Album review: featuring the deluxe tracks from Changed & reviews of EPs by Luke Bryan & Bradley Gaskin
This is a little different, but I'm going with it. Good to change things up some, right? Hopefully you already read the review of Changed by Rascal Flatts. If not, it's the post right below this one if you want to get caught up.
Picking up right where I left off...
First of all, I'm going to say that I don't love when artists have multiple versions of CDs. Especially when you get the regular CD without knowing there's versions with additional songs on them. A lot of times you can't get those songs on their own so you might end up buying the CD again when you could've only gotten it once. I get why they do it; I get why stores would want to have exclusive tracks - the artists/labels want to sell more albums/make more money and the stores want people to buy the music at their store and not elsewhere. I get it. But I'm not really a fan of it. Just a mini rant.
In this case, I pre-ordered Changed and went ahead and got the deluxe edition because I figure that the more songs the better. Assuming the songs are good. So that said, let's talk about the extra tracks, starting with...
"Friday" Rascal Flatts are certainly not lacking in songs that feel good, I tell ya. This is another one, one that I bet could be a good one live. I actually don't have a lot to say about this one for some reason. It's not one of my favorites, but again, I still like it.
"Fall Here" A song for the girl who has been hurt time and time again and is scared to fall in love with; a song for the guy who is trying to tell this girl that if she's sick of all the pain and tears, she doesn't have to be scared to fall for him. "When you're ready for love/ And you've conquered your fear/ And you wanna fall baby/ Fall here". This is a very sweet song, I like this one a lot.
"Right One Time" This one gets off to a pretty blunt start, "Love's tough, let's get real". Well, all right. No arguments from this girl here. Love's hard, but you only have to get it right once. True enough. In this case, it's a song about a guy who is thinking that maybe he and this girl should try it together. And he doesn't know if he's nuts or if it's true. I like this; it doesn't stand out, but I don't find myself skipping over it. Solid track.
"Next To You, Next To Me" Okay, so I went and read a bunch of reviews before and as I was writing this and was amazed that no one seemed to know that this song is actually a remake. People keep talking about it like it's an original Rascal Flatts song and it's not; it was originally done by Shenandoah. They haven't done anything in quite a while and this song is kind of old, so I guess a lot of people haven't heard the original? Out of the people reviewing that is. Or if so, no one's mentioned it that I've seen. Yeah, it's a remake and a really good one. These two groups have something very important in common: both are/were great vocal groups. I kind of love that Rascal Flatts remade it since it shows off their harmonies nicely and proves that they can be more traditional. I really like how they open it with just them singing.
All in all, I believe I said it in the rest of the review, but I think this is the best album that Rascal Flatts has ever put out and highly recommend it. Features some great harmonies, melodies and is just good music.
Okay, so now that we've all been changed with Rascal Flatts it's time to go to Suntan City with Luke Bryan.
For anyone who maybe isn't aware, Luke Bryan has released a three or four song EP in honor of spring break for the past four years. I believe it started off as a way to put out songs that didn't make it first album and now it seems to be something he just does, complete with concerts in Panama City during spring break. These songs tend to be pretty light-hearted and fun; i.e not meant to be taken overly seriously. Something some reviewers should probably keep in mind.
He released his newest one, Spring Break 4...Suntan City, at the end of March. So what did I think? Going song by song:
"Suntan City" This is my favorite of the four, it has a great beat and feel to it that makes you want to move along. This is what I'd call a pretty classic Luke Bryan song; he does these kinds of songs so, so well. Fun song that I find insanely catchy. This one gets stuck in my head a bunch.
"Spring Break-Up" Makes me wonder just how many hook up and subsequent break ups happen during spring break. I can only imagine and on second thought, I think I'd rather not. I'm going to assume there's a lot. Country music is a lot like Apples App store, whereas they got an app for everything, country music has a song for everything. Just hooked up and then broken up with someone over spring break? There's a song for that. I'm not sure that a spring break-up has ever sounded so much fun. I get a kick out of this one. Another fun one, though the former *NSYNC fan in me can't help picturing Luke doing the hand gesture from "Bye Bye Bye" when I listen to the end of it. And yes, I did just admit to being an *NSYNC fan in a country blog. Moving on. :)
"Little Bit Later On" This song is a little strange. It's kind of out there and I kind of like it. I find it entertaining, especially when Luke does his imitation of a girl. Yes, you read that right. I told you this song is a little strange, did I not? But strange in an amusing way. If there was ever a song that shows off his personality, it's this one. He's a bit of a goofball that Luke Bryan. This is not the most amazing song you'll ever hear, but it is entertaining and pretty catchy. I enjoy it.
"Shake the Sand" The slow song on the album and it really falls more in the slower end of the mid-tempo range. This is basically a song for the spring break hookup - see, there's a song for everything in country music. He's basically going crazy for this girl and is ready for her to, ahem, "get to lovin' on me" they have to get the sand off the sheets. Probably a wise idea. This song is a pretty relaxed love song and Luke gives a really good, solid delivery here. He does these songs so well.
All in all, I think this is a really good EP that, again, should be taken in the manner it was released. Namely just as a collection of some fun and laid back songs celebrating spring week. Definitely a worthy addition to your music collection, particularly if you're already a fan of his.
And that wraps it up for this one! Thanks for reading!
Picking up right where I left off...
First of all, I'm going to say that I don't love when artists have multiple versions of CDs. Especially when you get the regular CD without knowing there's versions with additional songs on them. A lot of times you can't get those songs on their own so you might end up buying the CD again when you could've only gotten it once. I get why they do it; I get why stores would want to have exclusive tracks - the artists/labels want to sell more albums/make more money and the stores want people to buy the music at their store and not elsewhere. I get it. But I'm not really a fan of it. Just a mini rant.
In this case, I pre-ordered Changed and went ahead and got the deluxe edition because I figure that the more songs the better. Assuming the songs are good. So that said, let's talk about the extra tracks, starting with...
"Friday" Rascal Flatts are certainly not lacking in songs that feel good, I tell ya. This is another one, one that I bet could be a good one live. I actually don't have a lot to say about this one for some reason. It's not one of my favorites, but again, I still like it.
"Fall Here" A song for the girl who has been hurt time and time again and is scared to fall in love with; a song for the guy who is trying to tell this girl that if she's sick of all the pain and tears, she doesn't have to be scared to fall for him. "When you're ready for love/ And you've conquered your fear/ And you wanna fall baby/ Fall here". This is a very sweet song, I like this one a lot.
"Right One Time" This one gets off to a pretty blunt start, "Love's tough, let's get real". Well, all right. No arguments from this girl here. Love's hard, but you only have to get it right once. True enough. In this case, it's a song about a guy who is thinking that maybe he and this girl should try it together. And he doesn't know if he's nuts or if it's true. I like this; it doesn't stand out, but I don't find myself skipping over it. Solid track.
"Next To You, Next To Me" Okay, so I went and read a bunch of reviews before and as I was writing this and was amazed that no one seemed to know that this song is actually a remake. People keep talking about it like it's an original Rascal Flatts song and it's not; it was originally done by Shenandoah. They haven't done anything in quite a while and this song is kind of old, so I guess a lot of people haven't heard the original? Out of the people reviewing that is. Or if so, no one's mentioned it that I've seen. Yeah, it's a remake and a really good one. These two groups have something very important in common: both are/were great vocal groups. I kind of love that Rascal Flatts remade it since it shows off their harmonies nicely and proves that they can be more traditional. I really like how they open it with just them singing.
All in all, I believe I said it in the rest of the review, but I think this is the best album that Rascal Flatts has ever put out and highly recommend it. Features some great harmonies, melodies and is just good music.
**********
Okay, so now that we've all been changed with Rascal Flatts it's time to go to Suntan City with Luke Bryan.
For anyone who maybe isn't aware, Luke Bryan has released a three or four song EP in honor of spring break for the past four years. I believe it started off as a way to put out songs that didn't make it first album and now it seems to be something he just does, complete with concerts in Panama City during spring break. These songs tend to be pretty light-hearted and fun; i.e not meant to be taken overly seriously. Something some reviewers should probably keep in mind.
He released his newest one, Spring Break 4...Suntan City, at the end of March. So what did I think? Going song by song:
"Suntan City" This is my favorite of the four, it has a great beat and feel to it that makes you want to move along. This is what I'd call a pretty classic Luke Bryan song; he does these kinds of songs so, so well. Fun song that I find insanely catchy. This one gets stuck in my head a bunch.
"Spring Break-Up" Makes me wonder just how many hook up and subsequent break ups happen during spring break. I can only imagine and on second thought, I think I'd rather not. I'm going to assume there's a lot. Country music is a lot like Apples App store, whereas they got an app for everything, country music has a song for everything. Just hooked up and then broken up with someone over spring break? There's a song for that. I'm not sure that a spring break-up has ever sounded so much fun. I get a kick out of this one. Another fun one, though the former *NSYNC fan in me can't help picturing Luke doing the hand gesture from "Bye Bye Bye" when I listen to the end of it. And yes, I did just admit to being an *NSYNC fan in a country blog. Moving on. :)
"Little Bit Later On" This song is a little strange. It's kind of out there and I kind of like it. I find it entertaining, especially when Luke does his imitation of a girl. Yes, you read that right. I told you this song is a little strange, did I not? But strange in an amusing way. If there was ever a song that shows off his personality, it's this one. He's a bit of a goofball that Luke Bryan. This is not the most amazing song you'll ever hear, but it is entertaining and pretty catchy. I enjoy it.
"Shake the Sand" The slow song on the album and it really falls more in the slower end of the mid-tempo range. This is basically a song for the spring break hookup - see, there's a song for everything in country music. He's basically going crazy for this girl and is ready for her to, ahem, "get to lovin' on me" they have to get the sand off the sheets. Probably a wise idea. This song is a pretty relaxed love song and Luke gives a really good, solid delivery here. He does these songs so well.
All in all, I think this is a really good EP that, again, should be taken in the manner it was released. Namely just as a collection of some fun and laid back songs celebrating spring week. Definitely a worthy addition to your music collection, particularly if you're already a fan of his.
**********
I'm going to wrap this post up with a review of an EP that was just put out last month by a guy who you maybe haven't heard of yet, Bradley Gaskin. This guy leans a little more on the traditional end of the country music spectrum and actually reminds me a lot of Travis Tritt. Sometimes to the extent that if I didn't know who it was I would think it was Travis Tritt. I like his voice a lot and think that this EP shows a lot of promise. If you haven't looked him up already, I strongly encourage you to do so.
Let's take a look at the songs.
"Diamonds Make Babies" If you're a fan of Dierks Bentley than odds are you are already familiar with this song; it's on his Home album. I was pretty surprised to see it on here too. But this kind of thing happens a lot more often than people might realize. Nothing wrong with it; it's just interesting when that happens. In any event, this song is kind of a cautionary tale about what happens when a guy gets engaged. Namely "Yep, diamonds make babies/ And babies make mommas/ and mommas make daddies make changes they don't always wanna". I get a kick out of this song, regardless of who sings it. It's a fun one.
"Mr. Bartender" Yeah, you know when I said Bradley's voice reminded me of Travis Tritt? This is probably the best example. It reminds me a lot of "Here's a Quarter (Call Someone Who Cares)" which is among my favorite Travis Tritt songs. Too much at times perhaps, but still, a pretty solid song.
"I'm All About It" I'm very much torn over this one. There's something missing from this for me, I feel like it needed a little more oomph. I don't know how else to say it. It's not that I necessarily dislike it, but something about it falls flat. I feel like it's been done before and done better. I still find it enjoyable in spite of that. But this is probably my least favorite of the four.
"Satan Knew My Grandma Well" This one features the Isaacs and was originally released by the Grascals under the name "Satan and Grandma". This is without question my favorite song of the four. A song about all the ways that the devil attacks this woman, our narrator's Grandma, and no matter what he does it never works because her faith is so strong. Or as the song puts it, "Satan knew my Grandma well/ Jesus knew my Grandma best". This is a fantastic song and the background harmonies provided by the Isaacs are just beautiful. I really like the music and love how it ends with the melody of "Amazing Grace" playing. Just beautiful.
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