Billy Currington - Enjoy Yourself
By: George Peden, Staff Journalist
If you are looking for an easy album, one you just set and play, then Billy Currington’s latest may win your vote. After all, Billy sells a zillion albums, nestles into the Billboard Chart with frequent ease, and given a fan base that rings the globe, he is pretty good at not only drinking beer, but also washing it down with a proven formula.
The laid back and lazy “Pretty Good At Drinkin’ Beer”, a charted fan favorite, telling of a no-hopers inability to fix cars, mow lawns, dig deep holes or pave long roads has the winning answer to male incompetence –you just need to love beer. Written by Troy Jones – a Currington album fav, as he also co-penned the 2009 hit “People Are Crazy” – the tune sits homely with the overall image here. A squiz at the album pics proves the point. We see the buffed and smiling Currington, drizzled hair, Colgate smile, arms rippling all offering those who like cheesecake the chance to enjoy themselves.
But while the wide smiles and beach pics may excite some, overall the album, which peaked at #2 on Billboard and is still flying high, doesn’t bounce for me, and it’s not the CD I’d be blasting out at my next pool party.
Sure, there are passable tunes. The Georgia native has a solid baritone voice, so it is not so much the voice I am at odds with it is more the tunes. The album does not grab me. Bland is a word that comes to mind.
Some tracks work. “Love Done Gone” is a rolling, brass-riddled tale of love over, ended, the saving grace – no misgivings.
“I don’t regret a single thing that we did / anytime together, we ever spent / I wouldn’t change a thing baby, you know / sometimes we just gotta go with the flow…”
The track, penned by Shawn Camp and Marv Green, stands with the Dean Dillon co-written (Dale Dodson & Scotty Emerick) “Perfect Day”. The cut, a ballad, pines along nicely with its tale of wished-for perfection. Billy Joe Walker and Shawn Camp offer up a pleasing rocker on this 10-tracker, which is Currington’s fourth album. ”Lil’ Ol’ Lonesome Dixie Town” is a kicker telling of good times beyond the suburban fringe. And, if pushed for another passable, I‘ll give a finger tip to the opening track, “All Day Long”.
But that is it.
There is good reason why Currington, who has just scored a nod for a Single of the Year (“That’s How Country Boys Roll), howls at the end of “Like My Dog”. The track, a candidate for a “What The...” Award, is lame and limp. Written by Scotty Emerick and Harley Allen, the tune bemoans the difference between a cold and distant lover and the eager obedience of man’s four-legged friend. Enough said.
Irate fans may want to write. There is an e-mail address if needed. In the meantime, I might enjoy myself with a much-needed beer.
I will treat it as a reward.
If you are looking for an easy album, one you just set and play, then Billy Currington’s latest may win your vote. After all, Billy sells a zillion albums, nestles into the Billboard Chart with frequent ease, and given a fan base that rings the globe, he is pretty good at not only drinking beer, but also washing it down with a proven formula.
The laid back and lazy “Pretty Good At Drinkin’ Beer”, a charted fan favorite, telling of a no-hopers inability to fix cars, mow lawns, dig deep holes or pave long roads has the winning answer to male incompetence –you just need to love beer. Written by Troy Jones – a Currington album fav, as he also co-penned the 2009 hit “People Are Crazy” – the tune sits homely with the overall image here. A squiz at the album pics proves the point. We see the buffed and smiling Currington, drizzled hair, Colgate smile, arms rippling all offering those who like cheesecake the chance to enjoy themselves.
But while the wide smiles and beach pics may excite some, overall the album, which peaked at #2 on Billboard and is still flying high, doesn’t bounce for me, and it’s not the CD I’d be blasting out at my next pool party.
Sure, there are passable tunes. The Georgia native has a solid baritone voice, so it is not so much the voice I am at odds with it is more the tunes. The album does not grab me. Bland is a word that comes to mind.
Some tracks work. “Love Done Gone” is a rolling, brass-riddled tale of love over, ended, the saving grace – no misgivings.
“I don’t regret a single thing that we did / anytime together, we ever spent / I wouldn’t change a thing baby, you know / sometimes we just gotta go with the flow…”
The track, penned by Shawn Camp and Marv Green, stands with the Dean Dillon co-written (Dale Dodson & Scotty Emerick) “Perfect Day”. The cut, a ballad, pines along nicely with its tale of wished-for perfection. Billy Joe Walker and Shawn Camp offer up a pleasing rocker on this 10-tracker, which is Currington’s fourth album. ”Lil’ Ol’ Lonesome Dixie Town” is a kicker telling of good times beyond the suburban fringe. And, if pushed for another passable, I‘ll give a finger tip to the opening track, “All Day Long”.
But that is it.
There is good reason why Currington, who has just scored a nod for a Single of the Year (“That’s How Country Boys Roll), howls at the end of “Like My Dog”. The track, a candidate for a “What The...” Award, is lame and limp. Written by Scotty Emerick and Harley Allen, the tune bemoans the difference between a cold and distant lover and the eager obedience of man’s four-legged friend. Enough said.
Irate fans may want to write. There is an e-mail address if needed. In the meantime, I might enjoy myself with a much-needed beer.
I will treat it as a reward.
