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Luke Combs – What You See Is What You Get (Review)

Florian Buechting Media Review No Comments

Luke Combs - What You See Is What You Get

Luke Combs - What You See Is What You Get
4.7

Rating

 4.7/5

Flyctory.com Pros

  • 17 tracks
  • Great songs, hardly any weak one

Just in the week when Luke Combs left his top position in the album charts with This One’s For You and thus also did not secure the record for the most weeks on top of the US Country Billboard Albums, he also released his second album, What You See Is What You Get.. I was really curious to listen into it – especially as the pre-released singles seemed to be a real treat again.

Luke Combs – About The Artist

I wrote a lot about Luke Combs in my posting about his first album. Thus, I will be relatively short here. He definitely had an amazing career so far, especially as the first song which boosted his career, Hurricane was a relatively old song by him.

 

Luke Combs – What You See Is What You Get – Track By Track

The second Luke Combs album holds 17 tracks. The playing time is 59 minutes.

1. Beer Never Broke My Heart

This song is already deep in the heart of the country music community. Do I need to say anything more about it? Excellent one!

2. Refrigerator Door

The first song which I did not have in mind before the album release. And it is a good one. Very catchy, characterful and good song writing.

3. Even Though I’m Leaving

The third track of the album is a gentle ballad. Luke Combs is such a powerful voice, but he is also great in these ones. Impressive!

4. Lovin’ On You

Lovin’ On You sounds like another ballad, but is a quite powerful song with steel guitar and great piano elements – overall, the arrangement is so powerful with a lot of country elements. Four songs, four strikes on the Luke Combs count so far.

5. Moon Over Mexico

Emotions, romantic moments and the Luke Combs power – is that a ballad or not? Moon Over Mexico is such a lovely mix of elements!

6. 1, 2 Many (feat. Brooks & Dunn)

Come on, that’s a country song right there, fuck – I very rarely start a review of a song with its very last lyrics. But I just feel you don’t need to add too much to this collaboration of Luke Combs and Brooks & Dunn. A damn good country song.

7. Blue Collar Boys

And we like cold keg beer and fixin’ up trucks
Old bird dogs and the woman we love
Maxwell House steamin’ out of a coffee cup
We say our prayers, send ’em to the sky
Bust our backs, barely getting by
Carolina to California up to Illinois
Yeah, there’s guys like us
Blue collar boys

Another piece of lovely songwriting. Cool song.

8. New Everyday

Definitely a country music ballad. And a lovely one – great musical lovely letter to a lady, Luke Combs style.

9. Reasons

Thoughtful song by Luke Combs. It is a good one – but in this amazing collection, it is a bit on the unimpressive side – which somehow feels undeserved:

But they got their reasons
Just like you
When you walked out of my life
When you didn’t have to
You sent me reelin’
There’s nothin’ I can do
About you takin’ my heart and breakin’ it right in two
So if you see me soaking in these thoughts I’m thinkin’
Drownin’ in some barroom off the deep end
I got my reasons

10. Every Little Bit Helps

There are so many of these kind of songs on What You See Is What You Get: you listen to them for the first time – and just after some measures, you are in that song, in a new Luke Combs story.

11. Dear Today

A song, which starts so slow, so intimate. Sounds a bit like just recorded in a garage in a lonely music session – but just too good not to listen to. Fascinating part of the album

12. What You See Is What You Get

I’m a straight shooting
Beer drinking, rule breaking
Don’t think I won’t take a good thing too far
I’m a midnighting, backsliding
Getaway car driving
Running away with your heart
I guess, be careful what you wish for, is all I meant when I said
What you see is what you get

Luke, you forgot something – you are just an amazing artist! During that song, I felt so much that I am looking that much forward to see that guy on stage at the C2C 2020.

13. Does To Me (feat. Eric Church)

What a cool collaboration with (another?) country music legend. This song feels so familiar, so close. It’s just so good!

14. Angels Workin’ Overtime

There are no arguments that Luke Combs is doing country music. Most of his songs have very classic country music elements, driven by the Luke Combs powerhouse. Angels Workin’ Overtime is maybe the most traditional sound of What You See Is What You Get. 

15. All Over Again

A(nother) song full of power – music which catches you and just does not want to let go. I love being in the WYSIWYG world.

16. Nothing Like You

I’ve seen California and the fields of Oklahoma
From thirty thousand feet, can’t beat the view
Crossed the Mississippi, watched the mountains over Tennessee
Become a Carolina sky that was so blue
And still ain’t seen nothing like, nothing like you

Finally, it is “just” a great love songs, but with a lot of aviation elements. Okay, that is good marketing, Mr Luke – I have to like it 🙂

17. Better Together

A slow and acoustic track at the end of the album. What a lovely way to finish traveling through the WYSIWYG land with Luke Combs – or just relax for some 3:30 minutes before restarting with Beer Never Broke My Heart.

 

L. Combs – What You See Is What You Get – Spotify

You may pre-listen to the album here:

 

L. Combs – What You See Is What You Get – My View

Congrats, Luke Combs! With This One’s For You you already did a great album (of comparably many songs) – now you proof that you made it to the top levels of the genre already. What a versatile, but also reliable quality of songs! And they all feel so much country, wow! A couple of songs have hit quality – so that the first album will have a tough time to get this single week to have the big record on its own – What You See Is What You Get is there and will challenge it definitely! Thanks a lot, Luke – a definite Top Pick! – and a hot candidate for the Album of The Year rankings!

 

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