Categories : Country + Western, Music Reviews.
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Rating: 3/5 Released: April 4, 2006 Reviewer: Trent Depue |
Even before the release of their fourth studio album Me and My Gang, pop-country trio Rascal Flatts managed to snag top spot on the country singles chart with their hit ‘What Hurts the Most.’ The radio friendly love song sets the tone early and although the album fails to produce anything that can compete with it there are a number of surprises that keep the listener interested and waiting for more.
It’s the songs separating the onslaught of slow paced inspirational and love songs that are the real gems on the album. The run away guilty pleasure is the hoe-down ready ‘Backwards,’ which is fun and uplifting even if it does epitomize every country music stereotype you can imagine. The title track gets top marks for trying with some fun funk undertones and Bon Jovi style voice alterations (think ‘Living on a Prayer’) but is otherwise fairly weak, while the albums runner up ‘Yes I Do’ provides the biggest surprise with a mellow reggae beat throughout the verses.
Although the band flirts with the daring and unconventional, they never steer too far from the tried, tested and true methods of producing a pop album. This lends it to being a little too one dimensional. Despite this, the album is easy on the ears and although it will never go down in the history books as a masterpiece of modern music it possesses definite mass market appeal and will undoubtedly continue to enjoy the commercial success it has seen in its’ first few weeks on the market.
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