Formula sure sounds good sometimes.<\/p>\n
This being Rascal Flatts\u2019 sixth album, the listener automatically knows what to expect: a couple of sad breakup songs, a rousing party anthem designed to get people to shout \u201cWoooeee!\u201d on the country dance floor, and plenty of soul-searching, yearning lyrics that don\u2019t leave much room for interpretation.<\/p>\n
Unstoppable <\/i>follows this formula to a tee, then builds on it with added strings, piles of sound, and overproduction. Older hits like \u201cWhat Hurts The Most\u201d and \u201cStill Feels Good\u201d had a more authentic feel, while a song like \u201cI Feel Bad\u201d is a breakup song that speaks to the heart. This time around, everything sounds a little bit planned; instead of the sad songs actually pulling on the heart, they feel like they\u2019re supposed to, as if the writers were saying \u201cLook! Sad lyrics! Surely this will strike home with somebody!\u201d One too many of these tunes makes the listener question the intent after a while.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not to say they are bad songs or wrong sentiments. \u201cThings That Matter\u201d is a fine observation of that moment when you switch from griping about the little things to realizing what\u2019s important; the song takes its time telling the message and brings the point home with a guitar solo. \u201cHere Comes Goodbye\u201d is the aforementioned breakup song, yet even in its shameless plug is the imagery of impending relationship doom (\u201cFootsteps on the front porch \/ I hear my doorbell, she usually comes right in\u2026Here comes the start of every sleepless night\u201d).<\/p>\n
\u201cForever\u201d is a less successful take on the breakup formula, while \u201cLove Who You Love\u201d piles on the sound to mask its rather thin arrangement (and sentiment). \u201cClose\u201d is better, detailing the inability of a woman to let go of a man she somehow lost (the song never says how, and it\u2019s not important). The images of a worn-out Notre Dame T-shirt, a simple voicemail and the feeling of loss pervade the song; Rascal Flatts does this sort of thing better than most country pop bands, no matter how slick they get. \u201cHoldin\u2019 On\u201d is the same song from the male point of view, and it\u2019s not as good.<\/p>\n
The title track is pretty slick, a power anthem with lyrics straight from those inspirational posters you find in dentist offices. Far better is the understated \u201cGone,\u201d which weds a moody acoustic guitar with a bit of twang on top to a \u2013 wait for it \u2013 breakup lyric, though the \u201cdrunk on hope\u201d line is pretty good. <\/p>\n
Finally, we come to the two polar opposites of the album, the party anthem \u201cSummer Nights\u201d and the closing ballad \u201cWhy.\u201d The irritating \u201cSummer Nights\u201d aims straight for the bar crowd; it may be musically fine, for this sort of thing, but the lyrics \u201cLet that Igloo cooler mark your piece of paradise\u201d and \u201cLadies, y\u2019all keep doin\u2019 y\u2019all\u2019s thang\u201d are two of the worst to come out of 2009.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy,\u201d however, is a moving, tenderly sung piece about suicide that is written with true emotion and the closest thing to authenticity here. Sung to a former childhood friend, words like \u201cWho told you life wasn\u2019t worth the fight\u201d and \u201cIt\u2019s not like you to walk away in the middle of a song\u201d paint a picture of regret and loss better than anything else on Unstoppable.<\/i><\/p>\n
Everything you know and like or dislike about Rascal Flatts is outsized here; if you dislike the trio, this is not the place to start, but if you like them, this is bound to stay in your CD player for some time. The adherence to the Flatts formula and obvious attempts at audience-baiting keep this from being necessary, but it\u2019s better than a lot of what is on country radio these days, even if you\u2019re not a country fan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":31124,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[8942],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-42810","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-rascal-flatts","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42810"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42810\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42810"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=42810"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=42810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}