lofty notion with matter-of-fact breeziness (“One, two, three / Baby don’t think twice / Just like that you got a brand new life”) makes it all the more convincing.
Written by Preston Brust, Chris Lucas & Jaren Johnston
This band is too good.
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