Listening to Music

I like listening to music almost as much as I like reading books. I enjoy a variety of music, from all kinds of artists. People ask who is your favorite, and I find it impossible to answer. It depends entirely upon my mood at the moment. My playlist on my PDA includes Jimmy Buffett, Ray Charles, George Strait, the Nylons, and The Pipes & Drums, 1st Battalion Scots Guards.

Love on the Inside

This is the Deluxe Fan Edition of the Sugarland album, which was only supposed to be available for limited time before the standard edition of the album was released. This was a good marketing idea, since I at least do not normally not rush right out and get a new CD as soon as it is released. But I was enjoying Sugarland’s second CD, Enjoy the Ride, so I went out and got the Deluxe Edition when it came out.

I stuck the CD in my 6 disc changer in my car for my trip out west in August, planning on switching out all of the CDs as I went and the mood struck me. I have done this before on multiple day trips, getting a good mix of styles and artists as the mood struck and avoiding getting tired of one particular artist or CD. This time, things did not work out that way. 5 of the CDs I did not hear enough of to get tired of them. That is because I spent so much time listening to the sixth CD, Love on the Inside.

I didn’t love every song on the CD, the fourth track,” Joey”, I found somewhat annoying at times. That may just be because I am a cranky old man that has heard too many songs about teenage love ending in tragedy. Given that Sugarland’s aim for this album was to explore different aspects of love, it was probably inevitable that a song like this was on the CD, but that doesn’t mean I have to love it.

“Steve Earle” is another song that I am not in love with. It is a humorous song, and how much I enjoy hearing it depends very much on my mood. But it doesn’t ever annoy me, I just sometimes don’t enjoy it as much as others.

After those two songs as the weak points in the album, I found myself with 15 songs that at the very least I like to hear over and over. Depending on how they strike me at the moment, I can find myself hitting repeat on my CD player to listen to any of the 15 over again.

Instead of getting very tired of the repitition in the first single, “All I Want To Do”, I enjoy the upbeat rythym and the very idea of blowing off a day to be with someone I love, just because I feel like it.

“It Happens” also has an upbeat style, at odds with the events that happen in the lyrics. But the style helps sell the philosophy, as John Lennon put it, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” But Sugarland’s way of saying it is more fun.

My favorite song, most of the time anyway, is “What I’d Give,” the tenth track. The lyrics, especially the first 4 lines, make me think of someone I would like to sing them to, with appropriate changes to the genders, and the instrumental section makes me just want to hold them. Other songs invoke the pain that can result from a failed relationship (“Keep You”) or the desire to take care of someone you love that is hurting (“Fall Into Me”) or physical desire (“Come On Get Higher”). They are all very moving and powerful in their own ways. But none of them move me the way that “What I’d Give” do.

This is a very good album, with a lot of solid songs. It covers a wide range of styles but only has one real subject matter, love in all its forms. For an album of love songs, it is certainly very diverse. I don’t know if Jennifer and Kristian succeeded in their aim to make an album that will be a reference anytime someone wants to do a love song. But they certainly succeeded in creating one that covers the subject in depth and in style.

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2 Responses to Listening to Music

  1. Gina says:

    Thanks for the detailed review and recommendation. I’m always looking for new music to check out, so this is something I’ll look into. Thanks!

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