Customer Rating:  
Summary: Ingram in the Right Direction Towards "It"
Comment: Prime Cuts: Easy as One, Two, Three (Part II), Ava Adele, Whenever You Are
After years of loitering along the fringes of country music, Ingram has finally broke in with his number 1 smash "Whenever You Are." To up the ante on the barometer of hip, Ingram has ushered the advent of this CD with the unlikely cover of rock act Hinder's "Lips of an Angel." Thus far, success has been effulgent as "Lips" is lighting its way up the upper echelon of the Billboard country charts. Produced by Jeremy Stover, Doug Lancio and Ingram, this disc steers along the path paved by "Wherever You Are" which means that most of these 12 cuts have been recorded with an eye for becoming darlings of radio. However, before purists who have followed Ingram's career bark at Ingram's viable shrewdness, not everything have been sacrificed at the altar of commercialism. Truth be told, "This is It" does indeed have a more polished savvy sheen to it, but this is not to say there is a dearth of the raw emotional investiture Ingram always brings to his songs. Further, Ingram's commercial success has no way been caliginous towards his twinkle for Townes Van Zandt, Steve Earle and Robert Earl Keen's type of Americana that rock with a venturesome abandon and drenched the soul like vintage liquor.
Destined to be a hit is the Radney Foster-Gorde Sampson opener, a stately rock number with a Bon Jovi-anthemic beat. "Measure of a Man" chronicles a coming of age story starting with a boy leaving home at 15. Without being told that "Lips of an Angel" was first recorded by rock act Hinder, it might easily sound like an Ingram original. A brooding bluesy ballad calling to mind Gary Allan's "Life Ain't Always Beautiful," "Lips of an Angel" describes with vivid details the feelings of a man on the verge of cheating on his girl. If such moral graft has left a bitter aftertaste, "Hold On" which features Sheryl Crowe on backing vocals has a more censurable disposition about the tenacity of love over circumstances. While the driving-guitars and barrier-smashing drums on Todd Snider's "Easy as One, Two, Three" is sonically infectious.
However, the album's highlights are in the contemplative moments. To prove that the triumph of a song resides not in its lyrical density but the sincerity of the words, "Ava Adele" is the bona fide example. With the simplest of words, this gentle guitar-driven lullaby is Ingram's love song to his daughter. Giving it depth and grit, Ingram's gravelly vocals brings out a magical quality to this heart-wrenching ballad. "Ava Adele" could easily be Ingram's magnum opus. While the mid-tempo "Maybe She'll Get Lonely" finds Ingram in Tim-McGraw territory as he holds to the sliver of hope that his departed paramour may return to him if she gets lonely. And as an added bonus, two of Ingram's previous hits the propulsive "Wherever You Are" and the more rockish "Love You" give this collection added heft.
Indeed Ingram has taken a step in the right direction by making his music appeal to a large spectrum of people vis-à-vis country radio without completely selling out. However, as a whole, Ingram has yet to reach the lofty heights he's capable of attaining. There are still pockets on this disc that still borders on the filler side (e.g., "All I Can Do" and "Make a Wish"). So, let us hope that Ingram is not serious about this album title: for this CD is definitely hopeful, but there is still some distance from reaching "it."
|
