Album Review – Eric Church’s “The Outsiders”
Let me begin by saying that I don’t want to write this review. If I had my druthers I would just ignore this album, and focus on something else. But in the face of an absolute onslaught of requests, I will give my personal opinion unfettered and unabridged. I’ll also preface this business by saying that if you like or love this album, that’s all that matters, and my opinion or anyone elses should not sway you from your enjoyment of this music.
Also, before anyone says that it doesn’t matter what kind of album Eric Church released, I would write a negative review for it because of some predisposed bias, or because I do not like the guy on a personal level, go read this review, this review, this review, this review, and take into consideration that his last album Chief was my choice of the albums nominated to be the winner during the last cycle of both the CMA and ACM Awards.
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To put it bluntly, as an album, Eric Church’s The Outsiders is garbage. Does that mean there’s no good songs on it? No, there are some good songs on it, and a few good moments in otherwise not good songs. But as an album, The Outsiders is an absolute, colossal failure of process. It is a muddy mess, with no compass, direction, theme, groove, cohesiveness, or underlying thread connecting the disjointed, ill-conceived and poorly-executed song ideas simply meant to show of how different Eric Church is with no other underlying message or originality of either concept or story. Simply put, The Outsiders is a face plant of the creative process, posing to be “artistic”.
Eric Church is reported to have written a whopping 121 songs for the album before he hit the studio. And judging by the result, I believe him, and wouldn’t be surprised if he’s selling that number short. Apparently we’re supposed to be impressed that 121 songs were vetted for this album, but it speaks to songwriting by formula as opposed to inspiration, and is one of the reasons for the flat, uninspired, and unoriginal result when looking past the histrionics this album contains.
The Outsiders is an exercise of finding the biggest wall available and throwing a disparate hodgepodge of disconnected ideas and undisciplined influences against it to see what sticks. As much as we were sold from the very beginning of this album release that everything would resolve and make sense once we heard the entire project in context, the individual songs released before this album make even less sense now, and the songs as a whole resolve to a sum lesser than their individual parts.
But you won’t hear this from the vast majority of critics. They can’t shut the hell up about how brilliant this album is simply because it isn’t country rap, and it’s not “bro-country” (and UNAPPROVED savingcountrymusic.com term).
First off, I refuse to give into addition by subtraction and give undue credit to music simply because it isn’t as shitty as something else. Is The Outsiders better than Chase Rice, Cole Swindell, or whatever the flavor on the moment in pop country is? Maybe, though at least these guys have some idea of direction. But that doesn’t automatically make Eric Church and The Outsiders “good”. I wholeheartedly subscribe to the idea that music should be judged against it’s peers, but Eric Church’s peers as a reigning Album of the Year winner aren’t Tyler Farr, and Dan + Shay, they’re George Strait and Taylor Swift, and these artists have a theme, a sound, and a direction.
The high-reaching superlatives I have seen attributed to this album from noteworthy and credible sources is nothing short of disturbing, and even at times dangerous. Each to their own opinion, and we can agree to disagree, but when NPR says, “Eric Church is working on a level that few other country artists of his generation can touch,” this speaks to the continued discounting of the leadership the women of country music, and the men of Americana and independent country are displaying. I couldn’t disagree with NPR’s sentiment any more, especially seeing how The Outsiders really isn’t a country album, at all. There’s one track you could call country. Otherwise it is purely rock, and this misappropriation of the “country” term is yet another offense disqualifying this album from being something that should be considered “bold” or “epic”.
One of the biggest proselytizers for this album has been Eric Church himself. “It’s a very polarizing song,” Eric said about “The Outsiders” title track to The New York Times. “Half the people hated it, half thought it was the greatest thing they ever heard. But I think that wide range of opinions means you made something artistic, you actually made art.”
Oh, so if you start off with a Waylon phase guitar, lead into a heavy metal song, then speed bump the groove with a couple of interjected Pork Soda prog rock bass guitar solos, add a little pseudo-rapping, and people discredit it for being too busy and lacking direction, that’s how you know it’s “artistic”?
The whole point of this album seems to be to set up Eric Church as this forward-thinking force in country music. But just because you take a bunch of ill-fitting parts and slap them together—as Eric does in numerous songs, and with the overall song selection itself—doesn’t necessarily mean you’re being “artistic.” It’s like people who want to be known as “weird” might dye their hair strange colors, get strange piercings or tattoos, or wear shocking clothing. But this is all superficial. The question is, is this something that is truly groundbreaking, or has it never been done before because it’s ill-advised and doesn’t work?
I don’t even know if the music on this album matters. Eric Church has put his back into cultivating this “Outsider” persona, and the music just seems to be a vehicle to the cultural identity he wants to convey, and his fans want to identify with. The music is almost an inconvenience to Eric Church. As he’s said many times, he hates writing songs. Aside from a few songs that seem to come from the heart, The Outsiders is formulaic themes and sonic trickery. For a song to connect with an individual, it music convey a deep, human feeling. Are you telling me that Eric Church had 121 deep, original human feelings since his last release that he was able to translate into song? The human inspiration on this album was spread so thin across so much material, it was almost completely lost once these tracks were being zapped onto compact disk.
And back to the point of praising The Outsiders for not being “bro-country” or country rap, I’m not sure if those people’s review copies are missing tracks, but I am hearing both these elements, as well as EDM electronic wankery make an appearance on the album. Is it to the degree of some of Eric Church’s mainstream male counterparts? No, but the song “Cold One” is a total bro-country beer song, and “That’s Damn Rock & Roll” features multiple stanzas of rapping. You listen to a song like “Talladega,” and it’s straight up pop country. Leadership? Boldness? The songs that could be accidentally identified with having these qualities are the album’s worst tracks because they’re simply a bunch of ill-fitting parts slapped together.
There are some decent songs on The Outsiders though. But to grade the album fairly, you have to break it down to the individual songs. The songs themselves are too disjointed to critique collectively. As for the album itself, I would give it:
1 1/2 of 2 guns DOWN.
Individual Song Reviews
1. “The Outsiders”
Beyond my original review for this song, I’d like to point out how we were told some of the strangeness of the music and message of this song would all resolve and make sense when put in the context of the entire album. Of course, as always with theses promises, this wasn’t the case whatsoever. In the context of the album, this song comes across as even more ill-advised. There really was no “Outsiders” theme holding the work together.
“The Outsiders” is an attempt to write and produce a song by aggregating popular sonic elements and trying to squeeze them together instead of simply drawing a story and three chords from inspiration. The result is a Frankenstein-like monster; a colossus of corporate music that threatens to kill its makers. Though this type of machination might be acceptable, or even appreciated in some outer fringes of the metal world, in the country music format it’s downright laughable. (read full review)
Two guns down.
2. A Man Who Was Gonna Die Young
One of the recurring themes of The Outsiders is that “sounds familiar” feel. Eric seems to always shine in the stripped-down format. His pretentiousness is what keeps most from his music, and in his unguarded moments is when he draws you in. And so even though “A Man Who Was Gonna Die Young” is a song that has been done many, many times, this is one of the albums better tracks.
1 3/4 of 2 guns up.
3. Cold One
For the people proselytizing that The Outsiders as the anti “bro-country” epic, this song is a problem. It’s not your typical laundry list, dirt road and tailgate song, but it’s pretty close, with its premise beginning and ending with beer. Though it’s arguably the most country track on the album, there’s some pop and rock elements here, like the harsh, purposely-ugly guitar part meant to mimic the blurred mind of a beer binge, and the record skipping near the end that refers to the new school, EDM influence creeping into the country format. These things aren’t Eric Church leading, they’re Eric Church following. Yes, the sped up bridge in the middle of the song is pretty fun, but again is a borrowed, often-called upon element. The story is nothing special, though the wit of the “Cold One” double meaning is appreciated. Not bad, but not as good as some will sense at first listen.
1 1/4 of 2 guns up.
4. Roller Coaster Ride
Oh Eric!
Folks, this isn’t a pop country song, this is a pop song pure and simple. From the storyline, to the sonic elements, this song was built to be the soundtrack to a future Lexus commercial. Church’s “artistic” touch is to add an unfortunate synthesized sound bed that comes streaking in and out throughout the song. Picture yourself as Atreyu riding on the back of the Luck Dragon through the wispy clouds of Fantasia. Church fans may fall in love with this song, but hey, that’s the allure of pop music; it’s instantly catchy in lieu of delivering long-term substance. I guess Church thinks he makes up for at all at the end when his synthesized sounds turn sinister. Laughable.
Two guns down.
5. Talladega
Ha! This song has been done a million and one times, and yet again for all the “epic” and “artistic” praise this album has received, here is another placid and predictable, straightforward pop country tune. It’s a nostalgic, reminiscent song built mostly around the power of the word “Talladega”, but there’s a decent sense of story here, and the song works, mostly because Church resists the urge to add some ill-advised guitar solo or electronic interjections like he does on other tunes. He should see if Rascal Flatts wants to cut this on their next record.
1 1/4 of 2 guns up.
6. Broke Record
Listening to the song was one of numerous times I kept picturing Sheryl Crow circa late 90’s when listening to this album. This is a catchy little rhythm-based tune that adeptly slides its fun lyrics in between the starts and stops and gets your foot tapping just fine. Aside from a very short moment heading into the bridge and a pretty good acoustic guitar solo, this is a silly little roots pop song that is harmless, but certainly nothing special; quick to grab your attention, but soon to be forgotten.
1 1/4 of 2 guns up.
7. Like A Wrecking Ball
Not bad at all. Could have done with a little less reverb on Eric’s vocal signal, but this is one of the few songs on the album that seems to come from a personal, inspired story from Eric Church himself instead of an easy-to-fall-back-on trope of modern popular music. At the same time, there’s really nothing special here. For once, some of Eric’s studio wizardry may have helped give this song a little something to make it memorable. Like virtually every song on the album, there’s nothing country about it whatsoever. But it works I guess.
1 1/2 of 2 guns up.
8. That’s Damn Rock & Roll
It was at this point in the album when I wondered why the hell I was even listening to this. What type of aberration of the term “country ” allowed this album, and this song to come into my life where I would be forced to give my opinion on it?
Between the Duran Duran tone of the electric guitar, rapping, the Annie Lennox banshee screams (which by the way, in the appropriate context would be awesome), and the general bellicose grandstanding about the format Eric Church wish he was in instead of the industry that is promoting his music, this song is ill-conceived on just about every single level. Some of the lyrics and the sentiment behind the song will get some people’s blood pumping, but this is all a derivative of pushing sonic buttons and pandering to constituencies instead of some original expression or the delivery of any true substance.
This is out generation’s “We Built This City” from Starship. Marconi plays the Mamba.
Two guns down.
9. Dark Side
Finally everything comes together. Where the rest of the album generally takes the form of ill-fitting parts, with Church matching up audio features that he wants to play with, with songs and themes that they have no business being in, here a progressive, stripped-back, and tasteful approach is the perfect texture for the story that you can tell has a truly personal meaning to Eric. This song is nothing short of excellent.
Two guns up.
10. Devil, Devil (Prelude: Princess of Darkness)
Pure marketing and pandering to Eric Church’s Outlaw/Outsider manufactured image with no redeeming value. A farce. Bullshit. An insult to the intelligence of every listener.
Two guns way down.
11. Give Me Back My Hometown
To the mainstream country ear, “Give Me Back My Hometown” must sound nothing short of foreign and refreshing. But to an ear with a more wide sense of perspective, especially when the heavy bass drum beat and hand claps kick in about 1/3”²rd of the way through the song, a strong, pungent Lumineers influence reveals itself quite obviously…Once again we see a symptom of Music Row being 18 months behind the relevancy arch, and just now catching up with what was cool last year, despite feeling cutting-edge within the format….All those observations aside though, simply based off of the ear test, “Give Me Back My Hometown” is not bad. The song works. (read full review)
1 1/4 of 2 guns up.
12. The Joint
I don’t know. A stupid amalgam of sound to let you know how awesome and creative Eric Church is.
One gun up, one gun down.
February 11, 2014 @ 11:12 am
Great review! Although I had no intention of listening to the album before hand, I feel you saved my blood pressure for sky rocketing. Now I can just sit back and read what will be a very entertaining 110 comment throwdown.
February 11, 2014 @ 7:37 pm
Good call on not listening to something based on someone’s opinion of whom you’ve never met. I can tell you’re a smart guy.
Anyway, I enjoyed Church’s album. But don’t take my word for it. Or do. Because obviously the requirements for writing album reviews on the internet are stringent.
I give your dumbass review two thumbs up your ass. How ya like that?
February 17, 2014 @ 2:23 pm
To stick your both of your thumbs up Trigger’s ass; wouldn’t that require you to take both of your hands off of Eric Church’s hips?
February 18, 2014 @ 7:19 pm
Uh oh, hurt feelings? Because obviously if someone disagrees with this review, they must be a fanatic of Church right? It’s okay…Trigger’s dick is probably small, you’ll be okay. Open wide!
February 11, 2014 @ 11:13 am
I pretty much agree with you to the letter. The album had it’s moments, but it is all over the place sonically and I don’t get where all the praise is coming from. It’s almost as if everyone stopped after their initial reaction (“OMG this doesn’t sound like other country music”) and forgot to proceed (“but is this good music?”).
I would put “That’s Damn Rock and Roll” up there in the running for the worst song of all time. It gets bonus points for Erich Church doing all the things that make people hate Eric Church.
The only place I disagree is that I liked Talladega. Yeah, it is a treacly pop country anthem, but I still don’t think it is a bad song. You joke about Rascal Flatts recording it, but I could see George Strait recording it, too.
February 11, 2014 @ 11:39 am
“That’s Damn Rock & Roll” is our generation’s “We Built This City” from Starship.
(Meant to put that in the review. Adding now.)
February 11, 2014 @ 11:58 am
Also I can’t fault anyone for liking “Talladega,” and I kind of “like” it myself to be honest. It’s a catchy song, and if Eric’s label is smart, it’ll be a single, and probably the most successful one from the album. There’s nothing wrong with recording simple, accessible, but good songs. The problem is pretending that it is anything more than what it is.
February 17, 2014 @ 5:58 pm
I was looking forward to hearing the album and then sat with mouth agape for much of it, wondering if it was a Punk’d version of the real album. It reminds me of Simon Cowell’s criticism of some artists being “indulgent.” Apparently, Eric never learned that just because you can do something, you should do it. Having said that, I’ve actually spent real American money to buy “Talladega,” a perfectly catchy and sweetly wistful song.
February 11, 2014 @ 8:30 pm
Is it bad if I like “We Built This City”? Catchy song, regardless of substance.
February 12, 2014 @ 9:45 am
I’ll add a few things. First, I thought it was interesting that the poem connecting “Dark Side” and “Devil, Devil” was originally supposed to be the Shel Silverstein poem “The Devil and Daniel Markham,” which didn’t get clearance from Shel Silverstein’s estate. It may have come off a little less pretentious than the Church-penned poem that intros “Devil, Devil.”
Also, it occurred to me that you could now put together a truly solid Eric Church Greatest Hits album. Now, maybe not radio hits, but if you took the 2-3 best songs from each album, you would have a damn fine album. The highs are high with this guy.
February 11, 2014 @ 11:28 am
“Simply put, The Outsiders is a face plant of the creative process, posing to be “artistic”.”
Nice one. 🙂
I find that NPR quote to be utterly maddening for the exact reasons that you specify.
February 11, 2014 @ 11:39 am
I can’t say I am very surprised.
Many NPR fans dislike straightforward songwriting and prefer some type of sonic trickery/complexity. Brandy Clark’s album received some criticism on the NPR forum, for example, from people who were unfavorably comparing her to Sarah Jarosz due to Jarosz’s use of more complex music.
February 11, 2014 @ 3:13 pm
Yeah, I thought that kind of strange. Not that I haven’t discovered good stuff through NPR before (Kacey, Valerie June), but the comment sections sometimes leave me puzzled — I, for one, loved Brandy’s album enough to pre-order the CD on Amazon after a couple of listens, but I could barely get past the first track on Eric’s. (I eventually sampled “Give Me Back My Hometown” on its own — a nice tune, if indeed pretty derivative of Mumfords / Lumineers folk-pop.)
Judging from Trig’s track-by-track break-down, it sounds as though ‘The Outsiders’ is little more than a mixed bag of something-for-everybody.
February 11, 2014 @ 10:20 pm
NPR’s Pop Music Critic, Ken Tucker, does a good job of covering country music and often gives positive reviews to country albums, but sometimes it seems like he’s too leninent. I’ve heard him gush over mediocre albums.
February 11, 2014 @ 11:16 pm
I think Ken Tucker is a good writer and I am a fan of his work. The problem with his quote here is not necessarily what he’s saying about Church, but how he’s pretty much discounting the rest of the industry and making every other artist subservient to Eric Church’s talents. Regardless of taste or how anyone feels about this album, it just seems unwarranted, and honestly, a dangerous assertion.
February 11, 2014 @ 11:30 am
I reviewed this album to a bunch of ppl and its funny cuz you nailed that review to a tee! Big eric church fan but not a great record
February 11, 2014 @ 11:37 am
somebody should pass Eric Church the new Scott H. Biram record. if he needs to rip off somebody for inspiration it might as well be a musician who knows how to do this kind of music and does it right.
February 11, 2014 @ 11:44 am
Don’t give him any ideas. Figuring out who the next underground artist Eric wants to pattern himself around starts today.
February 11, 2014 @ 11:51 am
I agree with the review. I generally like EC but I feel he loses something with each album and the trend continues here. It makes me sad. He has potential and talent and he could, if he chose to, school the other idiots. Instead he does this. The songs you were more positive about were the only ones I considered downloading. I like the Dark Side the most and I wish I could say it was more than one song.
February 11, 2014 @ 11:59 am
A couple songs I wasn’t huge on, but “A Man Who Was Gonna Die Young” and “Dark Side” we’re definitely my favorite. Lyrically his metaphors always impress me from a songwriting aspect
February 11, 2014 @ 12:44 pm
I largely agree with your critique of the songs and overall fit/quality. However, I don’t understand the critique that the amalgam of sounds or lack of “fit” is an inherent negative.
Don’t me me wrong, I like great concept albums like “Red Headed Stranger” as much as the next guy, but don’t most of us make “playlists” or put our music on “shuffle” sometimes for the simple value of variety?
If I’m going to lend my ear to one voice/musician for an hour, I want to be kept on my toes. I generally want a lack of fit, in some sense. Not saying that this album is the best example of that, but I don’t think the inclusion of some heavy rock moments and obvious pop moments are inherently bad things. Granted, people who claim EC is purely “country” kind of invalidate my argument, but I’ve never been that guy.
February 11, 2014 @ 4:35 pm
This is a good question and good point. I too think that a good album has “spice” or a diversity in content that keeps the ear engaged, and when reviewing an album, this is one of the important points I tend to point out, whether an album has a good amount of spice, or not enough.
But in the case of “The Outsiders”, in my opinion, there is too much spice. Think of a bowl of soup, and someone dumped an entire slat and pepper shaker into it.
Having said that, if someone sees the diversity of this album as a positive, I can understand that perspective because this album, if not anything else, is diverse.
February 16, 2014 @ 6:08 pm
To address this aspect only, I can’t see it as a negative. Take a good listen to the Beatles revolver though Abbey Road and the mood/spice/theme/whatever you want to call it is all over the place and that’s why they work.
February 16, 2014 @ 8:19 pm
This genre mixing has gotten way out of hand. It’s mostly going rock and pop for bigger sales. Everyone wants to be Kid Rock now.
February 11, 2014 @ 12:45 pm
I really loved Eric Churh’s Sinners Like Me album. Seems to me with each CD he releases his music is getting worse and worse. I thought the CHIEF album was subpar at best, yet lots of people went on and on how great it was and his best stuff yet. I really don’t even know if I want to purchase his latest release. I never thought Eric Church would start sucking…..I remember the first time I heard his song “lightning” and I thought damn this guy is going to be something special
February 11, 2014 @ 1:23 pm
I dont think he’ll ever make a song as good as “Lightning” ever again. that song gives me chills
February 11, 2014 @ 12:52 pm
Anybody else notice the guitar in “A Man Who Was Gonna Die Young” is really reminiscent of Kenny Chesney’s “There Goes My Life”
February 11, 2014 @ 8:24 pm
I knew it sounded like something else, but couldn’t put my finger on it… But yah that sounds pretty accurate to me
February 11, 2014 @ 1:08 pm
Publishing this as someone who is honestly a big fan of Eric church so I have a bias towards him. That being said I do agree with many of your points, I believe in an interview, church said that after cheif the industry started to shift towards more music like cheif making church become the norm, which he never wanted to be. So I can see where he’s going with this album. That being said songs like roller coaster ride, and the joint feel like he’s forcing to move away from the norm. Dark side is absolutely the best song on the album and his best work in moving away from the pack. I also really like broke record and give me back my hometown. I do commend him for what he’s doing I just think he could do it in another way
February 11, 2014 @ 2:01 pm
“church said that after cheif the industry started to shift towards more music like cheif making church become the norm, which he never wanted to be.”
So now he’s taking credit for changing the landscape of mainstream country radio, i.e. bro-country?
This guy is something else!
February 11, 2014 @ 2:49 pm
If you strip away your hate for EC and stop for a min, you will see that his statement is correct. Artists like EC and Brantley Gilbert sort of broke through with a more rock like country style, for church it started with Smoke a little Smoke. In the past years since Smoke a Little Smoke we have seen more and more artists go down that rock country path and use the heavier guitar riffs like Jason Aldean. I cant say if he truly does not want to be in the norm of country, or if he wants to be outside the norm for his image. But EC could have put out another album almost identical to Chief and it would have went platinum, but if he did that he would have fallen deeper into the norm with artists that continually put out the same albums with different lyrics to fatten their pockets and the labels pockets. Instead he wants to progress his music and do something he has not done before which is admirable in my eyes.
February 11, 2014 @ 4:34 pm
I completely agree with you. Though I am biased as an Eric Church fan, I am interested in what others have to say, whether is be positive or negative feedback. I can understand why EC would put out an album like this. He probably felt that the success of Chief gave him the freedom to do whatever he wanted to do and to make a different sounding album. While he maybe he shouldn’t have gone too different, there are definitely some highlights and variety within the album. That being said, there are songs on this album that are pretty weird and I think he could have made them better. I appreciate the effort to not make a replica album of Chief and I love songs such as “Dark side” and “Like a Wrecking Ball”.
February 11, 2014 @ 4:38 pm
Country music is very much a copycat business, and by virtue of Eric Church’s wins for both the CMA and ACM Album of the Year last cycle means people are going to be pursuing his sound. Honestly, I haven’t heard a ton of that in recent albums, but I can understand his concern, and we may see it more in the future as Music Row is usually about 18 months behind.
February 11, 2014 @ 1:18 pm
Church was such an ” outsider” when he appeared on CBS Sunday Morning talking about changing his son’s diapers. Poor Eric. He wants to be Garth Brooks, an outlaw, and Mick all rolled up into one. Can’t wait for his television special from Disney World- ” Eric Church, Rebel with Good Marketing Skills”
February 11, 2014 @ 4:01 pm
You act like an artist shouldn’t be able to make money for his works. Why on gods green earth would you not try to market your music and promote your music? Everyone in Nashville does it, the difference is Church is doing it without selling out and making the same album over and over again. He’s progressing his music, if you listen to each one of his albums they are all different. If you listen to Alden’s, Bryan’s, and Urban’s they are all the same, they sold out. Everyone is screaming sell out and fraud for EC, but tell me if you were in his shoes and your label says “make another album like chief and you will go platinum again” how many of you choose to make an album nothing like chief? It’s the blind leading the blind on this site, hoping that 80s and 90s country comes back. Guess what? Music and genres progress, they never revert to what they once were.
February 11, 2014 @ 4:41 pm
” It”™s the blind leading the blind on this site, hoping that 80s and 90s country comes back.”
I’d love to see a quote where I or anyone else said that.
Does Church sound different than Aldean and Bryan? Of course. But I’m not sure that somehow means there’s any less marketing involved. Or that one artist sold out, and another didn’t. Selling out is not necessarily a sound.
February 11, 2014 @ 5:14 pm
You are judging EC and the outsiders on his image and persona first and foremost, then you are judging the music. Your doing it ass backwards, it’s about the music. Once you rated the actual music you gave his songs a more positive review. Im not sure if there is a mainstream top 40 male country artist out there that you actually like. Church is the closest thing to a true artist in top 40 country yet you love to hate him. Lastly why is it wrong to market ones music? My god it’s ok for an artist to make money off their music
February 11, 2014 @ 6:53 pm
I too noticed that you gave the album in whole a bad review, but song by song it seemed way more positive. It’s hard to believe you when you say that you are truly going by the value of the music and not your dislike for him or his “persona” after seeing that.
February 11, 2014 @ 7:29 pm
Connor,
“You are judging EC and the outsiders on his image and persona first and foremost, then you are judging the music.”
That’s your opinion. I honestly think that’s an incorrect assessment. This is one of the reasons I did individual song review.s Yes, I did talk about his image, but saying that’s what I based my opinions on his music on is an assumption.
KSouthern,
I addressed the song/album grade issue below:
https://savingcountrymusic.com/album-review-eric-churchs-the-outsiders#comment-521590
February 11, 2014 @ 5:14 pm
you’re sitting behind a computer screen dissing a guy who makes a living doing what he loves because he was talking about changing his sons diapers on a talk show? Waylon talks about Shooter on at least one account (on a talk show omg outlaw status revoked)….big fuckin deal
February 12, 2014 @ 11:11 am
Dont Even Try Putting WaylOns name Anywhere Near This Chump. He Is About As Much Of An Outlaw As Little Jimmy Dickens With Less Talent. Only A Sheep Would Make That Comparrison.
February 12, 2014 @ 12:07 pm
outlaw this outlaw that, for me it comes down to the music believe it or not!! I don’t care what someone’s image is, if their song has an impact on me then that’s all that matters! I love all kinds of music, and the other day I listened to “It’s So Easy” by Waylon followed up by “Lightning” by Eric Church and could 100% say that I was much more impressed with the latter, even though Waylon was a bigger OUTLAW (cause that’s all that matters)
February 12, 2014 @ 11:07 am
So if you take care of your kid you’re somehow considered a pussy?
Regardless of all opinions expressed on his music and persona. If you think that being a good parent makes you less of a man you need to seriously check your priorities brother. Or remove yourself from society one of the two.
February 12, 2014 @ 1:24 pm
yes precisely…new rule you aren’t allowed to be a good parent, let alone talk about it otherwise youre even less of an outlaw and more of a sellout…
February 11, 2014 @ 1:29 pm
Spot on review, Trigger! I was really disappointed when I listened to this album. I wasn’t moved by any of the songs. Just felt like generic, lazy crap. And Church’s whole “outlaw” gimmick is beyond annoying now. He wants people to believe so much he’s a rebel against the system, when he himself is a part of the very system.
Also while I’m here I was wondering if anyone has listened to Easton Corbin’s new single “Clockwork”? For those who haven’t listened to it, all I’ll say is I was disgusted and is a far cry from “A Little More Country Than That.”
February 11, 2014 @ 5:08 pm
I agree 100% and it made me want to cry.
Event he guys that started out okay have strayed from what they did in the beginning to be more like the pack and it is all crap.
Easton Corbin and Billy Currington are two that jump out at me.
February 11, 2014 @ 1:41 pm
Trigger,
We can agree to disagree on many points, but there are a couple of things that I wanted to mention.
Cold one doesn’t go into what is supposed to mimic a blurred-minded beer binge. It’s supposed to simulate her running away, leaving him. Also, the skipping record effect happens at the end of Broke Record, not the end of Cold One.
You refer to the 121 songs written towards this album as following a songwriting formula, and not coming from inspiration. You have no effing clue how songwriting works, do you?
Eric has had 3 years between albums, and during this time he’s constantly writing and coming up with ideas and finding inspiration. His core group of writers, the ones that show up on his albums time and time again, are constantly writing. When they get together with Eric, they don’t show up without an idea and hope they can come up with some crap in a couple of days. Sometimes that happens, but it isn’t planned out like that. They show up for the write, bringing ideas that they’ve had over the past several years. They find things that they like and go forward with those, adding their own personal experience and ideas. To say they wrote 121 songs following a songwriting formula is absolute horseshit and quite unfair, seeing as how you don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. Have you heard the 109 songs that didn’t make the album?
It really seems to me that you could curb your enthusiastic hatred for most things Eric Church, especially when it’s so thinly veiled that you have absolutely no clue what you’re talking about. How can you review 109 songs that you haven’t heard? That’s douchebaggery at its finest.
Your fanboys here that thumb-up everything you say can’t shut up about how Eric thinks he’s an outsider. How many times does he need to explain that he doesn’t consider himself an outsider now, but the journey he took to get here put them in the outsiders camp and they’ve fought hard to get back inside. Jesus Christ, it’s like talking to someone that keeps saying “You say the sky is green”. And I reply, no, I said the sky is blue. And they say, “See, look at this guy, he says the sky is green.” You just keep getting mileage out of something that has been disputed, and you refuse to drop it.
It’s fine that you don’t like the album, but the majority of your review is just a bitchy rant about how much you don’t like Eric Church, and it comes across as rather petty.
February 11, 2014 @ 1:55 pm
Eric Church fans are almost as bad as Carrie Underwood fans.
February 11, 2014 @ 1:59 pm
So, you lump Eric church fans together, assuming that anyone who likes Eric Church has a predictable music taste? I’m a fan of a music critic knowing what they’re talking about and attempting to come off as unbiased, and Trigger proved in this review that he can’t see past his prejudice against EC to even attempt a review of music. It’s more a review of Eric Church and his motives, about which Trigger knows absolutely nothing and refuses to educate himself.
February 11, 2014 @ 2:55 pm
“Trigger proved in this review that he can”™t see past his prejudice against EC to even attempt a review of music.”
What part of the following did you not understand in Trigger’s 2nd paragraph?
“Also, before anyone says that it doesn”™t matter what kind of album Eric Church released, I would write a negative review for it because of some predisposed bias, or because I do not like the guy on a personal level, go read this review, this review, this review, this review, and take into consideration that his last album Chief was my choice of the albums nominated to be the winner during the last cycle of both the CMA and ACM Awards.”
February 17, 2014 @ 12:49 pm
Maybe you could start your own site for reviewing music. You could call it: http://www.Iholdericchurch‘speniswhileheurinates.com
February 11, 2014 @ 2:16 pm
Trigger is a proven wordsmith and can stick up for himself, no doubt..
As I was reading this, I was thinking, “wow, this is one the most reasoned album reviews I’ve seen on this site.”
A lot of the pop country reviews here are just foul mouthed rants full
Of clever metaphor. Of course, us readers get a big kick out of them. There are
A few artists that Trigger has good enough reason to resent, and EC may be one.
However, he always gives their music a fair shake and an honest review, and this
Album got an incredibly in depth review.
February 11, 2014 @ 4:59 pm
Bobsled,
First off, if I was an Eric Church fan and enjoyed this album, I would be angry at this review too, and I don’t blame you for wanting to defend an artist that you enjoy. That’s why I said at the very beginning, I didn’t want to write this review. It does me no good. All it can do is alienate a bunch of Eric Church fans who may never come back to my site. But it was easier to write a review than either ignoring or responding to the 100+ requests I got for this review since NPR posted the album.
As for the song issue, please don’t characterize that I am criticizing the 109 songs I haven’t heard. Obviously it would be unfair to me to pass judgement on them because I have not heard them, and this very issue is why I spent the time writing a song by song review of this album.
You may think I have no idea about the songwriting process, but you don’t know that for sure. Many of the things you said about Eric Church’s songwriting process in my opinion validate my concerns. I have personally written and published songs before. I’ve worked as a producer with songwriters on albums, and specifically in the process of vetting material. And I have studied and reported in-depth about the songwriting culture that an artist like Eric Church is surrounded by. Though I think you’re making a little to much about this specific issue, I’ll give you that throwing out the number of songs vetted for the process might be a little bit of an anecdotal piece of information. Nonetheless I thought it spoke to the lack of inspiration behind some of these songs, and that’s why I remarked on it. I’m not questioning the process as much as I’m questioning the results. He could have vetted and written 300 songs, but if the 12 for the album were awesome, the point would be moot.
“It”™s fine that you don”™t like the album, but the majority of your review is just a bitchy rant about how much you don”™t like Eric Church, and it comes across as rather petty.”
I tried my best to not make this be the case, but I can understand this perspective coming from an Eric Church fan.
February 12, 2014 @ 7:27 am
Hi Trigger, thanks for your reply.
I’m not angry at the music review. It’s your right to like or not like music based on your preference. What I take issue with is you making blanket statements about people’s intentions, character, motives, influence and inspiration, etc. You are pretty candid about not knowing most of these people, but you make statements like someone who has personal relationships with each one, or someone who was in on the writing projects for this album.
February 11, 2014 @ 5:16 pm
If you would have asked me 2 years ago – I would have told you that I loved Eric. That I thought there was hope for country music. While I understand that you feel that Trigger has a bias – as an EC fan I can tell you that I agree with Trigger on this one. I want to like the album But I just can’t. It has 1-2 decent songs, filler and then straight out and out crap. I want the old Eric back. I saw him in concert the first 3 changes I had and now I would not pay to see him because I would have to sit through this crap. And that is coming from someone that is a fan (less and less with each new album). I think he has talent and potential and I see him wasting it away.
February 12, 2014 @ 9:05 am
I recall that according to CBS Sunday Morning, the 121 songs were written in 1 month. So there’s that.
(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction was written in 2 minutes, but Eric Church not equals Keith Richards. Not now, not never.
I would say that good songs are written quickly all the time. There are plenty of prolific writers, and one-hit wonders as well. But such a herculean process makes me wonder. {Head scratch}. If that is his typical process, then fine. Otherwise it sounds a lot contrived.
February 12, 2014 @ 9:27 am
121 songs written in 1 month doesn’t mean they were conceptualized, conceived, dreamed up in 1 month, it means they were finalized in 1 month. The writers brought with them years’ worth of ideas and concepts.
February 12, 2014 @ 11:47 am
“Ideas and concepts.”
See, this is what I’m talking about. I know there are many different ways to skin a cat, and I don’t want to discount Eric and his team’s process completely. It has resulted in some good songs, including some good songs on this album. But the romantic notion of songwriting is so counter to this “system” Eric Church has in place. Whatever happened to feeling something deeply, and then trying to capture that inspiration in an original song that comes from the heart? “Concepts?” This seems like an antiseptic, industrialized approach to songwriting that in my opinion resulted in some uninspired songs. That’s all I’m saying.
And I’m not even offering this opinion just to lambast Eric Church. The point of criticism is to attempt to influence art in a positive manner. I think Eric Church would be better served drawing from a smaller pool of material. This is just as much a suggestion as a criticism. Will Eric Church listen? Probably not. But that doesn’t mean it couldn’t be helpful advice.
February 11, 2014 @ 1:47 pm
I do like his older stuff, but I never could muster up the enthusiasm to go listen to the streaming of this album. The first song from it was bleh, the second was just okay and all the marketing and “cryptic” videos were just a mixture of tiring and boring to me. I suppose one of these days I will hear this album, but for now I have no real desire to listen to it, especially after this review.
I will probably give a listen to “Dark Side” though. And maybe the Damn Rock and Roll one, to see if it’s as bad as it sounds like it is, heh.
February 11, 2014 @ 4:31 pm
Okay, I heard it sooner than I expected to, as someone I know bought it, so I made them play it for me, heh.
It’s ”¦ okay. Some songs I like quite a bit, some I dislike quite a bit and some that are just in the middle for me. Some of those ones in the middle very likely could end up growing on me though. I’d probably give it 50/50 right now. I still prefer his previous stuff, but we’ll see how this turns out after some time and listens.
February 11, 2014 @ 1:48 pm
I respect your review, but I love this album. For Eric himself, this album doesn’t sound like any of his previous efforts, especially trying to replicate Chief’s success. I don’t know, if he would have put something out like Chief, would you just say he’s trying to replicate the success and give into music row? I don’t know, but it’s all good. Good review!
February 11, 2014 @ 1:49 pm
“I don”™t even know if the music on this album matters”…
How can you write a review while including such a ridiculous comment? That sounds like another way to say, “I’m going to review this music, but I’m going to base it off of my personal feelings about Eric Church. So really, I’m not reviewing the music, I’m doing so from the distinct paradigm of someone who seriously dislikes this person”.
February 11, 2014 @ 2:02 pm
How can you write a review while including such a ridiculous comment?
Well, if you’d read the rest of the paragraph, you’d have seen how he could have included that comment. Context matters.
February 11, 2014 @ 2:18 pm
Hey Pistolero,
Here’s part of the rest of that paragraph…
“The music is almost an inconvenience to Eric Church. As he”™s said many times, he hates writing songs.”
How can you take such a statement seriously? Eric has said he hates recording albums, and that he probably won’t record very many of them. He hates the process of making albums, writing songs for albums, the process of recording albums. That’s the context of Eric’s statements. This review is full of inaccuracies stated as fact from someone who doesn’t know Eric.
So I agree, context is important.
February 11, 2014 @ 2:32 pm
Aaaaand, yet again, you seize on one statement. I’m sorry, but what Trigger meant was pretty much clear as a clean window to me.
February 11, 2014 @ 2:48 pm
I’m trying to be friendly and reasonable, but you just keep making snide remarks.
So, here’s the entire paragraph, which begins with a ridiculous statement for a music review, and contains a flat-out lie in the next sentence …contextually that seems extremely irresponsible to me and should discount the entire paragraph, but since you continue to insist on context, here we go.
“I don”™t even know if the music on this album matters.” -ridiculous statement for a music review
“Eric Church has put his back into cultivating this “Outsider” persona”- a lie that Trigger continues to tell. He gets a lot of mileage out of this statement though, and his fanboys love him for it.
“and the music just seems to be a vehicle to the cultural identity he wants to convey, and his fans want to identify with.”–Here’s vintage Trigger, reviewing Eric Church the man, his fans, and the music comes last, as seen through the eyes of someone who has first considered the man and his fans.
“The music is almost an inconvenience to Eric Church. As he”™s said many times, he hates writing songs.” –Another lie, a statement cherry picked out of context.
“Aside from a few songs that seem to come from the heart, The Outsiders is formulaic themes and sonic trickery.”–A Judgment about inspiration behind the songs, something about which he has not a clue.
“For a song to connect with an individual, it music convey a deep, human feeling.” — Trigger, tell us more about artists who only put out albums when each song is written by themselves and is inspired solely by their own personal, emotional trials and tribulations.
” Are you telling me that Eric Church had 121 deep, original human feelings since his last release that he was able to translate into song?”–Clearly Trigger only likes artists that write their own songs and allow enough time between albums that they personally have 121 deep original feelings.
“The human inspiration on this album was spread so thin across so much material, it was almost completely lost once these tracks were being zapped onto compact disk.”–Again, he doesn’t know Eric, he doesn’t know the other writers, and he’s speaking for them. Trigger is good at pretending he knows what he’s talking about. Really, he’s just good at gossip and trash talk, and we all know people love some good gossip. I mean, look how many of the readers here fawn over him, thumb up his every post, defend him (as if he can’t speak for himself), and allow him to think for you … Hell yeah, Trig! Right On! I refuse to listen to this album! I agree with your assessment.
How can you agree with his review when you haven’t heard the music? Oh, because the review wasn’t about the music, it was first about the man. It’s a review injected with sarcasm and thinly-veiled disdain for it’s messenger.
There you go. The entire paragraph is ridiculous, contains no less than 2 direct lies, and does more assuming than reviewing.
February 11, 2014 @ 3:32 pm
“Eric Church has put his back into cultivating this “Outsider” persona”- a lie that Trigger continues to tell.
Uh, no. That’s his opinion, which by definition is neither true nor false.
“and the music just seems to be a vehicle to the cultural identity he wants to convey, and his fans want to identify with.””“Here”™s vintage Trigger, reviewing Eric Church the man, his fans, and the music comes last, as seen through the eyes of someone who has first considered the man and his fans.
Frankly, I don’t see anything wrong with that. You might think the music itself can be observed in a vacuum, but it can’t. At the root of every single artist is the type of person that artist is, and the two are inseparable. If you’re going to put forth a persona at any kind of odds with who you are as a person, as Church seems to be doing IN MY OPINION, then you deserve to be scrutinized.
Or is he really a loudmouth, pretentious jerk?
it was first about the man. It”™s a review injected with sarcasm and thinly-veiled disdain for it”™s messenger.
Well, if thuh mayun wasn’t such a loudmouth, pretentious jerk, if he’d just shut up and let the music speak for itself…well, never mind that, because this album probably never would have even been written, let alone recorded.
February 11, 2014 @ 5:03 pm
Bobsled,
The point of that remark was NOT to illustrate how I approached Eric Church’s music, but how I believe some fans approach his music, where they identify more with the image and the persona of it than the actual music. Obviously that may not be your approach or everyone’s approach, but that is what was meant.
February 12, 2014 @ 7:29 am
That explains the first sentence of that paragraph and makes it somewhat less ridiculous. “I’m not sure the music even matters to Eric’s fans” would have made more sense to me.
Thanks for the explanation, the rest of the paragraph is still festering pile of garbage.
February 11, 2014 @ 1:51 pm
The Outsiders is an exercise of finding the biggest wall available and throwing a disparate hodgepodge of disconnected ideas and undisciplined influences against it to see what sticks.
Such isn’t surprising at all. This sort of thing is exactly what we should expect from someone who says things like “I happen to feel genres are gone in music.” I know a lot of people who pooh-pooh the idea of genres, but another advantage of genres as a concept is that they give you as an artist some sense of direction. And if you discount that concept as an artist, unless you really know what you’re doing ”” which Eric Church obviously doesn’t ”” your work is going to come across as more or less the audio equivalent of scribbling in the coloring book. Which is why I thought that line from the title track was so funny, even if it was unintentional:
We let our colors show, where the numbers ain”™t. We’re the paint where there ain”™t supposed to be paint.
Yeah, Scooter, it sounds like it. And that ain’t a compliment.
Secondly…
I wholeheartedly subscribe to the idea that music should be judged against it”™s peers, but Eric Church”™s peers as a reigning Album of the Year winner aren”™t Tyler Farr, and Dan + Shay, they”™re George Strait and Taylor Swift
I only agree with this, as far as the fact that Strait and Swift are Album of the Year winners. Of course, the artistic merit as judged by that award is a whole ‘nother plate of enchiladas, but I’ll leave that alone and just acknowledge the symbolism of it.) Apart from that, I would probably argue that Tyler Farr and Dan + Shay are Church’s peers. Such is “country” music circa 2014. They’re all the faces and the sounds of it. I don’t know if I’d quite put Church in the same category, but that’s not to say he’s any better. (In some ways you could probably say he’s worse.) They’re all shit, just different flavors of it.
February 11, 2014 @ 1:55 pm
I mucked my horse barn while you listened to this and reviewed it.
Although the 2 jobs are quite similar, I think I got the better one.\
This guy is a poseur.
Wanting to be Waylon or Tompall doesn’t make it come true.
February 11, 2014 @ 2:10 pm
I have not heard this album so I don’t have an opinion about it. However, I do have a question about your process. If there are 12 cuts on an album with a possibility of 2 “guns” up or down for each song, that’s a total of a possible 24 guns up. On this album you gave the songs a cumulative total of 10 guns up, or ~42% positive. Yet for the total album you rate it 75% negative. Is the discrepancy in artistic cohesiveness/direction? …or some other unquantifiable personal dislike? Just curious.
February 11, 2014 @ 2:30 pm
I was curious about that as well; of the 12 songs, 7 got a positive guns review, 4 got a negative guns review, and 1 got a neutral guns review, but the overall album got a negative guns review. Just wondering.
February 11, 2014 @ 2:59 pm
Sorry, I knew this was going to come up, and meant to add more clarification about this in the review. Obviously the review got quite long so I had to cut it off somewhere.
The reason that I graded the album lower than what might be implied by the individual song reviews is because in my opinion, the album equals LESS than the sum of its song parts as I stated in the review.
“As much as we were sold from the very beginning of this album release that everything would resolve and make sense once we heard the entire project in context, the individual songs released before this album make even less sense now, and the songs as a whole resolve to a sum lesser than their individual parts.
However, this is one of the reasons I reviewed each song individually. Even though I’m probably didn’t win any Eric Church fans over for doing so, I felt this was the most fair way to express that even though I think the album as a whole was ill-advised, there are good songs on it. That is why I singled them all out individually so that the good songs could be represented in a positive light, and people could look through them and judge for themselves if they were something they wanted to listen to. I really like “Dark Side” for example, and regardless of all the negative things I had to say about this album, I highly recommend people buy/download/stream this song.
At the same time, this is an ALBUM review. And so I have to critique the album as a whole. The mismatched content and lack of theme in my opinion discounted it.
I spent a LOT of time on this album review, both listening to the album specifically, each song specifically, and just writing the review itself, which is one of the longest I’ve ever written. Despite my negative tone, I tried to treat the content fairly, and do justice to what I felt was good.
February 11, 2014 @ 3:06 pm
Thanks for the explanation, Trigger. I cheerfully and respectfully disagree with you on the album, but I appreciate the fact that you have a rationale for your rating. And as you so correctly stated up front, “that if you like or love this album, that”™s all that matters, and my opinion or anyone elses should not sway you from your enjoyment of this music.” Could not agree more – I’ve never understood why folks get so wrapped up in what other people think about music; we all know (or should know, at any rate), that musical taste is 100% subjective. If it gets you off, that’s all that matters. Cheers.
February 11, 2014 @ 5:08 pm
Thanks man, and believe it or not, I really enjoy reading other people’s opinions as well, especially when they disagree with me. I may not like all of this music, but I want to understand why people do, and don’t see any reason why disrespect has to come into play just because we disagree over music.
February 11, 2014 @ 3:25 pm
Forgot to mention I appreciated the ‘Pork Soda’ reference. “Primus sucks.”
February 11, 2014 @ 3:59 pm
Thanks, Trig, I get it.
A current example of of a great themed album, that I’ve been playing a lot, is Roseanne Cash’s “The River and The Thread.” Not classic country but spectacular musically and emotionally delivered, in my opinion.
February 11, 2014 @ 2:26 pm
I really liked EC when he first came out. I thought his song writing was a
Good mix between familiar and innovative. Innovative in that he seemed to
Enjoy straight forward country music and great song writing (see his first two
Albums)
As his audience grew, all the things I liked about him shrank. I rushed out and
Bought ‘Chief’ the day it came out. No lie, I was disappointed. I ended up
Listening to it a bunch, but the initial letdown was because this wasn’t the
Artist I had came to enjoy.
Pretty surprised to hear that he hates songwriting. Always thought it was one of
His strongest qualities. He came off, to me, as a guy who could crank out half
A dozen quality songs a day.
Seems that he has no desire to make country music anymore. That’s a shame.
No plans to get this album.
February 11, 2014 @ 2:30 pm
Don’t let Trigger do your thinking for you. I’m sure he would agree with that statement.
Eric doesn’t hate writing songs, and the inclusion of that sentence by Trigger was glaringly irresponsible.
February 11, 2014 @ 2:35 pm
I couldn’t agree more. There’s no way Eric Church hates writing songs. Whether you like his music or not, he has the voice and enough commercial success that every writer in Nashville would be happy to sell him songs if he wanted to buy them instead of write them. He could easily be a Tim McGraw or Aldean if he wanted to be. The fact that he still contributes on ALL his songs suggests otherwise.
February 11, 2014 @ 2:46 pm
I don’t see writing one’s own songs as a selling point in and of itself. George Strait became a country music legend singing other people’s songs; up until about 2009 you could count on one hand the songs he recorded that he had a hand in writing. And while what he’s come up with since he’s started writing again is quite good, his catalog would be much poorer for the lack of songs like, say, “Poison” and “A Showman’s Life.”
February 11, 2014 @ 2:41 pm
No thought involved with that particular statement, just a reiteration.
Point is, I don’t really care anymore. If Eric Church isn’t interested in making
The kind of music I want to hear, I won’t listen. I’m obviously in the minority,
And I’m sure he’ll sell zillions of copies. I just hope that this direction he’s
Taking is coming from him, not record execs or attempts to live in the shadow of
Other artists.
February 11, 2014 @ 5:19 pm
Bobsled,
I did not pull this out of my ass. Eric Church said in an interview probably about 9 months ago that he hates songwriting. As soon as I get a hold of the quote and a link to it, I will post it here. I think it was connected to his live album. And just to clarify, there’s a lot of things artists have to do that they “hate”, and none of us should read too deep into that.
February 11, 2014 @ 6:27 pm
http://www.nashvillegab.com/2012/06/eric-church-doesnt-like-doing-that-whole-pesky-cd-making-bit.html
Eric doesn’t like making albums. As far as writing songs, I don’t think he has explicitly said. He just doesn’t like to make the same album because he always wants to go somewhere different “creatively” as he puts it. So there it is.
February 11, 2014 @ 5:24 pm
Agree 1000000%. I will download Dark Side and that may be about it.
February 11, 2014 @ 2:27 pm
Lets all agree….
Country is dead….at least on the radio.
This album is OK. …not great. There are some s great songs…but it’s not country….since when does a southern accent and a guitar make you country?
The problem is ENERGY….I just feel it lacks Energy….but then again he is probably getting “heat” from his label.
I can’t wait to drive 3 hours This Saturdaymand see KingnGeorge in Columbus.
Steel guitar and some fiddle that is whatbI want to hear.
Rakor1932
February 17, 2014 @ 1:01 pm
And most of the accents in modern Country are grossly exaggerated if not completely fabricated.
February 11, 2014 @ 3:15 pm
I wholeheartedly agree with the majority of this review. Church seems to have finally given into his own press and declared his “outlaw” stature in full force here (I couldn’t wait to read your appraisal of “Devil, Devil”). It seems to me that he’s suffering from Nirvana-syndrome in his desire to make everything different just for difference’s sake. I bought the album because I quite liked Chief and his previous albums weren’t bad either. I also enjoy his country rock approach, regardless of the “is it country” debate that surrounds it. Here, there isn’t any debate. In fact, it sounds like garage rock to me.
To be honest, Trig, I can’t believe that you actually liked “Cold One.” I bow to your superior knowledge of the country genre, but this one sounded by far to be the most cliche of the bunch for me, partly because of its laundry list implications. Plus, I’ve heard this EXACT double meaning before in a Montgomery Gentry song by the name of “Cold One Comin’ On” that was a mild chart success back in 2002. Give it a listen and see if it doesn’t change your mind a bit on Church’s version of the exact same theme.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZh2tTimF70
In execution, The Outsiders reminds me very much of Brad Paisley’s Wheelhouse album that came out last year. A few decent songs but mostly directionless and offensive to country-inclined ears (both also make use of some odd tin can compression effects and ill-placed mock choir choruses). To be honest, I might have to give this another listen to really place my feelings on it. No, Mr. Church, not because it’s “art”, but because I’m not sure what this album is.
February 11, 2014 @ 5:23 pm
“Like” is a strong term for my feeling on “Cold One.” I’m definitely not surprised it’s been done before. But at the same time, believe it or not, I was trying to find anything to be positive about on this album, and I can understand why some folks would get into this song, and I’m not going to fault them for it. I personally will probably never listen to the song again after the dozen or so times I listened to it during the listening phase of this review.
February 12, 2014 @ 7:31 am
You listened to Cold one a dozen times and still think it’s the one that has the record skipping effect added?
Wrong song, man.
February 11, 2014 @ 4:20 pm
Never expected to catch a Primus reference on a country site! I like this site more and more everyday.
February 11, 2014 @ 5:52 pm
you heard Les Claypool’s new country album that came out in early February?
https://soundcloud.com/ato_records/les-claypools-duo-de-twang
February 11, 2014 @ 5:23 pm
Wow…..interesting reviews….first, to the guy who thinks “Cold One Comin’ On” and “Cold One” are remotely similar, I recommend cochlear implants…..effin’ really?
I appreciate the “disclaimer” and “unbiased” tags that Trigger threw in his review, but there is obviously A LOT of bias there….the thing is genres are dead….country crosses over to mainstream and vice versa these days….Taylor, Carrie, even going back to Faith….country went pop…..Lumineers, F.U.N., Mumford and Sons……pop went country (or folk, depending on your definition). And country artists today (as well as their fans) didn’t grow up just listening to country….see references in numerous songs to AC/DC, Ozzy, etc…..I DON’T want to hear the same album or song from the same artist 3 times in a row…..”Seems that some of my kinfolk have disowned a few others and me….” “….even though his music and mine ain’t exactly the same.” Change is good….if Hank III had his name on his album, it would be GUNS UP all over the place…..
February 11, 2014 @ 9:04 pm
Triggerman is quite critical of Shelton/Hank3 when his material calls for it. And when Shelton made a concept album (STH) it was one of the greatest albums of a generation, can EC say the same with this turd of an album?
February 11, 2014 @ 9:19 pm
I need cochlear implants because I think that the THEMES of Montgomery Gentry’s “Cold One Comin’ On” and Eric Church’s “Cold One” are similar? Can you hear a theme? If I need cochlear implants you need to grow a set of eyes and learn how to read.
February 11, 2014 @ 11:03 pm
Actually, gentrys song was about how someone was sad (cold) because someone died and I never picked up on a double meaning, it’s a stretch and possible because he talks about drinking at one point I think. I’d say the use of “cold” followed by the word “one” is as similar as it gets. I’ll use a hyperbole and say it’s like saying “sweet Annie” and “sweet Caroline” use the same themes and hating on it on a forum.
February 12, 2014 @ 8:25 am
“Cold One Comin”™ On” involves a guy who lost a girl. “Cold One” involves a guy who lost a girl. The former also involves allusions to the weather as a play on words. The latter involves allusions to the weather as a play on words. Montgomery Gentry”™s song is about drinking. Eric Church”™s is about beer that he could have drank had it not been taken. The former involves being incomplete due to the loss of a lover and thus drinking to calm the emotion. The latter involves being incomplete due to the loss of a lover and wants to drink but is a bit more cynical about the whole affair. Not exactly the same but more similar than the rest of you gents are implying. And I wasn’t “hating” on the song so much as voicing my personal distaste for it. If the rest of the country music community thinks it’s the best thing since sliced bread it makes no difference to me.
February 12, 2014 @ 8:51 am
I can’t speak for the community, but I don’t think it’s the best thing since sliced bread, but it’s tough to read misleading commentary and ignore it. I’ll bet my left boot that you thought about writing a comment involving Miley Cyrus in it and a wrecking ball, too. I feel like you’re trolling me with your allusions that are so vague and general that I could list a dozen songs that fit your metaphors. And again trolling me saying that you’re not hating on it, but “voicing” your “personal distaste”. Seriously?
February 12, 2014 @ 11:08 am
Why is it that voicing your opinion of my statements and even calling them “misleading” as if I’m trying to lie to people is okay but me defending myself is “trolling”? I assure you that I’m not trying to and I apologize if I came off as such. No, I wasn’t trying to “mislead” anyone; this is my honest opinion of the two songs. I also have no beef with Eric Church or his fans. I still remember first hearing his single “How Bout You” in 2006 and liking him ever since. This new album just doesn’t tickle my fancy as much as his previous ones (of which I own all, including his live album and the 2011 EP Caldwell Country). On “Cold One” I was being perfectly honest. It’s not that I hate or even overly dislike the song, I just don’t LIKE it. I guess a more accurate assessment would be that I’m indifferent on the negative end of the spectrum. And the sliced break comment was my attempt at being funny. I have a dry, sarcastic sense of humor. It wasn’t intended as anything resembling an insult to EC or his fans. Your opinion of the song is your business as mine is my business, but I take issue when you claim my opinion is “misleading” like I’m some backdoor politician trying to get votes.
February 12, 2014 @ 6:45 am
Were you even born when “Cold One Comin’ On” even came out? “Cold One Comin’ On” is about a guy who lost a girl and is going to start boozing. “Cold One” is a bout a guy whose girl dumped him on a hot day and took one of his beers……lyrical, sonically, and thematically, they’re not even close…..the only similarity is the use of “Cold One” in the title…..Jeez!
February 12, 2014 @ 7:42 am
That was a cold one! She left me, that’s cold. She took one of my cold ones! I’ll never get either back. It’s a cool double meaning, and I’ve never heard it done before, especially in “Cold one coming on”. Those songs are about as similar as Tritt’s “I don’t love you anymore” and The Band Perry’s “Done”. Titles that would seem to be about the same thing, but have nothing else in common.
Trigger says this song begins and ends with beer, and promotes mind blurred beer binges. That’s a joke of a review. He says he listened to the song a dozen times, then he says it has the record skipping effect (It doesn’t, that’s in broke record, and it works there). The song doesn’t promote drinking beer irresponsibly, getting drunk, or overusing alcohol. In fact, it says “I still like to drink a beer, but a long neck I won’t do. Cause every time I see one sweatin’ man, I break out in one too”
Come one, Trigger. Those are clever lyrics, and they don’t for a second talk about getting wasted and losing one’s mind. It’s like, she left me hanging, and to add insult to injury she took a cold one on the way out. You act like anyone who drinks a beer is an alcoholic, or like any song that mentions beer is now “Bro-country”, an unapproved SCM term. That’s not what Bro-country is to me.
A dozen listens and you don’t get it?
February 12, 2014 @ 8:21 am
Let’s see here: “Cold One Comin’ On” involves a guy who lost a girl. “Cold One” involves a guy who lost a girl. The former also involves allusions to the weather as a play on words. The latter involves allusions to the weather as a play on words. Montgomery Gentry’s song is about drinking. Eric Church’s is about beer that he could have drank had it not been taken. The former involves being incomplete due to the loss of a lover and thus drinking to calm the emotion. The latter involves being incomplete due to the loss of a lover and wants to drink but is a bit more cynical about the whole affair. Okay, so saying that they have the “exact” same theme was a bit facetious on my part, but if you can’t hear the similarities you need some cochlear implants yourself.
On another note, what does my age have to do with the two songs in question? Or anything going on here at SCM? Of course I was alive when MG’s song came out; had been for several years at that point. But let’s dial back and ponder the possibility that I could have been born after the song was released. Would that somehow make me “wrong”? And what 12-year-old kid do you know of that has the inside scoop on minor chart hits from the year he was born? Or writes with mostly correct grammar and syntax like I do? Really? It’s almost like you don’t pay attention at all! “Jeez!”
February 12, 2014 @ 8:50 am
Ok….wait until after your Social Studies class to comment…..”Cold One” is not a reference to the weather….it is referring to both the beer she took (as in “Hey, Buddy, toss me a cold one.”) and the way she left (“Damn, that was cold.). The songs in question have two completely different tempos, and emotions to them, and have choruses that sound nothing alike….you can either go back and listen to both songs to see the difference, rather than just looking at the titles, or just wait for Trigger to post something so you know what to think….
February 12, 2014 @ 11:26 am
From the first line of “Cold One”: It was a perfect day for the end of May, they say a record high. Later in the song: She left me hanging high and dry in that hell high summer sun
“Cold One Comin’ On”: Weatherman says it might hit 95, September’s gonna feel like July.
Gasp! Both talking about temperature! It’s almost as if I have a point or something silly like that! But in all seriousness, it’s quite funny that you keep making references to my not listening to the song when you don’t even remember the first line of “Cold One.” And no, before you say it, they aren’t exactly the same. They are similar, as I’ve been claiming since we started talking. You mention that “Cold One” is not about the weather; well technically, neither is “Cold One Comin’ On.” Both songs use the temperature to play off of the term for brew, but the weather isn’t the subject in either song. Also, I never claimed that the songs sounded anything alike. I said that the themes were similar.
On a separate note, you strike me as one completely lacking in self-awareness. You claim that I don’t listen or pay attention yet you keep misquoting my claims about the songs. You try to belittle me by claiming I’m under 20 and thus immature but hinge your arguments on petty insults as opposed to facts. It’s also quite funny that you think that I’m a Trigger apologist when the complete opposite is true. Hell, the only fanboy I see here is you since I apparently can’t even call two songs similar without your “defend Eric Church” sense tingling. Even Trigger will tell you that I’m frequently in opposition to many of his statements and he probably gets annoyed with my comments more often than not. And while we’re on the subject of Mongomery Gentry, read my comments in this article and see if you still think I’m a mindless SCM reader: https://savingcountrymusic.com/montgomery-gentrys-tittys-beer-a-rant
But hey, why don’t you keep your comments off-base and continue to lob insults to try and get a rise out of me? I always get a kick out of people with low reading comprehension levels trying to tell me about my own intelligence. Hopefully the bold and italics distinctions will help you to differentiate between what I’m actually saying and what you think I’m trying to say.
February 11, 2014 @ 6:10 pm
I’m a fan of Eric Church and Trigger. I like the album. I like your site,and halfheartedly agree with the individual song reviews. However,I feel that “Devil,Devil” deserved a little more. I mean this line in”You see, it all comes down to money. Not romantic art of days gone past,” almost sounds like alot of what you preach on this site. Alot of the stuff done today in country music is because of money. Back in when Country was actually country,they did it for their fans. Do you think Waylon and Willie,cared about money? No,they cared for their fans and making good music. Now,is this song Country,no not at all.Is the album,a little mashed up? Sure. Does that make it a bad album? No. Does it make a bad “country” album? Honestly,yeah. Does that mean that it’s not “good” music? No. Now I am a hardcore country fan grew up on everything from Ernest Tubb,to Johnny Cash. I love it. I don’t like what country has become,much like yourself. I’m gonna end this before I rant on further,by saying this: Eric Church,like him or hate him,is a great artist. Maybe he does get a little genre confused. But all in all,he’s true to himself,and he loves his fans. He’s said before that he doesn’t make music for music row,he makes it for the front row.
February 11, 2014 @ 6:14 pm
Thank you for your honesty Trigger. Eric must be doing something right since you said this is one of the longest reviews you’ve ever done. I like the album besides The Joint. That song is just weird. That’s damn rock and roll also isn’t great but I can tolerate it. Anyway, thanks for the review. I’m going to go enjoy this album some more.
February 11, 2014 @ 6:20 pm
Agree completely.
http://mwez.wordpress.com/2014/02/04/album-review-erich-churchs-the-outsiders/
February 11, 2014 @ 6:58 pm
I mostly agree with this review. The album is weak. I enjoyed Chief and most of his older material. He should have just released just an EP featuring Dark Side, Talladega, Like A Wrecking Ball, Give Me Back and Gonna Die Young.
February 11, 2014 @ 7:01 pm
“And back to the point of praising The Outsiders for not being “bro-country” or country rap, I”™m not sure if those people”™s review copies are missing tracks, but I am hearing both these elements, as well as EDM electronic wankery make an appearance on the album.” Two guns up for use of “EDM electronic wankery” in a review Trigger… and thanks for listening to the entire album so I don’t have to…
February 11, 2014 @ 7:09 pm
For the most part I agree with your review of the album as a whole, Trig. In a review I wrote at another site I referred to it as “A collection of fairly good to great songs that lack cohesiveness, essentially twelve songs worth of trying to fit square pegs in round holes.” And it’s not like you don’t know how big of an EC fan I am if you recall some of our comment-discussions. The guy is my favorite mainstream artist, no question whatsoever. I do disagree on only a handful of things, mostly individual song related.
“That’s Damn Rock and Roll” isn’t a great song, but by God would I be disappointed if Joanna Cotton’s backing vocals were gone from this album. I have a feeling she’ll continue to be on his albums, because apparently he loves her vocals.
“Princess of Darkness” is a bit much, as you stated, but I consider Devil, Devil a completely separate song and I think it’s probably the catchiest song he’s ever written. It’s a ton of fun.
I’m surprised you liked “Dark Side” considering the tough guy third verse/outro. That bit really irritated me, even if it is a great song.
You are so right about “The Joint.” Hands down the worst song he’s ever recorded. It’s just dumb. I mean, how do you close one album out with a song as good as “Over When it’s Over” and then finish the next like this? Pathetic. His album closers had been so good, before, and they’d always been considerably different from the rest of the record. This was too far.
I honestly think he raps, at times, as a bit of a criticism of how badly other “country” artists have tried to do it, these past few years. They say that Eric knows he’s good, and it’s always been clear that he knows he’s a fantastic vocalist. From a sheer skill standpoint, there isn’t a mainstream artist in the current country market who has his collection of abilities. There are guys who sound great and have range (Chris Young, for example), but I don’t know of any other mainstream country artist who applies as many vocalizations and styles to his singing. For as bad as this album is compared to his first three, I think I gained more admiration for just how skilled EC is, as a vocalist.
When this guy realizes that he’s best by himself with an acoustic guitar, he’ll make the best music of his career. I’m hoping he eventually abandons the rock bullshit and follows a more traditional singer/songwriter path. He wants to not worry about genre, well that’s the way to do it. Just strip it down and sing, you giant, Jack Daniel’s drinking bastard.
February 11, 2014 @ 7:24 pm
Just to clarify with Joanna Cotton”™s voice, I love it. It is just a shame it was wasted on this song.
February 11, 2014 @ 7:50 pm
Quickly, I’d like to talk about the “songwriting by formula versus inspiration” point you made. I think you have a point but doesn’t a lot of writing start in a formulaic way? I, for one, write short fiction and if I want to write regularly I can’t just make inspiration happen. Sometimes you gotta start with a formula and see if inspiration comes from where that leads you.
As far as the number 121 is concerned, I think Eric’s always been a fairly prolific songwriter. He’s played some songs live that haven’t made it onto an album, most notably the hilarious “She Won’t Leave My Willie Alone” and the fan-loved “Michael.”
Also, I’ve only ever seen him state that he loved songwriting, but there’s no question you’re more exposed to credible sources than I am, living in the middle of nowhere.
“Michael has to go on album.
February 11, 2014 @ 7:51 pm
He needs to record “Michael” at some point. If you haven’t heard it, there are videos on Youtube.
February 12, 2014 @ 12:06 am
YES! Easily one of best works.
Shame he doesn’t feel compelled to do more songs like that. I truly feel his voice and style are made for that stuff. An album full of quality songs like that one could really do wonders to open up the ears of the ClearChannel Country crowd.
February 11, 2014 @ 7:53 pm
Is Bobsled Eric Church?
February 11, 2014 @ 8:44 pm
No, he’s just someone who can notice Nashville’s most talented popular artist of this generation. Eric might not be what you want him to be, but he’s definitely a good artist.
February 12, 2014 @ 7:57 am
HAHAHA!
I don’t mean to come across as angry, I just don’t like the inaccuracies in some of Trigger’s EC reviews and stories. I think he has a bias against EC’s personality, and it outshines his objective EC music reviews, in my opinion.
Look, I’m not “mad” at anyone. I’m a friendly guy, and I respect people’s differing opinions on things. It’s what makes the world go round. Trigger’s opinions on Eric and his recent Eric rants…like the one on the video of Taylor Swift…just get kind of silly. After his profanity infused rant against Eric’s personality in that story, can you really expect him to give anything Eric does a positive review? I would probably struggle to do so if I were in his situation.
I have a feeling if he were to meet Eric, they’d get some things sorted out, agree to disagree on some things, and we’d see more objective reviews from Trigger.
February 12, 2014 @ 9:27 am
So what did Eric do to make Trigger dislike him so much? I think Eric sounds like a pretty genuine guy and a great entertainer. Church is a great live performer and I think the front row is going to love this album.
February 12, 2014 @ 11:49 am
If I met Eric Church, I would be cordial and polite, just like I am to anyone. But I wouldn’t want to be his buddy. I don’t want to be any artist’s buddy. In fact, I prefer they all hate me. That way I can give my opinion unfettered and not have to worry about navigating the politics of a friendship.
February 11, 2014 @ 10:13 pm
Damn, what’s up with all the personal attacks in the comment section? Seems like a lot of people on here (EC fans or not) are assholes. Personally, I love this album and every song on it. I love a lot of different music and I like the variety on the album. I couldn’t be happier with it. Obviously, that’s not everyone’s opinion which is cool with me. This article, although I heavily disagree with, didn’t make me mad in any way. Why can’t people respect other people’s taste in music without making a personal attack on them?
February 12, 2014 @ 9:32 am
Welcome to the Internet!
February 11, 2014 @ 11:20 pm
Here’s my review (I’m sort of answering the question nobody asked… unsolicited advice… etc)
I agree that Eric is arrogant, self-important, kind of like the guy who has 30 “nicknames” and he thought of all them.
I agree that this clearly isn’t country. He’s not an outlaw. He’s somewhat brilliant as a marketer.
But all that is peripheral. How is the music? Does it work… sometimes yes, sometimes no. When Eric’s music works, it’s fresh. When it doesn’t, I cringe or scratch my head. I think he’s doing his own thing though, he’s making music how he wants to make it even though it sucks sometimes. Don’t get me wrong, Church has a shit-ton of talent and I’m not trying to take that away from him. He can play the guitar and he can sing, and he’s got some stage presence. Sometimes, he writes a good song. It’s putting it all together that he fails at sometimes, and that’s where the arrogance becomes not so peripheral. If Eric didn’t think he was the end all be all, maybe he could leave the songwriting up to better songwriters. I think he’s got an ear for music, sonically… but more often than not his lyrics are either empty or don’t match the sonic emotion. Other songs just aren’t cohesive, on this issue I have to echo your review because it was my first reaction too. It’s ok, sometimes even great, to mix it up with different sonic elements in the song… but not just for the sake of it. Do those sonic changes fit the theme and direction and moment of the song? Doesn’t feel like they do in this record.
P.S. Broken Record was my favorite of the album. Yes, it was poppy, but I also thought it was cohesive, made sense, and somewhat clever. Runner up was Die Young which just seemed sincere.
February 11, 2014 @ 11:33 pm
There aren’t a lot of better Nashville songwriters than Eric Church. He’s even talked about the idea that he might walk away from recording if touring ever takes too much of a toll on his life.
The idea that he just starts cutting songs after he’s built his career on being a singer/songwriter would absolutely lose me as a fan. The guy makes his own music. Where he needs help is someone who can reel him and Joyce in when they go too far, along with getting them to focus on Eric and his acoustic guitar, primarily. This electric guitar shit has to go. This has to feel like it did when Dylan stepped out of Folk for awhile.
February 12, 2014 @ 1:04 am
If you mean that there are few singers that write their own songs… I agree. Most of the best singers know that’s their thing, so they let other people write the songs. However, if I take you literally that there are few songwriters in Nashville who are better than Eric, I can’t agree at all. There are a ton of great songwriters out there who will never be known except as a footnote, because they can’t sing. Or some of them can, but for whatever reason just don’t have the mainstream appeal.
Again, this is not meant to be a knock on Eric. As far as mainstream singer/songwriters go, he’s above average. Without any conditions, he’s got talent I could only dream of. I just think it’s good to know your limitations, and let other people write your songs if it makes a better album, and Eric would be best served with a mix of his own material and some songs others wrote.
February 12, 2014 @ 11:36 am
“That’s like your opinion man.” But I think he wouldn’t even put an album out if it had more than one or two songs he didn’t write.
One of the reasons I like Eric is because he tells his story the way he wants to. It may be unpolished, there may be similar stuff out there, it gets rough around the edges but its human. For a lot of people, myself included, believe that music should be a reflection of who you really are and if its true you can make it sound good. Eric knows how to do that (most of the time) and theres very little of that in the male mainstream now a days. A lot of mathematicians wondering what song idea is the most exploitable which riff is simple enough to repeat over and over that will get stuck in some tween girls head. It may have been George Straits thing to tell other’s tales but if you already believe in a way of doing things you shouldn’t change that.
Another note, I don’t know why Country’s underground isnt thanking Eric for being sort of a gateway artist. He’s singing about getting away from the typical Nashville bullshit on the new record and as someone who’s been doing it for years you may look at him and call bullshit. You may say you are part of that sir. You are popular how you are a hypocrite. But Someone else who isn’t aware there are alternatives might take that to heart and start scanning the independent scene as a result of Eric’s “hypocrisy.” Yes he talks about things that lots of the indie outlaw artists and the Shooters/Hank IIIs have been preaching for years but they will never get that type of exposure that he has now in their fucking lives. Thats just how the machine works. And maybe he’s using it in that perspective. People can believe the “bullshit” Eric is spewing on “princess of darkness” or “rock and roll” and look for an alternative. I know I certainly did a few years ago and found this site and the artists I never would have found otherwise. It really is amazing. Wouldn’t of found out about it if I wasn’t fond of Church’s unique sound and sick of the stupid 5 year trends on country radio.
February 12, 2014 @ 11:56 am
“I don”™t know why Country”™s underground isnt thanking Eric for being sort of a gateway artist.”
Eric Church is not a gateway to anything but taking disenfranchised country music fans and re-integrating them into the mainstream country music industrial complex.
February 14, 2014 @ 1:09 pm
I dug a little deeper the other day, and he collaborates a lot more than I realized. Maybe the arrogance is a perception thing more than a reality.
February 12, 2014 @ 12:16 am
I guess the thing that bothers me about these ec records are the fact that he mumbles, and is out of the pocket like he’s not familiar with the material. He talks about all the Honkytonks he has played growing up in North Carolina, but took CBS morning show to a preppy pub in his hometown that he had played and the photo of him showed him wearing ironed jeans.
February 12, 2014 @ 12:23 am
This is the Bad Ass Eric, I guess mama was still dressing him in college. http://youtu.be/5f_1VUnIK8o
February 12, 2014 @ 2:24 am
If I gave half a chicken shit about Eric Church’s image I would stare at pictures if him instead of buy his records…
February 12, 2014 @ 9:25 am
don’t quit your day job, if you even have one…
February 12, 2014 @ 2:02 pm
I’ve enjoyed reading all this crap. My two cents, I would have paid the price I paid for the album for just the song Talladega. It’s a tradition, camp the whole week and on Sunday stand, “shoulder to shoulder” with a hundred thousand of my best friends and can feel the cold wind of October blowing. Go Harvick!
February 12, 2014 @ 4:32 pm
First off, Let me start out by saying I am a HUGE EC fan. I loved his early stuff. Every time I have ever seen him live has been incredible. “Chief” took a little bit, but it eventually grew on me. Whats funny is that the two songs I didn’t care for right off the bat ended up being his two biggest radio hits (and I still don’t care for them all that much). With that being said, I don’t feel like this is his better work. There are definitely some winners on there (Dark side, Hometown, Die Young. I even kinda liked Outsiders, tho I could do without the metal solo at the end), but some of it just seems strange. I love that he is willing to do his own thing, but I think this album is missing what drew me in to him in the first place. Maybe after a while, this album will grow on me, as a whole, but based off of first impression, I was a little disappointed.
February 12, 2014 @ 6:22 pm
I just want to say that Eric Church is actual true artist and musician. He has written or co-written everyone of his songs besides one i believe. No matter if you like the songs or not…you have to give the guy credit for taking a pen and paper and coming up with everything he has. Wayyy better than ass shaking Luke Bryan or Jason Aldean who rely on others to come up with their music and are told what to do.
February 12, 2014 @ 10:06 pm
Agreed. Eric is better than Aldean or Bryan.
February 12, 2014 @ 7:06 pm
Sorry if I’m echoing anyone’s comments; but there are too many to read. So, let me say; this man is a true musician. Everyone as an individual should grow with time. So as a musician, your music should reflect that. It has been fun to watch his music progress. Being close to age and life circumstances I can relate to nearly every song. So if that makes me bias, then forgive me. However, concept albums are over rated and can be a matter of track line up; so any judgement upon that should be dismissed. He is going his own direction and he is taking his music with him. So if you cant appreciate this album, then your ride ends here.
February 12, 2014 @ 8:36 pm
Way too harsh on this album. It’s really good. It’s like you are praising it for being different, yet trashing it for being different. Different, in this case, is 100% better. And really?
“I don”™t know. A stupid amalgam of sound to let you know how awesome and creative Eric Church is.”
Doesn’t get more douchey of a review than that. The guy is creative obviously. Go listen to “That’s my kind of night” and then listen to any song from here and tell me it’s not a thousandfold better than the shit shoot queen Luke Bryan’s “country”.
I tend to agree with most of the stuff that’s posted on this site, but I have gotta say this review is bad.
February 12, 2014 @ 10:03 pm
Being a thousandfold better than “That’s My Kind of Night” still doesn’t make something good. That’s how bad “That’s my Kind of Night” is. 1000 X 0 is still 0. But yes, Eric Church is better.
February 13, 2014 @ 12:29 am
Hi Trigger,
You are right on with your reviews. The problem you have is…….once you listen to each song 100 times (which I’m sure I’m there), your opinion changes. And, I can tell (and I won’t tell anyone) you really love EC!
February 12, 2014 @ 10:50 pm
While I respect the opinion of this review, I’m just not sure the reviewer really gets who Eric Church is. Way back before Eric became well known I saw him when he opened for Rascal Flatts, right before Rascal Flatts dropped him from their tour, and I thought he was horrible. I thought he was horrible because I figured that in going to a Rascal Flatts concert I wouldn’t be hearing the Eric Church genre of music opening for them, and I didn’t understand who Eric Church was at that time, in the same way that this review doesn’t understand him. Once his eclectic flavor of what he wants to play and what he wants the fans to understand about him became clearer to me, I began to appreciate his music and who he is as an artist and person on a much higher level.
If you’re looking for an album that melds together in some normal fashion then you will be disappointed. The fact is that this album was intended to not meld that way. In my opinion it makes sense to me because it melds together Church’s eclectic flavor of music, and knowing that, it provides an even closer glimpse of who he is. If you’re looking for a specific genre or theme of an album, don’t buy this, as your going to be disappointed. If you’re looking for the eclectic genre and theme that Eric Church is about, then this will be exactly what you have been hoping for.
February 13, 2014 @ 12:34 am
Exactly!
February 13, 2014 @ 5:32 pm
CS,
It is my job to try to “get” every artist that I review, to look at the music beyond my personal taste, to try and put myself in the shoes of both the artist and their fans and see things from their perspective. I can understand how you would think I may have not done that as an Eric Church fan, and we all as humans are limited in our ability to be completely objective. But having said all of that, I really did try to “get” this music, and critique it accordingly.
February 13, 2014 @ 12:30 am
;
February 13, 2014 @ 8:21 am
I have to say personally, every song I’ve liked on the record you have thumbed down. I hop and skip too much to ever be able to review albums but I can agree on a lot. Maybe my opinion is jarred a little bit by the fact I love Eric Church. Before this album I have loved every Eric Church song but Lightning.
The Outsiders, I hated the first time I heard but when I hear Give Me Back My Hometown and heard the real verity I began to appreciate the Outsiders. I do like the song. I don’t like the song itself just because it’s not what I would can country. But how can I say I don’t like it? I love the instrumental aspect! I especially love the bass solo! Eric Church is a leader just for the way he mixes in other genres! And how in the world is ANYTHING about this song rap?! That is something I haven’t been able to understand. Rockish, yes! But rap?! No. If you disagree, name a line! I actually do like some of Eminem stuff. Typically, I hate rap so I would be able to see that…
When I read this review on Talladega, which is one of my favorites on the album, I couldn’t believe you said, “This song has been done a million and one times”. You call half the album “laughable”, basically say everything is stolen from other genres and call this song “done a million times.” To me your saying he can’t doing anything right! This song was a nice song and kind of reminds me of my trips to Nashville. It’s a good summer song about going out to your favorite city and having fun. To me it hasn’t been done a million times, it’s a country standard about summertime. To the untrained ear it may sound like any other country song but to the general public away from country music, all country music sounds the same. From this review if someone did come up with anything original you’d say it wasn’t country. To me this song it’s a classic country song.
Broke Record was probably the most original and had a real fun beat. I was kind of disappointed there wan’t a little more tweaking with it but I guess it could have been easily over done. Overall, a song I very much enjoyed!
That’s Damn Rock’n Roll I can agree with. It’s a rock song about rock’n roll but it’s not the first time. Rodney Atkins done the same thing! But, at least this ones somewhat better! It’s not a half country song trying to say, “I’m Rock’n Roll.” This one was more, “This is what Rock’n Roll is” message which was enjoyable, probably not country but it’s not the worst. I know what you said about comparing artists but oh well.
Devil, Devil (Prelude: Princess of Darkness) was actually one of the reasons I bought the album instead of waiting for it to hit Spotify. I heard of this dark spoken poem about Nashville so I had to see it. I kind of get it! I dream of going to Nashville and this kind of freaks me out but at the same time it’s very entertaining. The song itself, Devil, Devil, had a group groove and what I would consider classic lyrics.
Give Me Back My Hometown is definitely the best song on the record. I can’t get enough! I listen to it all the time. It’s a fun song that could have several meanings and it’s hard not to listen to it and let your mind drift which is the best thing about music in general. The opening of the mind! I can’t stop trying to decipher it and it does take me back. It’s real music and the most articulate song in the album! It’s right up there with Springsteen… and if you don’t like that song I have no interest in your opinion.
The Joint seemed like a song you didn’t really review. But, I will go ahead and say it had some weird effects. The overly low background vocals didn’t give me chills… it was more “what were they thinking?” The song itself away from the album version was fun, had a good beat and a clever story into some good structural lyrics.
But, I will say I didn’t think the way you rated this album was very fair! You acted liked the few country sounded songs were too mainstream but you rate the songs with “guns”. Two guns up? I really don’t think someone who rates songs with “guns” can call songs “too mainstream.” Just sayin’.
February 13, 2014 @ 1:56 pm
So let me get this straight, before this album you liked every Eric Church song except LIGHTNING, perhaps the darkest, most original and artistically legitimate song he’s ever written? Dear God, the boat left the dock a long, long time ago.
It’s not my favorite Eric Church song. My personal favorites from each album are These Boots, Where She Told Me to Go, and Over When it’s Over, but if I was to pick one song for him to stand by as a song that displays his purest form of artistic integrity, it’d be Lightning.
February 13, 2014 @ 7:19 pm
Jess,
Just to clarify about “Talladega”: I like the song. I gave it a positive review. I think it is one of the better on the album. The reason I brought up that it has been done so often is in response to Eric Church’s own words, the marketing of the album, and many other reviews that have talked about how groundbreaking and innovative this album is. One of the reason this song has been done so many times is because it works. I don’t blame Eric Church for cutting this song. I’m just saying there’s nothing groundbreaking about it.
February 13, 2014 @ 10:06 pm
Agreed. Lightening may be the best and most powerful song he has ever written. I think even triggerman would agree it’s just an awesome song in and out. Just think if he had written it for cheif or the outsiders instead of sinners like me…..it would be bigger than Springsteen and would have won every award it was up for. It’s a shame mainstream country overlooked church during his debut album because lightening is one of the all time great country songs in my eyes.
February 13, 2014 @ 8:38 am
Looks like the music critic from the NY Times agrees with Trig on a lot of things about Church and the new album:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/13/arts/music/eric-churchs-new-album-is-the-outsiders.html?ref=music&_r=0
February 13, 2014 @ 1:06 pm
At this particular time, Eric Church is being interviewed on GAC….talking about his new album. He’s talking about honesty and how to maintain an Outsider persona non grata.
February 13, 2014 @ 6:48 pm
“This songs been done a million times”……NEWS FLASH: The amount of songs that have the same storyline is infinite, would I ever criticize Johnny Cash for writing all those prison songs and execution songs? hell no!! take the storyline from “Good Hearted Woman”, a song about a man who lives a less than ideal life but his woman deals with it anyways….the exact same storyline as “Like Jesus Does” and “A Man Who Was Gonna Die Young”. Just because someone’s written a song doesn’t mean another one can’t be made with a similar message and still be original and creative, and just because it hasn’t been written about before doesn’t always make it a great song
February 13, 2014 @ 7:20 pm
I said this in a comment above and it applies here too:
Just to clarify about “Talladega”: I like the song. I gave it a positive review. I think it is one of the better on the album. The reason I brought up that it has been done so often is in response to Eric Church”™s own words, the marketing of the album, and many other reviews that have talked about how groundbreaking and innovative this album is. One of the reason this song has been done so many times is because it works. I don”™t blame Eric Church for cutting this song. I”™m just saying there”™s nothing groundbreaking about it.
February 13, 2014 @ 7:32 pm
Uh oh, internet music critic is getting defensive.
Don’t criticize his review, I mean it’s not “groundbreaking” journalism but you know…
February 13, 2014 @ 9:18 pm
Not at all Chase. I respect everyone’s opinions, and welcome and encourage them here. That’s why I give everyone a forum to disagree with me and leave their own opinions, and why the comment section here is so robust. One of the reasons I respond to comments is because I want people to know I am reading their opinions and respect what they have to say. At the same time, I’m willing to speak up and defend my positions or try to create a better understanding.
February 18, 2014 @ 7:30 pm
Great! So please post your musical accomplishments in the comments section so we may critique them.
Oh….
You don’t have any? Ok. So what the fuck do you know about county music? Internet research about indie country bands and Waylon don’t mean you know shit. My guess is you’re the kind of “internet music critic” that if he showed up in a REAL honkytonk would probably get his teeth kicked in.
February 14, 2014 @ 5:53 pm
I like this album, it’s a ton better that the Taylor Swift crap that comes out.lip syncing ect…… Church may do things his way, but that works for a lot of us music lovers.
February 17, 2014 @ 8:18 am
My immediate reaction to most song was, what is he doing? Darkside hit me immediately, A Man Who Was Gonna Die Young hit me immediately. The rest was different. Let me preface my comments by saying I’ve been a diehard Eric Church fan since I bought Sinners Like Me because it had How Bout You and Two Pink Lines on it, it was $7.99, and I was about to go on a 3 hour trip for work. And boom goes the dynamite. Hooked and anticipating more. Then with each CD release I’d be caught up in initial let down because he changes from album to album. And I was expecting more Sinners Like Me on Carolina, More Carolina on Chief, and now more Chief on The Outsiders. The reason I liked Darkside and Man Who Was Gonna Die Young is because you could have put those on earlier albums. Darkside would have for perfectly packaged on Carolina and Man Who Was Gonna Die Young could have been nestled just before Lightning!
The rest is different! The rest is unusual for this genre. The rest (for me) is new. Once I regrouped and went back for seconds I found a few more terrific songs (tracks 3-5), then the third and fourth added in a few more and even allowed me to sit back and truly listen to the two most out there moments of the album, lead ins for That’s Damn Rock and Roll and Devil Devil. Though those lead ins are interesting in there own right and That’s Damn Rock and Roll really can’t be separated or it loses any direction. Devil Devil leads into a song I feel that of you weren’t already tuned out by the time you got there you would find one of the most enjoyable songs on the album.
Everybody is entitled to their opinion. My recommendations is listen again, listen with your headphones on by yourself. Eric Church has always been strong lyrically in putting you where he wants you to be. And as I did with Carolina and Chief understand that he doesn’t want people to look at his catalog and say they all sound the same, but he isn’t in it to let you down just to sound different. Keep listening and trust that he created something special again.
February 17, 2014 @ 8:35 am
Trigger,
I am a huge EC fan so this review is a tough pill to swallow but I do say it falls short of Chief. How would you compare the two albums?
February 17, 2014 @ 11:02 am
That’s sort of a hard question to answer. I’d refer you to my “Chief” review to compare the two.
https://savingcountrymusic.com/album-review-eric-churchs-chief
February 17, 2014 @ 11:57 am
Wow trigger you are an absolute idiot. You obviously hate Eric Church. I have been a fan of his since the beginning, and In my opinion and many others this is his best album yet. I can understand if you don’t like the album but you act like he stole your girlfriend and you are mad at him. This is a “bitch” not a review. Just because the album doesn’t sound like everyone else doesn’t mean it isn’t good. His lyrics are from the heart and mean something to me and many of his fans. You say this album isn’t creative!….. Sounds like you’ve been smokin a little too much smoke in my opinion. That is all.
February 17, 2014 @ 12:00 pm
…or maybe all my paint is where it’s supposed to be.
February 17, 2014 @ 9:36 pm
He is unique, original and highly talented.
People also criticized Van Gogh and Mozart. Get over yourself Trigger and naysayers. Artistic expression is unique to the individual, and slamming
artistry is akin to slamming the kiwi or the star fruit for being
too weird or too different. It’s all beautiful – all an expression of
God’s truth.
February 17, 2014 @ 10:24 pm
People also criticized Van Gogh and Mozart.
Oh my….
February 17, 2014 @ 9:59 pm
Just watched My Hometown video. The only thing worse than hearing EC, is having to look at that Scrawny aviator wearing dirtbag.
What a lame tune! This song doesn’t even build up from anything… And then he’s suddenly in a rage and more or less rapping/ranting and then it’s all ” Hey yay” and ” Ooooooo” till the end. WTF???? Was there a song in there somewhere???
My fav though, the Handclaps & Drumming …. I was laughing like hell when that started lol
And as usual, he looked soooo badass lol, yea right.
February 18, 2014 @ 6:35 am
Trigger – Saw you were quoted and your site named in this month’s issue of Men’s Journal, article about Eric Church.
February 18, 2014 @ 11:07 am
Really? Thanks for the heads up, I’ll have to check that out.
February 18, 2014 @ 9:52 am
To say this album is without theme and is directionless is shortsighted. Each song may not connect to one another directly, but the album as a whole successfully explores the purity of the highs of life, the evil of the lows, and the ensuing struggle of the in-between. The album is a commentary on the life experiences of a to a true-to-yourself genuine person.
The themes are there; good vs. evil, fighting the good fight (watch the promo videos for the album), and the highs and lows of a genuinely lived life. The album is also full of musical nuances, like the underlying hints of darkness throughout that manifest at the end of “Dark Side.” To catch these, listen for the piano or organ strokes.
Each song portrays certain experiences in the manner that Eric Church thought best. Their purpose is not to embody some type of stylistic label, but to depict these themes effectively.
It is not called “The Outsiders” because he is trying to label himself as an outlaw. It is called that because genuine individuals are becoming the outliers in society. This album is for those people who don’t hold themselves to some type of mold or label, but live to their own accord.
February 18, 2014 @ 2:22 pm
This review is crazy. I literally laugh out loud that you think more highly of Chief than this album. Chief was full of sell out material. Outsiders shows a lot of how Church is willing to take a step OUTSIDE of what is currently being done. This album was more of an artistic experiment for him. I don’t think he really cares if people like it or not, he just wanted to do something different. I really enjoy this album. Not as much as his first two, but a lot more than chief.
February 18, 2014 @ 2:32 pm
Really didn’t make a direct comparison to “Chief” at all here. Comparing music like that is sort of demeaning to both projects, though I understand why people do it and I fall on that crutch at times too. But they are both products of their time and should be judged autonomously.
February 19, 2014 @ 7:37 am
I kind of don’t get the point that an album has to have an underlying theme or tone. Why can’t each track be different? I feel that your reviews of the actual songs were pretty fair but the review as an album was unfair.
February 18, 2014 @ 2:56 pm
For a music critic or reviewer (pick your label), the overarching theme of this review seems to have little to do with the music and much more to do with your dislike of the artist’s persona. You start off with a scathing rant about how terrible the album is and then proceed to give a substantial majority of the songs on the album favorable marks. In fact, I’d wager that if you listened to the same collection of songs sung by someone else and were told that it was an underground artist, you wouldn’t have had nearly the negative things to say about the album. Your position that the album is garbage sounds like a cop out — you actually liked most of the songs and had to find something to avoid undercutting your indie street cred, so you said the album as a collective concept was terrible. Newsflash–it’s 2014; we listen to digital music on Spotify; we don’t have to suffer through filler tracks or concept pieces anymore. As much as it might pain those audiophiles who love the smell of their own farts, the album concept is passe. We can mix and match our own playlists with a few presses of a touchscreen phone and don’t have to rely on the artists to dovetail their songs (if we really ever did) for optimal listening pleasure.
February 18, 2014 @ 3:11 pm
you actually liked most of the songs and had to find something to avoid undercutting your indie street cred, so you said the album as a collective concept was terrible.
You’ll be happy to learn that a lot of “indie” people hate my guts and think I enjoy the smell of my own farts too.
I agree that some of the commentary has to do with the image and not the music, but this is not out of the norm that any artist criticized here would see, independent or mainstream. Also, Eric Church talks a lot himself about his image, and how he is so groundbreaking and artistic, and his own self-accolades open up those threads to be explored through criticism. The very first piece of media release for this album was a video with only a little bit of music. Just as Eric Church hopes his fans take in the entire album experience from a multimedia standpoint, I am going to criticize the greater work, and the music within that context.
Also, the reason I criticized the songs individually was in an attempt to be fair to both Eric, his music, and his fans, and it include more positivity in this review. If I am going to get continuously get pummeled for this decision, maybe next time I will second guess it, and the percentage of negative criticism of the album per capita in the review will increase.
February 20, 2014 @ 10:05 pm
I wanted to make a comment on GIve Me Back My Hometown. I don’t know if the song was written with this in mind, Eric’s home state is Ground Zero for a giant culture war that is going on in this country. North Carolina is being infiltrated by NY/NJ/CA residents who are looking to avoid the way of life that they helped cultivate in their home states. They are coming to NC and trying to completely upend the way of life that the long time residents are used to.
February 21, 2014 @ 11:30 am
Agreed!
I have no idea what i just listened to just now.
I used to play the shit out of Eric church’s albums, this one though…..hello Mr. trashbin.
There is absolutely nothing left of “greasy ballcap and skoal ring in your best blue jeans” feeling on this album.
And i think it doesn’t fit in the pop charts either.
No more then two reasonable songs and what’s left are overproduced tunes.
Back to basics Eric!!
February 24, 2014 @ 10:19 pm
Couldn’t agree more with this review. Eric Church has been and still is my favorite artist today but seriously? When going through the songs it literally sounds like one of the CDs I used to burn of random songs I liked at the time in high school to listen to while driving around with my friends. However, listening back to those CDs years later now I can”™t help but wonder what I was thinking that I liked half of those songs. Which I can only hope he does too and goes back to making good rock inspired country songs again. Chief was literally the best cd ever made in my opinion. There literally isn”™t a single bad song on that entire cd. We get he loves rock music he has made that clear- but just because you like something doesn”™t mean you are good at it. He made it as a country singer and songwriter for a reason! He just needs to own it and be proud instead of worrying so damn much about not conforming. Still love him though!!!
March 10, 2014 @ 2:20 am
I could NOT disagree with this garbage review any more…
March 14, 2014 @ 9:26 pm
It’s like you’re mad Church didn’t make a clone of Chief, and you’re irritated that you don’t get to slam him for that.
Eric Church markets himself.. so what.
The Joint, Dark Side.. these are songs no where to be found on ANY mainstream country album. Nobody that plays in anything larger than a club makes these songs.
Eric Church writes his songs, plays guitar pretty decent, and can make exactly the record he wants to make.. and it’s clear there’s little studio dickering into his selections.
You’re launching these preemptive strikes on a mainstream guy who has complete creative control.. because ONLY struggling artists playing 300 seat clubs can do what they want?
You totally gloss over the Joint… whatever?? That song is brilliant, creative, and completely anathema to the entire mainstream country scene. Luke Bryan would never make such a song. Neither would Blake, Kenny, George, or anybody else that people show up en masse to.
Celebrate creativity when it hits the mainstream. You’re too obsessed with some vague personal grudge (Taylor Swift promos? Get over it).
You miss the point.. I don’t celebrate this record because it’s not bro-country. I celebrate it because it’s extremely creative and stands alone in a mess of pop-country bleach teeth’d nonsense.
March 31, 2014 @ 9:46 pm
I thought you made a fair review and made some good points, but you also made some really stupid ones. You criticize today’s artists for making laundry list songs and trying to connect everything they write but when Eric church doesn’t give a shit and makes an album that doesn’t make sense, you criticize him for it. Your right this album has no direction whatsoever, but that’s what makes it awesome. Was it his best album? No but it was fucking creative. The song “that’s damn rock and roll” does not make this album any less country. After all Johnny rocked and willy rolled right? Just because someone is successful doesnt make them any less of an outlaw/ outsider. It just means that there are fans who still enjoy ACTUAL music. Using funky sound effects doesn’t make you any less country either, as long as you have the lyrics to back it up. Its hard to take what you say seriously when it comes to Mr. Church because I know how much you can’t stand him so I will take it with a grain of salt.
April 2, 2014 @ 9:19 am
Eric Church is one of the few people left in music to still write every single song on every one of his albums. What you failed to mention is that he catered especially to his die hard fans with this album. His style is that of an outsider or outlaw country because he takes after Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash. If you have ever heard him live or seen him live, you would know his music is about as Rock & Roll as they come. He took his limits and pushed them. Why would he make another album just like Chief? Why settle for another album just like the last? He is growing as an artist and a musician. No the album is not even close to perfect yet it is a great album, one that country desperately needed instead of another FL-GA Line, Luke Bryan or Blake Shelton album that someone else wrote for them to sing and has no real meaning or story line. Music is about emotion, The Outsiders, is fueled by raw emotion and can you really deny that?
April 7, 2014 @ 11:57 am
I’ll start off by admitting I am a huge Church fan. He’s my favorite out there right now. I have enjoyed his music since Sinners Like Me. With that being said being a country music fan and also a fan of all music with him being my favorite I follow him a lot. I would just like to point out that if you stick with him this album was not a release and just listen to album. Before the release he created a lot of build up to not only an album but a story line which is still ongoing as he releases more pieces to the puzzle. Many times as a fan i listened to the album and was confused about the meaning to his songs and I’ll admit it was frustrating. I ask you to continue following the course of the story line put together to parallel the album because at first i wasn’t sure what i thought of the album. When I found i had to become patient I followed his story line closely up until his last released piece last night. As I follow it many of the things I questioned are falling into place. The time and effort put into not only the music but also the story and path of where he is taking the follower is all leading to conclusion. I also would like to point out the many times he has made it known publicly in interviews, alongside his producer Jay Joyce, that he has a belief of not being held down in one genre. Yes he came up with a true country sound and his first 2 albums are with no question country but take a look to his early on gigs and sets where he also played around with rock. He has referenced the country greats in his songs, especially early on, but he has always been outspoken about his love for rock and metal bands such as ACDC and Metallica. As he said he does not believe in locking down to a genre. Most artists lock down you do not see many who stray into other genres. I completely agree that there were some songs on Chief and even more on The Outsiders that you cannot say is country. Many of his sounds on this album even sway more towards rock. Especially the title track, That’s Damn Rock n Roll, and the song Devil Devil that comes after the Prelude. It is visible that he has a tough time locking down in what one would say to be “Country” but there is no reason he should have to. He had also been forced onto the rock scene after Country Music black listed him after his problem on the Flatt’s tour. He was a big act at big rock festivals including Metallica’s Fest and Lolapalooza. This is not biased this is jsut fact from what I’ve learned following him. If you would like, go on youtube and just view some different interviews and sets he has played to see some views on him beyond country. As you can see from what I’ve said he has really branched off into different directions in his career since 2006, whether it be forced or on his own destination. With his experiences and his following of music growing up I enjoy his passion for rock as well as country. The idea of him not restricting his music to the make up of country gives him more freedom in his writing process as we all know began long before his performing career where he wrote great songs for others such as “The World Needs a Drink” and “Whiskey Wings”. So if you would just look into the course he has followed from his youth until now I think it will give more explanation to the rock sounds that we are seeing more and more in his music.
Also, in interview he had explained The Princess of Darkness. It was inspired by him seeing in Nashville a man who was playing for tips in a sidewalk that he stopped and listened where Eric explained the man to be much more talented than him. The prelude (poem) is him stating how Nashville can be cruel because some of those not found’s failure is harsh and unfair. The story behind the song he told in an interview may open people’s eyes to a humbled side of church where he is not always self centered and his outspoken, loose cannon way of speaking out has overshadowed a side many do not see unless you follow him closely. I did not post this as an argument I understand dislike in artists there’s many i have strong negative opinions about also. Everyone is free to disagree. I posted this with the attempt to expose things that people who do not follow him strongly would not have realized. If you could take some time to view some videos I think it would help to back up my post and maybe you will see more background to what seems to some as madness or chaos in his career and music making.
Thank you.
April 9, 2014 @ 6:44 am
I totally agree with you!! Many do not understand that he actually has rock in his roots. If you listen to the earlier stuff like on Carolina or Sinners Like Me he does showcase some rock like qualities. You have to listen closely but it is there. He is also one of the best live performers which includes alot more rock that what you hear on the album. Can’t wait to see him hopefully two times this year!!! Also, people are not going search for interviews on their own if you included links to the youtube clips you are talking about they are more likely to check it out. Just sayin. Thanks
April 23, 2014 @ 7:11 pm
What a horrible review. The album is excellent. Going where no one has ever gone before creatively. You must be a woman as hard to please as you are.
January 12, 2015 @ 9:36 am
You need to approach this album differently from the rest of the Nashville albums being put out now. This is not something you can put on shuffle and enjoy nearly as much as listening to it as an album. Approach it as almost a concept album. Look past the words he uses and look for what he’s actually saying. There’s a hidden message in this album and it’s a beautiful, hopeful direction that I hope the rest of Nashville takes note of and pursues. Long live Rock and Roll, creativity and LOYALTY.
June 2, 2015 @ 10:02 pm
Now, I’m gonna start by saying that Eric Church is by far my favourite country singer. Now, If you don’t like him, that’s your opinion. But, I love the album.
The reason why I love Eric Church as a songwriter is because he is unique. Eric isn’t like the rest of todays country singers who sing about “drivin’ my tuck down a dirt road with ma gurl and a col beer” or “havin a tailgaiting party with my boys and pluckin my 6 string”.
Eric Church is unique, his music has a hidden message within each song. If you look from his old albums like Sinners like me and Carolina, he stepped up to the plate with Chief and Outsiders. He steps forward and goes beyond what these other artists like Cole Swindell, Luke Bryan and Jason Aldean are willing to do.
Eric Church’s music is misinterpret by many people. If you truly want to understand his music, listen closely. Like Devil Devil for example. Devil Devil is about Nashville. Now, if you’ve ever been to Nashville, you’d see all these bands and singers plying in bars and small (very small) venues. Eric was one of these junkie bar singing rodeo cowboys. He had to fight to get to where he is today. That’s what Devil Devil is about. It’s about how Nashville is the devil, it whips these singers who want to become something big. And that’s why I think I give my respect to Eric, because he didn’t even want to be a singer. He wanted to be a writer, but he came to Nashville and he pushed on, he fought to get to success.
Now, everyone has their opinions. And I am not dogging on this review. But I am just going to say, for anyone who is stiff about Eric church and who shoots him down on every review, give the guy a chance. He’s not like the rest of those pop boomboxing 2014-2015 country artists.
Just some of my words. Don’t be offended though.