I think I'm renaming this month as album review month because that's all I've done. Trying to get caught up before even more albums come out. I'm going to get to this newest review shortly, but first, I'm going to take a second and give my readers a heads up about a new website that's going to get launched sometime next month, This Day in Country Music which will be found at http://www.thisdayincountrymusic.com/ once it's up. These are people who love music, who love country music and are very excited to get this site up. In the meantime, you can go check them out on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/ThisDayInCountryMusic, or on their twitter @TDICountryMusic. They specialize in country music trivia, history and facts so if you love country music, they are definitely worth checking out. I've learned some pretty interesting things from them that I probably wouldn't have known otherwise. So yeah. See what you think and if you think it's cool, give them a like or a follow. Or both, why not? Meanwhile, if you have a country music themed website or twitter or whatnot and would like me to give you a shout out here, let me know!
Now. This next album comes to us from a group that I've personally been a fan of since "Prayin' for Daylight" came out in 2000, I believe it was. That was over a decade ago. A lot has changed since then, a lot has happened since then, but with this album I almost feel like Rascal Flatts have come full circle in a way. There is a freshness to Changed that makes me think back to their first album. They've grown musically speaking; I'm not saying that the two albums are the same in that respect. Rather that with that album they were breaking into the music scene and everything was just so new and fresh. This is not to knock any of the albums between then and now; I'm just saying that none of those had the same feel to them to me. Which is very understandable. Based of all the articles and interviews I've read, Rascal Flatts underwent all sorts of changes in the days leading up to Changed. Some of those changes pretty big ones, to say the least - evidently they almost called it a day and were ready to end the group.
But luckily for their fans, they did not. They got together, talked things out and decided that they weren't done just yet. They still had some music left in them. Now they seem tighter than ever and looking forward to their future as a group. And so, we end up with Changed. An album where all of a sudden a lot of things feel new again. There is a freshness and excitement to this album that hasn't been this present in a while and I love it. Sometimes I talk about songs having a definite pulse to them and in this case, I'd say that that applies to this album as a whole. There's such a wonderful energy all throughout, an energy that everyone involved in the making of this album helped to create. It's not just coming from Gary, Jay and Joe Don; it's coming from all of the musicians as well. Production wise, I have absolutely no complaints. Everything feels and sounds the way it should. Musically speaking, I really enjoy the playing on here. There's a lot of nice stuff going on. Vocally, again, they all sound great. The classic Rascal Flatts harmonies are not only present, but present in away they've never been before. Yeah, I think this is a great album; I'd even go as far to say it's the best one they've ever done.
That's the short version for ya. Let's look at the songs themselves, shall we?
"Changed" I'll admit that I caved and bought this one as soon as it was available on iTunes, before the CD was released, because all the comments people were making about it got me so curious and I couldn't wait to hear it. I was initially surprised that they opened the album with it as most of the time albums will start with a more up-tempo song. But given everything that's happened, it now seems only natural that they'd kick things off with this. Things have changed and they are letting you know that right away, just in case you were not aware. And they do it in classic Rascal Flatts fashion. This song kind of feels like a follow up to "I'm Movin' On" and "Stand". I'd actually love to see them do some sort of fusion of these three songs. Not entirely sure how that would work, but I feel they compliment each other nicely. Maybe because all of them resonate with me on a very personal level. What I love about this song is that you have Gary singing about all the bad things he's done in his life, things he's not proud of, but somewhere in the midst of all that stuff, he found his faith and as a result is now changed. People will always relate to songs like this. Always. And very few do them quite as good as Rascal Flatts.
"Banjo" I'm not sure what else I can say here that I didn't say when I reviewed this song. So I'm going to include the link to that post, http://countrymusicatk.blogspot.com/2012/03/song-review-banjo-by-rascal-flatts.html and reiterate that I really like this one. As do a lot of people, apparently, because it recently became their #14th number one. Not too shabby, boys. Fun song and as I said in my review, I really like how the banjo is getting some well deserved love here.
"Hot In Here" Right off the bat, I like how this one kind of nicely chugs along. It just feels good to me. It also has a habit of getting stuck in my head. Which I'm thinking isn't a bad thing. The funny thing is that this is actually not one of my favorites, but I still really enjoy it. A testament to the strength of this CD. The harmonies sound so good on this song too, there's moments where you kind of get punched in the face with them and I like that. Good song.
"Come Wake Me Up" This song is very well crafted, lyrically, it's one of the strongest cuts on the album. It's about a guy missing the woman he still loves even though she's been gone for what seems like quite some time. All he wants is for her to come back to wake him up. It's a beautiful, sad lyric. Some highlights, "I can normally push you right out of my heart/ But I'm too tired to fight" or "I know that you're movin' on/ I know I should give you up/ But I keep hopin' that you'll trip and fall back in love/ Time's not healin' anything/ Baby, this pain is worse than it ever was/ I know that you can't hear me, but baby I need you to save me tonight". I love Gary's delivery, especially on that last line of the part I just quoted. It's one of the quieter parts in the song and you can just hear the sadness in his voice. Love how loud it is before then and how everything comes crashing back in afterwards, a very nice example of the power of dynamics or how loud or soft a note is. I love the contrasts all over this song, but especially there. Great arrangement.
"She's Leaving" Ah, kicking things off with an ominous sounding fiddle. I really like the opening of this and it comes complete with "woah-oh"s. It's going to be one of those kinds of songs, I see. Now, I'm not going to pretend that lyrical genius was achieved here. I'd imagine there's going to be plenty of people who are going to make fun of, if not dislike, this song because of that. But it is catchy and I find it fun to sing along with. I mean come on, "She's got a suitcase packed in the trunk, trunk, trunk/ She's got a see you later song going bump, bump, bump/ She's got a hurtin', heavy heart that goes thump, thump, thump/ She's leaving/ She's got a bucket of tears going drop drip drop". Is it a little silly? Yes. And that's okay. This is one that I'd bet would be a lot of fun to see live.
"Let It Hurt" A pretty significant mood change here. When I think of Rascal Flatts, there's generally two kinds of songs that come to mind. The up-tempo songs that make you want to dance and the slow to mid-tempo ballads that tug at the heart strings. This is one of the latter and one that is going to hit home for a lot of people in a very real, probably raw, way. It's a song about how sometimes we go through things that are painful and the only thing we can do is just let it hurt, because the healing comes after. My favorite thing about this song is how open ended it is; it could be about just about anything. A death of a loved ones, the end of a relationship, a horrible diagnosis, etc. This is one of the standout tracks for me. Beautifully written, beautifully sung and beautifully played.
"Lovin' Me" Another one that just feel good to me, some interesting bits musically speaking. A song about a guy who loves the way his lover lover him. Hey, the song features a ton of "lovin' me"'s so I'm going with it. Actually, there might just be a few too many of those for my personal liking. Maybe my least favorite track overall. But it does feel good.
"Hurry Baby" A song where all he wants is for the woman he loves to get home already because he misses her. There's a definite sweetness to this lyric; he just wants her to get back home. There's some great lines too, "Every second feels just like a year/ Every moment you're not here/ Is like a lifetime of lonely". Nicely written, good song.
"Sunrise" I really love the concept of this song and how it was written. It's about a guy who wants to take the woman he loves out of a bad relationship. This is another of my favorites, nice piece of songwriting here. "Let me get you out of here/ Wipe away all your tears/ Now you're safe in these arms of mine/ I won't ever let you down/ Your heart will start to come around/ We're gonna change your life/ One sunrise at a time". Lyrics aside, I really like the music on here. Great track.
"Great Big Love" Talk about songs that feel good, this is a fun one to groove along with. I will say that this reminds me of another song or two, especially in the verses. Not so much in the chorus. But I still like this one. Great energy to it.
"A Little Home" This is one of the songs on this album that gets talked about a lot and for good reason. It's very much a classic Rascal Flatts song to me. The idea is that sometimes you need a little home and it shows various scenarios, such as the college student in her dorm or a guy in a war zone. It's a beautiful song. Again, I really love the music on this. I also love how Jay and Joe Doe split the lead vocal in the second verse. It was a nice surprise for me and a nice reminder that both of their voices stand just fine on their own. More than fine in fact. Lovely track.
Now, "A Little Home" is the last song of the regular Changed CD. There is also a deluxe edition that features an additional four songs and that's the version I got. But, after the length of my last album review, I've decided to break it up and give them their own post.
Actually, that's what I was going to do initially, but have decided to include reviews of a couple of EPs in there as well since a lot of those tend to be four songs as well. Going to get on that after posting this so odds are it'll be up by the time you see this. Thanks for reading, as always!
Now. This next album comes to us from a group that I've personally been a fan of since "Prayin' for Daylight" came out in 2000, I believe it was. That was over a decade ago. A lot has changed since then, a lot has happened since then, but with this album I almost feel like Rascal Flatts have come full circle in a way. There is a freshness to Changed that makes me think back to their first album. They've grown musically speaking; I'm not saying that the two albums are the same in that respect. Rather that with that album they were breaking into the music scene and everything was just so new and fresh. This is not to knock any of the albums between then and now; I'm just saying that none of those had the same feel to them to me. Which is very understandable. Based of all the articles and interviews I've read, Rascal Flatts underwent all sorts of changes in the days leading up to Changed. Some of those changes pretty big ones, to say the least - evidently they almost called it a day and were ready to end the group.
But luckily for their fans, they did not. They got together, talked things out and decided that they weren't done just yet. They still had some music left in them. Now they seem tighter than ever and looking forward to their future as a group. And so, we end up with Changed. An album where all of a sudden a lot of things feel new again. There is a freshness and excitement to this album that hasn't been this present in a while and I love it. Sometimes I talk about songs having a definite pulse to them and in this case, I'd say that that applies to this album as a whole. There's such a wonderful energy all throughout, an energy that everyone involved in the making of this album helped to create. It's not just coming from Gary, Jay and Joe Don; it's coming from all of the musicians as well. Production wise, I have absolutely no complaints. Everything feels and sounds the way it should. Musically speaking, I really enjoy the playing on here. There's a lot of nice stuff going on. Vocally, again, they all sound great. The classic Rascal Flatts harmonies are not only present, but present in away they've never been before. Yeah, I think this is a great album; I'd even go as far to say it's the best one they've ever done.
That's the short version for ya. Let's look at the songs themselves, shall we?
"Changed" I'll admit that I caved and bought this one as soon as it was available on iTunes, before the CD was released, because all the comments people were making about it got me so curious and I couldn't wait to hear it. I was initially surprised that they opened the album with it as most of the time albums will start with a more up-tempo song. But given everything that's happened, it now seems only natural that they'd kick things off with this. Things have changed and they are letting you know that right away, just in case you were not aware. And they do it in classic Rascal Flatts fashion. This song kind of feels like a follow up to "I'm Movin' On" and "Stand". I'd actually love to see them do some sort of fusion of these three songs. Not entirely sure how that would work, but I feel they compliment each other nicely. Maybe because all of them resonate with me on a very personal level. What I love about this song is that you have Gary singing about all the bad things he's done in his life, things he's not proud of, but somewhere in the midst of all that stuff, he found his faith and as a result is now changed. People will always relate to songs like this. Always. And very few do them quite as good as Rascal Flatts.
"Banjo" I'm not sure what else I can say here that I didn't say when I reviewed this song. So I'm going to include the link to that post, http://countrymusicatk.blogspot.com/2012/03/song-review-banjo-by-rascal-flatts.html and reiterate that I really like this one. As do a lot of people, apparently, because it recently became their #14th number one. Not too shabby, boys. Fun song and as I said in my review, I really like how the banjo is getting some well deserved love here.
"Hot In Here" Right off the bat, I like how this one kind of nicely chugs along. It just feels good to me. It also has a habit of getting stuck in my head. Which I'm thinking isn't a bad thing. The funny thing is that this is actually not one of my favorites, but I still really enjoy it. A testament to the strength of this CD. The harmonies sound so good on this song too, there's moments where you kind of get punched in the face with them and I like that. Good song.
"Come Wake Me Up" This song is very well crafted, lyrically, it's one of the strongest cuts on the album. It's about a guy missing the woman he still loves even though she's been gone for what seems like quite some time. All he wants is for her to come back to wake him up. It's a beautiful, sad lyric. Some highlights, "I can normally push you right out of my heart/ But I'm too tired to fight" or "I know that you're movin' on/ I know I should give you up/ But I keep hopin' that you'll trip and fall back in love/ Time's not healin' anything/ Baby, this pain is worse than it ever was/ I know that you can't hear me, but baby I need you to save me tonight". I love Gary's delivery, especially on that last line of the part I just quoted. It's one of the quieter parts in the song and you can just hear the sadness in his voice. Love how loud it is before then and how everything comes crashing back in afterwards, a very nice example of the power of dynamics or how loud or soft a note is. I love the contrasts all over this song, but especially there. Great arrangement.
"She's Leaving" Ah, kicking things off with an ominous sounding fiddle. I really like the opening of this and it comes complete with "woah-oh"s. It's going to be one of those kinds of songs, I see. Now, I'm not going to pretend that lyrical genius was achieved here. I'd imagine there's going to be plenty of people who are going to make fun of, if not dislike, this song because of that. But it is catchy and I find it fun to sing along with. I mean come on, "She's got a suitcase packed in the trunk, trunk, trunk/ She's got a see you later song going bump, bump, bump/ She's got a hurtin', heavy heart that goes thump, thump, thump/ She's leaving/ She's got a bucket of tears going drop drip drop". Is it a little silly? Yes. And that's okay. This is one that I'd bet would be a lot of fun to see live.
"Let It Hurt" A pretty significant mood change here. When I think of Rascal Flatts, there's generally two kinds of songs that come to mind. The up-tempo songs that make you want to dance and the slow to mid-tempo ballads that tug at the heart strings. This is one of the latter and one that is going to hit home for a lot of people in a very real, probably raw, way. It's a song about how sometimes we go through things that are painful and the only thing we can do is just let it hurt, because the healing comes after. My favorite thing about this song is how open ended it is; it could be about just about anything. A death of a loved ones, the end of a relationship, a horrible diagnosis, etc. This is one of the standout tracks for me. Beautifully written, beautifully sung and beautifully played.
"Lovin' Me" Another one that just feel good to me, some interesting bits musically speaking. A song about a guy who loves the way his lover lover him. Hey, the song features a ton of "lovin' me"'s so I'm going with it. Actually, there might just be a few too many of those for my personal liking. Maybe my least favorite track overall. But it does feel good.
"Hurry Baby" A song where all he wants is for the woman he loves to get home already because he misses her. There's a definite sweetness to this lyric; he just wants her to get back home. There's some great lines too, "Every second feels just like a year/ Every moment you're not here/ Is like a lifetime of lonely". Nicely written, good song.
"Sunrise" I really love the concept of this song and how it was written. It's about a guy who wants to take the woman he loves out of a bad relationship. This is another of my favorites, nice piece of songwriting here. "Let me get you out of here/ Wipe away all your tears/ Now you're safe in these arms of mine/ I won't ever let you down/ Your heart will start to come around/ We're gonna change your life/ One sunrise at a time". Lyrics aside, I really like the music on here. Great track.
"Great Big Love" Talk about songs that feel good, this is a fun one to groove along with. I will say that this reminds me of another song or two, especially in the verses. Not so much in the chorus. But I still like this one. Great energy to it.
"A Little Home" This is one of the songs on this album that gets talked about a lot and for good reason. It's very much a classic Rascal Flatts song to me. The idea is that sometimes you need a little home and it shows various scenarios, such as the college student in her dorm or a guy in a war zone. It's a beautiful song. Again, I really love the music on this. I also love how Jay and Joe Doe split the lead vocal in the second verse. It was a nice surprise for me and a nice reminder that both of their voices stand just fine on their own. More than fine in fact. Lovely track.
Now, "A Little Home" is the last song of the regular Changed CD. There is also a deluxe edition that features an additional four songs and that's the version I got. But, after the length of my last album review, I've decided to break it up and give them their own post.
Actually, that's what I was going to do initially, but have decided to include reviews of a couple of EPs in there as well since a lot of those tend to be four songs as well. Going to get on that after posting this so odds are it'll be up by the time you see this. Thanks for reading, as always!
The classic Rascal Flatts harmonies are not only present, but present in away they've never been before. Yeah, I think this is a great album; I'd even go as far to say it's the best one they've ever done.Great stuff
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