| CD REVIEW (This review has also been published at www.701.com) |
| THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED - GEORGE STRAIT |
| This legendary interpreter of other country music writers has come up with a dandy collection of tunes to please both hard-core C&W fans and anyone who likes mostly laid-back (but certainly not boring) country-rock compositions heavy on string (The Nashville String Machine) and steel guitar (Paul Franklin) arrangements. George has rounded up the cream of the crop to complement his velvety-smooth vocals too - Randy Scruggs, Steve Gibson, Stuart Duncan, Eddie Bayers, Michael Rhodes, Steve Nathan and Wes Hightower. While I don't recognize many of the songwriters' names, the beautiful closing track, 'My Life's Been Grand', was composed by Merle Haggard and Terry Gordon. Other tracks which caught my fancy are 'Stars on the Water' (Rodney Crowell) on which he employs a voice modulating device, a la Cher and Kid Rock, and 'The Real Thing' (Chip Taylor), a country & western equivalent of The Who's 'Substitution', with references to the "old" Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins. The title track (composed by Buddy Brock and Dean Dillon) will appeal to those with a rebellious, risk-taking spirit, and 'Run' (Tony Lane & Anthony Smith) is a heartfelt plea for the return of a lover - "Find a truck and fire it up, lean on the gas and off the clutch, leave Dallas in the dust, I need you in a rush, so run, baby, run." In fact, there's not one bad track on it, and the production (by George Strait and Tony Brown) is top-notch. It sure doesn't look like George Strait is going to fade away anywhere near soon. Well done! |
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