I am one of those people that cringe at the thought of having to listen to a Toby Keith album. Maybe that means I'm not the best to review a Keith album, I don't know, but I tried to push back my feelings and give the album a fair shot. Here is the thing about Keith that it is easy to miss if you get blinded by your dislike for him, he can write songs. He writes solid melodies with catchy hooks. When he steps away from writing about characters celebrating being American or getting drunk, like on the song "Just Another Sundown," he can be quite lyrical. The problem is on an 11 track album those songs are in the minority and instead we get the overdone "Made in America" and the throw away "Red Solo Cup." Songs that celebrate being American and alcoholism.
Following the Rhapsody rating method I give it 1 out of 5 stars for Just OK.
I agree with your concerns regarding Toby Keith's lyrics -- especially on silly stuff like "Red Solo Cup." But I'm glad you picked up on the fact that he is a cut above the rest. If you listened to a mainstream country music station for a week, you would see that his songs are generally much better than the competition.
ReplyDeleteHe's a terrific singer.
ReplyDelete