Okay, after this one, I promise I won't post any more reviews of Brad's CDs until the new year(thankful there's just two left). But, this one might be my favorite. I'm not sure. But this was the first album of his that I got, from Target on the way to Oklahoma City.
You see, one of the local radio stations I listen to was having this contest on the morning show, with the prize being tickets to Brad Paisley's show in OKC Friday night. And so I enter, since I enjoy contests, and that'd be an awesome prize. And somehow, maybe because I started dialing the number before I even heard what type of contest it would be, I got through, and I just happened to be the tenth caller, or whatever the number was that day. So the contest was this: In less than ten seconds, I had to answer all four of these questions wrong: 1) How many months are in a year? (Four.) 2) What is the opposite of "big"? (Giant.) 3) What planet do we live on? (Mars.) 4) What river runs through Tulsa? (The Missouri.)
So I won the tickets, which was awesome. So Mom and I head to Tulsa to pick them up, then get a few things we needed at Target(including a CD of his, since we figured we ought to be a little more familiar with his music than just the singles on the radio), and then off we went down the interstate, stopping at Subway for dinner. It was an awesome concert. Incredibly loud, but cool, so neat to see everything. Justin Moore was opening, which was cool, Trevor loved his music, mainly due to the fact that since we had cable in Tahlequah, we got CMT, and so I would watch that often in the mornings, he'd watch too. And Justin's song "Small Town USA" was played on there nearly every day. Anyway, he did a good job. Miranda Lambert came next, she was all right, neither of us enjoyed her as much. I like listening to her now better than I did then. Then it was time for Brad - It was awesome. Opened up with him sitting on a stool picking through "Start a Band", and picked up from there into one huge run of hits.
And a couple days later at church, that neat girl from the ice skating, what did she say her name was? Anyway, she stopped me and asked "Were you on the radio a couple days ago, like, Monday?" "Yeah, I won tickets to the Brad Paisley concert in Oklahoma City." "Cool! Was it neat?" "It was awesome." "I bet! Anyway, I was just curious cause I was listening to the morning show when they had that contest, tried to enter. I thought, 'Wait....I know that voice! It's that guy from the ice skating!' And so I just had to see if it was really you or not." "Huh...well, that's really neat." This was how, at least as far as we can figure, part of why Sam got my name stuck as Brad for about the first month.
Anyway, this album was (no way!) his fifth CD, released June 19, 2007 by Arista Nashville, it has one of the coolest covers I've ever seen.
Track One - All I Wanted Was A Car - A man remembers how as a teenager he dreamed of getting a real car, and the sense of freedom and power that would give him. Every guy feels this way, probably, but I'll never get to find out what it's like to get behind the wheel on the road. Oh well, there's always pastures. And Courtney will be driving pretty soon, she can be the one who can give Mom and Dad fits. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GT54h2fsC4Y
Track Two - Ticks - Classic country tale of the hot girl at the bar, given that Paisley twist to give it a different look at things. Great writing, not that great of a song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tiPndMqxLQ (Concert video, thank goodness.)
Track Three - Online - What can I say? Sheer. Brillance. And also the first fast song I tried to learn to play. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UE6iAjEv9dQ (Video could be much better, but overall it's pretty good.)
Track Four - Letter To Me - A man writes a letter to himself at seventeen, and he's reading it. Amazing concept, sort of "Back To The Future" like, that I've never tired of pondering and reexamining. What would it be like to read a letter to yourself, sent back in time? Would you take your own advice, and if so, how would that change the world you live in later? If you blew everything off, would things turn out the same way? What if you just followed some of the suggestions? Such a great story, with room for so many more... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQ3bn7V0zdU (Not how I would have made this video, but it works.)
Track Five - I'm Still A Guy - His humorous take on the feminization of males in our society, and the differences between male and female thinking. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wum5oI65OGA
Track Six - Some Mistakes - We can't learn unless we make a few mistakes...it's incredibly irritating, but it's a part of life. Some are worse than others, some are kind of fun. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xv6M_06ypFY
Track Seven - It Did - A song abaout the good moments in life. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUQCvek0Y-M
Track Eight - Mr. Policeman - Oh my gosh. This is HYSTERICAL. One of his best. And basically a musical version of every Dukes of Hazzard episode ever filmed. LIttle hard to play, though. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5hFnal_Jug (Naturally I'd pick this video, whoever spliced this together was awesome.)
Track Nine - If Love Was A Plane - The cliche "Love is blind" reworked into a very nice tune. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rmjy4kI_xq8
Track Ten - Oh Love - Duet with Carrie Underwood, the melody of which sounds oddly like "Whiskey Lullaby". It's all right, kinda dull, but they work well together. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GX7x_IdnVQ
Track Eleven - Better Than This - The conversations aroud a campfire... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNclXvP8qo8
Track Twelve - With You, Without You - Another in the "Yeah, I'm having trouble letting go here" vein. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCpN1hcMJ3s
Track Thirteen - Bigger Fish To Fry - Shaking my head... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7VdWq6Oh8E
Track Fourteen - When We All Get To Heaven - The classic. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ft4R93LTX3M
Track Fifteen - Throttleneck - His best instrumental, which is saying something. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uuui6WJfd0k
Track Sixteen - Waitin' On A Woman - Everybody loved it so much(for good reason) that it was re-released on this album, too; and then it became a single. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-C-IbkuNWs
Covers pretty much every facet of country music, the great, the good, the sappy, the rough-edged, the dull. My rankings:
16 - Bigger Fish To Fry
15 - Better Than This
14 - WIth You, Without You
13 - Oh Love
12 - It Did
11 - If Love Was A Plane
10 - Ticks
9 - Some Mistakes
8 - All I Wanted Was A Car
7 - I'm Still A Guy
6 - When We All Get To Heaven
5 - Throttleneck
4 - Online
3 - Mr. Policeman
2 - Waitin' On A Woman
1 - Letter To Me.
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