“We Went”
Randy Houser
Written by John King, Matt Rogers, and Justin Wilson
Randy Houser released one of my favorite debut singles back in 2008. I wrote back then that he sounded like a young Ronnie Dunn.
He still sounds like Ronnie Dunn, but now he sounds like him when he was phoning in rave-ups during the latter days of Brooks & Dunn.
It’s just a waste of talent for a man with a voice that is wise beyond his years to be singing songs better left to those without any years under their belts.
A waste of talent that makes this record a waste of time.
But go back and listen to “Anything Goes” again. It’s still awesome.
Grade: C-
Loved “In God’s Time”…liked “Anything Goes”. I’ll even throw him a bone, and say some of his recent successful singles are at the very least listenable, due to their catchiness (“We Went” is not in this category).
But, yeah…a lot of his singles are legitimately terrible, and he hasn’t come anywhere close to those first two singles I mentioned. And sadly…if you look at those songs’ chart performances, you can see why. It’s about getting airplay and making money…and Houser is going to follow the dollar. It’s sad, but par for the course.
Couldn’t agree more with this review, Anything Goes was phenomenal everything else hes done is just so-so at best…
Have to agree with your review. Wonder what David Letterman thinks of his efforts after “Anything Goes”. Let’s hear from you David.
Now it’s kinda depressing to listen to “Anything Goes,” with the full knowledge that he is not a real artist — just another trend chaser in corporate Nashville’s pocket. After the release of “Like a Cowboy” (which, by the way, made it to #3 on Country Airplay and spent months on the chart), I had high hopes for Houser, who could have become this generation’s Clint Black or Mark Chesnutt — not a superstar but a very solid country singer. Instead, he embarrasses himself with this dorm-room garbage.
Truly pathetic. I would feel sorry for him, except that he chose this song and loves it, as he expressed in an interview.
I actually quite liked “How Country Feels”….it sort of sounds like a Rascal Flatts album resung by Houser. No bad thing in my opinion.
He reminds me a lot of James Otto – he has a big, belting voice which is front and center of the mix, but unlike Otto he managed to bring himself to do a commercial record and retain some sort of radio presence. If he’d gone on making records like “Anything Goes” he’d have dropped off the radar years ago…