Top Picks

The first thing that strikes me about Edie Carey’s eighth studio album is the lovely tone of Carey’s voice which has never sounded better. The opening track is hauntingly beautiful, boasting a high end production and lyrics that captivate. ‘I’ve been traveling all this time like I had a force field around me/Then for a moment we were flying and the floor became the ceiling’. Another highlight is the song ‘Rise’ which sees Carey team up with Rose Cousins. It has a really good arrangement and a kick to it in the chorus, it also shows Carey’s powerful side to her vocals. The album ends with ‘You’re Free’, a stripped back, acoustic number and though it is filled with sadness, it seeks to find solace in moving on. It is a soothing end to a brilliant record. Life and all it’s trials and tribulations permeate from this album but in the most beautiful and delicate way.  

The record has an explosive start with as it opens with the title track. The Hammond B3 Organ and Steel Guitar really give that big production some country flair. It’s an upbeat start to Collins’ brilliant 5th studio album which features some of the finest country musicians on the planet, who together have amassed 60 Grammy awards. The former Navy Pilot’s voice is soft and smooth, easy to listen to, though it lacks power, he plays to his strengths with these song choices. The theme of the record is life; love, opportunity, family bonds. A highlight of the record is “It Could Have Been Me” which reflects upon a past love, it has a sadness to it that he captures well in the delivery. His birthplace of Bardstown, Kentucky, where his family once sold their distillery to James and Joseph Beam, is the setting for a lot of these songs as he draws from life’s experiences. To summarise, it’s a great country record, from the heart, with a solid production.