Eschew all irony - is the Big & Rich love for real?

But if I were to have predicted that in 2004 a group would appear composed of a short cowboy looking guy who was kicked out of a soft pop-country band, a tall blonde guy who calls himself Big Kenny, a tiny guy who rocks matching canes and appears to do nothing but dance, and a large African-American rapper named Cowboy Troy, and they are part of a confederation in Nasville called the Muzik Mafia, and their whole act is perceived by some as being subversively homoerotic while still appealing to red staters...

Why, you'd call me crazy.

I'm a much bigger fan of the Gretchen album, to be honest. if I had to take sides.

those bros. you mention rule tho, many many times over b&r. how come there ain't more stanley broseph love on ilm?

(compare w. nelly.mcgraw which should be brilliant but is just another boringish r and b single)

Also, Montgomery Gentry - I'm kind of curious. I was flipping channels and CMT had some show on, and I guess Montgomery Gentry was one of the bands playing. All I remember is thinking WTF is the deal with this scary looking dude in black who's always spinning his mike stand? It was a total shtik but somehow, it worked.

Blount I kiss you and buy you flowers and carve your name in my desk with a heart around it

As for B&R: dig the personas, can't entirely get to the music (though it's mostly my fault for being 97% country-illiterate), and I am SO there when they make their Eliminator move and bring out MAD SYNTHS

http://www.countryweekly.com/poll/18

I do like "Live this Life." And "Wild West Show" is gorgeous, except there's something off about the lyrics, something that doesn't cohere - it seems they just toss ideas out there and don't think them through to the end, which is fine, but I wonder if they can.

DUD OF THE MONTH

Big & Rich
"Between Raising Hell and Amazing Grace"
(Warner Bros.)

Didn't take them long to ripen from corny Nashville realness to smarmy harmonies and big finishes as coercive as Diane Warren's. Keynoting with a piece of grease designed to supplant "Wind Beneath My Wings" at weddings all across Middle America, their tribute to God confuses grease with grace for so long that by the time the antiracism campaign resurfaces it feels like they're just piling on the piety. Needless to say, hell rises to the top for their best tune -- an AC/DC cover.

Grade: C

sort of petered out there didnt they.

the grade of C is generous. but glad to see someone has recognized the massive influence of America's Greatest Songwriter, Diane Warren, on country. oh right, we gotta eschew all irony...

I don't like the new album either, for whatever it's worth (in fact I talked to Christgau about it before he finalized that review), but George Smith actually argues a convincing case for a bunch of its tracks as quality journeyman AOR-style craft on the rolling country thread -- enough that I want to go back and try the CD out again, eventually. (As for the original appreciation for B&R being "ironic," I have no idea what the evidence for that would've been. People loved their debut because it's a great album.)

sort of petered out there didnt they

As usual, Christgau is upside down when rating the "hard rock" on the album, the AC/DC cover. It's the album's worst cut. No one with any sense about the original would have any use for it. Anyway, I like Between Raising Hell and Amazing Grace.

The first two cuts, particularly the title song, work excellently.
They're superbly produced pop tunes which really work to B&R's strength, their vocal harmonies. "You Never Stop Loving Somebody" is my favorite track. It could be passed off nicely as something written by Tom Petty and Mike Campbell.

The novelty cut "Please Man" has a good hook and is a repeat listen despite the presence of Wyclef Jean doing a bit of gratuitous rapping in the middle break.

Coercive as Diane Warren. Whaduzzat mean? Bob never liked the theme song from Star Trek Enterprise with Scott Bakula?

Anyway, you should know I used to use Christgau's bad ratings in his books as guides to things I like much in the way of the infamous Rolling Stone "red book" record guide.

If one thinks the first song, about wedding day, pours it on, you should see the video for it, relentlessly marching towards the top on CMT.

If this kind of thing bugs ya, and it seems to bug Bob slightly, you probably have no business listening to any of the major modern country releases since they all riff off the very definition of smarminess.

Now, excuse me, I gotta go listen to Darryl Worley sing about getting totally wasted on an album sponsored in part by George Dickel to promote responsible drinking. I may like it a little better than the new B&R. And I definitely like Between Raising Hell better than Miranda Lambert's Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, which it's battling on CMT.

the AC/DC cover. It's the album's worst cut

This is true, btw -- and I told Christgau! Bluegrass AC/DC as a joke is pointless -- and not even pointless in a new way, given nitwits like Hayseed Dixie who've been doing the same thing for years now. It's a lame joke without a punchline (where Big N Rich's debut was up to its ears in punchlines.)

Bluegrass AC/DC as a joke is pointless -- and not even pointless in a new way

Perhaps they decided they wanted a piece of the "Picking on (fill in the blank with your favorite guitar-playing star)" franchise. Consider it workfare for hack banjo-men and miscellaneous bluegrassers.

Doesn't Christgau loathe AC/DC because their sexual politics make him feel bad? That's probably why he likes the jokey cover (which I haven't heard) - he thinks of it as the musical equivalent of tripping a playground bully, or something.

the probelm was that they forgot how to be ironic, i think...

i do recommend that tony naima album of acoustic folk/country rock versions of dismember (swedish death metal band) songs though. i really liked it.

http://www.metal-norge.com/images/omtaler/2049.jpg

From previous discussions, I expected more humor on the new B&R and was surprised when I didn't hear it, except on the intro to Radio and Please Man. Didn't diminish the record.

There's a DVD that comes with the new one and it includes a little soundstage set of them doing Comin' to Your City, Ride a Cowboy, Lost in the Moment, Between Raising Hell and Saving Grace. The first two rock harder than the others, as they do than almost all the stuff except Loud -- which isn't that great -- on the new CD. However, the two new cuts have some live oomph to them and they're slow-to-midtempo things with some gospel added and it sounds real good to me.

xhuxk has listened to B&R a lot longer than me so he knows their established context better. That said, enjoying this, I wasn't immediately seized by the idea that I was missing something so much I had to rush out and get the first two. Might get the second one next.

Doesn't Christgau loathe AC/DC because their sexual politics make him feel bad? That's probably why he likes the jokey cover (which I haven't heard) - he thinks of it as the musical equivalent of tripping a playground bully, or something.

Actually, he put "You Shook Me All Night Long" on his top ten singles list in, like, 1985 (five years after it came out!) or something. So I'd guess it's more that he just thinks it's a great song (and, strangely, didn't notice that B&R ruined it.) It's the only AC/DC he ever liked, if I remember right.

Incidentally, B&R did a one hour promo on GACTV tonight, showcasing a "best of" acoustically in front of a gymnasium-sized audience. In between songs, Big Kenny & Rich were spliced talking about the new album. At one point, Rich says his favorite AC/DC record is Back in Black and he equates Ride a Cowboy as their prime AC/DC-like cut.

When not in session, much of it is spent alluding to or explaining how they're firmly rooted in the churchly. Comes across on the new record, dealing with their agape love moment (weddings) and Eternity, which is another song I like and could have done without the John Legend intro. Rich indicates he would like to be a politician when he's fifty, coming off as the most delusional of the two. Maybe he was a bit tight when it was filmed, as both had drinks in front of 'em.

Xgau can take his ignorant, backhanded insult to Middle America and shove it straight up his ass.

Much more granular detail on the first two albums here, if anybody's interested:

Big & Rich: Album of the Decade?

Actually, that was mostly limited to the first one, I guess. For the second album, and the new one, try here; there's plenty:

Rolling 2005 Country Thread

Rolling country 2007 thread

Now I remember what made me detach from any interest in getting the first Big & Rich album. Gibber about antagonizing disco mixes and crunk. Didn't see one thing that conveyed why Ride a Cowboy, as rocking tune, might be really good in the sense that Rich says it is.

and their whole act is perceived by some as being subversively homoerotic while still appealing to red staters.

And from upthread, this is totally flabbergasting. Although in a standard not-unexpected-on-ILM way.

The soundstage live performance DVD that came with the new one is great.

whisperedinedd has a <a href="http://stylusmagazine.com/articles/weekly_article/horses-of-a-different-color.htm";>great weekly article</a> on Big & Rich and Nashville at Stylus. Still processing it myself and probably unqualified to say much except "interesting" but figured someone should mention it.

Stupid tags: great weekly article, that is.

If I read any more rock criticism on Big & Rich, I'll never wind up listening to either of the first two records. If I'd read anything on Between Raising Hell I wouldn't have bought that, either. Christ, there must be a law against being plainly descriptive and linear.