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Single Review: Brad Paisley & Carrie Underwood, “Remind Me”

May 31, 2011 Dan Milliken 37

A couple yearning to rekindle the fire in their relationship? Classic country. One asking the other if he/she remembers the old passion and the other chiming in “remind me”? That’s pretty good, too – and genuinely sexy in a way neither Brad Paisley nor Carrie Underwood has ever been on record. There’s no doubt that this single was loaded with potential.

So why doesn’t it feel like the big event it should be?

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The 30 Day Song Challenge: Day 21

May 30, 2011 Dan Milliken 26

Today’s category is…

A Song You Used to Love But Now You Don’t.

Here are the staff picks:

Dan Milliken: “Homewrecker” – Gretchen Wilson

Here for the Party came out when I was fourteen and just getting really into country music, and it was so much fresher than most of the mainstream stuff at the time that it instantly became one of my favorite albums. “Homewrecker” wasn’t my favorite on the set (that was “Chariot,” which still sounds cool), but I did find it amazingly clever and funny in a way I couldn’t once I had gotten properly acquainted with Loretta Lynn.

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Single Review: Scotty McCreery, “I Love You This Big”

May 26, 2011 Dan Milliken 29

Any review of this single anywhere is like begging for site traffic from impassioned fans/haters. I don’t do nearly enough favors for Country Universe most of the time, though – so allow me to greet you down on my knees, Scottyfolk.

A preface: I didn’t watch this past season of American Idol, so this single is basically my first exposure to its winner, and I feel no sour grapes that he beat out So-And-So or What’s-Her-Face, and I don’t care about his adorable TV backstory or any of that. The only metric I’m using is whether “I Love You This Big” sounds like something I’d want to hear on the radio between “Teenage Daughters” and “Amen.”

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The 30 Day Song Challenge: Day 18

May 26, 2011 Dan Milliken 25

Today’s category is…

A Song You Love By an Artist You Don’t.

Here are the staff picks:

Dan Milliken: “Ticks” – Brad Paisley

He was one of the first country artists I got into, but I’ve developed a sourness for Paisley over the years. With each successive album, his songwriting voice has tended to sound a little more self-impressed and a little less self-aware. “Ticks” is a nice exception to my ears, though. For once, Paisley seems to get that he’s playing the machismo creep, so a listener can take perverse pleasure in listening to him be creepy rather than balk at the fact that they’re expected to sympathize with him. It helps that it’s one of his cooler-sounding singles, too.

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The 30 Day Song Challenge: Day 10

May 18, 2011 Dan Milliken 22

Today’s category is…

A Relaxing Song.

Here are the staff picks:

Dan Milliken: “Can’t Go Back Now” – The Weepies

This husband-wife duo’s sound is mega-soothing, the perfect match for a song which gently nudges the listener to persevere through reality’s burdens and chores. When I need relaxation, it’s usually because I’ve stopped feeling like I can. This one helps me realign.

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The 30 Day Song Challenge: Day 2

May 10, 2011 Dan Milliken 53

Today’s category is… A Song You Hate.

Here are the staff picks:

Dan Milliken: Travie McCoy featuring Bruno Mars

I usually don’t hate music if it’s blatantly awful. That usually makes me love it. (I have especially great affection for the universally maligned “We Built This City” thanks to the efforts of Twitter queen Megan Amram.) What grates on me is the technically listenable stuff that is still, slyly, really bland and stupid. Travie McCoy has some decent verses here, but it all goes to wash in the Bruno Mars chorus, which earned extra hate-points for always tricking me into thinking “Santeria” was coming on the radio last year.

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It’s Mother’s Day!

May 8, 2011 Dan Milliken 7

Feel free to mention, discuss or link to some of your favorite mom-related songs, or just any songs that remind you of a special mother or grandmother (since no one really knows when National Grandparents Day is anyway [except me now, via Wikipedia – it’s the first Sunday after Labor Day. Woo!]).

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