From the Vault...

06/17/2018
#1625

info
Thomas Rhett
"Life Changes"


© Big Machine Records
Year of Release: 2017
Rating:

track listing
  • Craving You
  • Unforgettable
  • Sixteen
  • Drink A Little Beer
  • Marry Me
  • Leave Right Now
  • Smooth Like The Summer
  • Life Changes
  • When You Loook Like That
  • Sweetheart
  • Kiss Me Like A Stranger
  • Reanegades
  • Gateway Love
  • Grave

  • WSVNRadio Archives
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    Thomas Rhett related sites:
    Thomas Rhett Website
    Wikipedia
    Previous Review: #1624
    Matthew Sweet--Altered Beast
    Next Review: #1626
    April Wine--The Nature Of The Beast
    Thomas Rhett
    "Life Changes"



    Thomas Rhett is the song of Rhett Akins. Like father, like son -- they acheived the top spot of the Billboard's Country chart. Father Rhett reached #1 on the Country songs chart in 1996, with "Dont' Get Me Started." Son Rhett topped the Country albums chart in 2017, with this week's review, Life Changes. He also topped the Country songs chart (like his father did), in 2015, "Die A Happy Man." Also to mention, that father Rhett's real name is Thomas Rhett Atkins, where Thomas Rhett's legal name is Thomas Rhett AKins Jr.


    Thomas Rhett is one of many Country artists who is now "Today's Country." Yet to many, Today's Country isn't as true Country sounding as to the classic previous Country decades. Thomas Rhett is certainly not a Johnny Cash, or a Merle Haggard, etc. etc. Yet as I listen to this album, I can agree to a small point that it is Country; it is "Today's Country," and I have to admit, it's better than what he hear as "Today Country" when it really is "Country Pop."


    Laid back "Today Country" has the first two tracks, "Craving You" and "Unforgettable." "Sixteen" is probably the most recognized song to categorize today's country, as it is compared to another "today country" artist, Keith Urban. More on the Country side, and even with it's title -- "Drink A Little Beer" sounds a little like the ol Alabama, and Thomas Rhet has his own father help out on this track. "Marry Me" sounds like a ballad even, and it is, fitting the "Today Country" slow songs atmosphere. "Leave Right Now" is another ballad, just as good as the previous.


    Country has the Pop style (yes, you knew this was coming...) on Smooth Like The Summer.' (It does fit, as it is "Today Country.") Pop continues onward, to the album's title track. "When You Look Like That" is another impressive track, just as "Sixteen." "Sweetheart" has a nostalgic touch, as it almost songs like one of the R&B songs from the 1960s, as it meets Country. And speaking of R&B, Soul meets Country on "Kiss Me Like A Stranger," yet another impressive tune.


    "Renegades" returns again to the "today country," and continues with "Gateway Love." "Grave" is more laid back Country, ending the album.


    Thomas Rhett's Life Changes does have its "changes." "Today's Country," Pop/Country, R&B/Soul. Is it a Country album? Yes, it is. It fits the 21st Century Country, on a positive note. Yes, it has it's usual Pop overtones, yet it all fits in the Country format, and can blend with the newer and likewise, older Country. Not the "true Country" as Cash, Jennings, Merle, and the rest, but it does fit the boots of Country music.


    Thomas Rhett's Life Changes is a good album. And it is a good "Country" album.


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    Previous Review: #1624
    Matthew Sweet--Altered Beast
    Next Review: #1626
    April Wine--The Nature Of The Beast