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Tim McGraw – Here on Earth

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Tim McGraw - Here on Earth

Tim McGraw - Here on Earth
3.8

Rating

 3.8/5

Flyctory.com Pros

  • Very intense and emotional album
  • A definite statement of McGraws skills

Flyctory.com Cons

  • Some songs lack catching elements
  • The album overall tends to become monotonous

Here On Earth is the sixteenth studio album by country music legend Tim McGraw. After so many great hits, he will release sixteen new songs on 21st August 2020. Thereby, Here on Earth is clearly aiming to deal with real people’s stories and a wide range of their emotions.

 

Tim McGraw – About The Artist

Samuel Timothy McGraw was born on 1st May 1967 in Start in Northern Louisiana. With ten of his fifteen studio albums making it to the very top of the US Country Album Charts, he is undoubtedly one of the biggest names in the genre. He first felt to pursue a career in sports and even received a baseball scholarship at the Northeast Louisiana University. During his college years, he also learned to play the guitar. He decided to move to Nashville in 1989 and already received attention by some radio programs and a record company. However, his first single What Room Was the Holiday In was a fail and also received quite bad critics. Three more singles of his self-titled debut album, however, made it at least to lower charts entries. The album was not a commercial success at all.

However, this drastically changed with his second album, Not a Moment Too Soon, which has been released about one year later, in 1994. The album topped the US, the US Country and the Canadian Country Charts and lead to two chart-toppers in the USA and Canada on the singles side as well: Don’t Take the Girl and Not a Moment Too Soon made him huge. In the 1990’s only, eleven of his singles topped the US singles charts. On the album side, McGraw’s career grew massively as well. The 2002 album Tim McGraw and the Dancehall Doctors “just” placed second in the US Country album charts and thus prevented a streak of eleven Number One albums in the states, which finally stopped with Damn Country Music in 2015 (#3).

 

Tim McGraw – Here on Earth – Track by Track

The 16 track album lasts 62 minutes. In the US, there is a Target special edition with two additional tracks.

1. L.A.

The start of the album rather feels like a terribly mushy 1980’s TV romantic movie soundtrack. Tim McGraw cools you down and lulls you with that song. After you stood the initial confusing (or after the second virus scan stating that your machine is really okay…), the track becomes more and more enjoyable. Romantic.

2. Chevy Spaceship

Chevy Spaceship really starts with a space-radio alike intro, but then turns a slow, but intense track Nice guitar interlude as well. Lovely storytelling and a cool sound.

3. Here On Earth

The third track of the album is the title track – and also the first track which has been published before the album release. A very intense, precise – and thus, very catching track. To me, the strongest song of the album.

It’s like we open our eyes
For the very first time
When we find out why
We’re here on earth
(Here on earth)

4. Damn Sure Do

If you long for powerful, rocking tracks on Here on Earth, you might slowly getting nervous: Damn Sure Do again clearly aims to touch you on the emotional side. And, yes, it works out – just due to the massive talent and experience of McGraw.

5. Hallelujahville

Don’t call us small town, never have been, never will
It’s a cold beer sundown and we eat what we kill
We marry angels and dance with the devil in a place where time stands still
Can I get an Amen for livin’ in Hallelujahville

Again, this track is on the slow side, but McGraw just this praise of US country life again in a high-class and precise way. I very often don’t like songs which honor country lifestyle too much, but this one is not too pathetic, but describing thoughts and emotions in a lovely way – just as the whole album does.

Baby, this is our town, always has been, always will
Pour it out at sundown, hope someday we get our fill
We ain’t angels and we run from the devil in a place where time stands still
Can I get an Amen, yeah, for livin’ in Hallelujahville

6. Good Taste In Women

I am very thankful for Good Taste In Women. It is definitely not the country party blast, but it got some rhythm, so it feels like a bit of a relaxation from the deep emotions and intense songs on Here on Earth before.

7. Hard To Stay Mad At

Hard To Stay Mad At stays on the rhythmic side, but while Good Taste In Women was a nice and welcome change in atmosphere. this track does not sent its message too clearly to me. It just does not touch me as much as other tracks before.

8. Sheryl Crow

Interesting title. Of course, a track called Sheryl Crow always draws some attention. The track is not an homage on the artist, but a love song: You’re like the first time I heard Sheryl Crow on the radio. I like that metaphoric language. A story, which I can follow and relate to much better again. One of my favorites of the album – also because it has a strong country touch.

9. Not From California

This piano ballad is a very, very deep song again. Did I say Sheryl Crow has a strong country touch. These slow and intense tracks like Not From California are lacking that country music feeling a bit. But who cares – finally, it is just a intense musical story at least I enjoy listening to.

10. Hold You Tonight

Of course, it is always a matter of taste and personal preference, but Hold You Tonight does not really get me. It does not take me into the story from the very beginning like Not From California does – and after 1:20 minutes, the track becomes, much more powerful and rhythmic – but has lost me already. Other tracks on Here on Earth are just so much more atmospheric.

11. 7500 OBO

7500 OBO has been released very recently before the album. It has much more of a country radio track touch – could be a nice one for a road trip for example . not too suprising for a song about an Ford F-150 truck…

Shotgun ridin’ down a two-lane road
Just drivin’ around with no place to go
Us singin’ along to “Where The Green Grass Grows”
Hands out the window floatin’ on the breeze
She’s fixin’ her lips in the drop down mirror
That pretty little thing made it hard to steer
I’m never gonna get her outta there
There’s too many memories
Now there’s a “For Sale” sign in the window
Yeah ’cause if I’m gonna let her go, I gotta let it go
Yeah it’s gotta go, so it’s 7500 OBO

12. If I Was A Cowboy

If I would describe If I Was A Cowboy in one word, it would simply be “nice”. A classic country life love song in a quite straight modern country sound. It is also one of the songs which most strongly features electric guitars. The story might not be super-catchy or not be close to a Nobel Prize, but the overall package you receive with this twelfth track is pretty, pretty solid.

13. I Called Mama

I Called Mama is the last of the songs, which you could listen to before the album release. Not as slow as other songs, but on the slow and intense side again. It is not my favorite one, though.

14. Gravy

Take a second to stop and smell the daisies
Everything else is gravy

One of the very slow tracks of the album again. It is a nice story, but still the song is lacking to me a certain touch. Matter of taste more than lack of quality, definitely, though.

15. War Of Art

War Of Art is a slow acoustic track. The album finishes with the deep feelings again – and this one is a beauty to me.

16. Doggone

In the very last track of the intense Tim McGraw album, he is even swearing in that album. Doggone is one of these songs, which are definitely somehow nice – but on the other hand, I miss the catching element. It is fine to listen while it is running, but it does not make me play it on repeat.

 

Tim McGraw – Here on Earth – Spotify

I will add the Spotify widget once the album has been published.

 

Tim McGraw – Here on Earth – My View

Maybe the best start for my conclusion on Here on Earth is what I wrote about the last song Doggone: the song is nice, it is good, it has a clear message – but do I want to listen about it again? Do I want to really reflect about it? I could also pick out quite a couple of the other songs. I would definitely not call any of the sixteen tracks of this album bad or low quality. They are just a bit of plain. Tim McGraw is aiming to make us think and reflect with his new album – and he definitely makes that… Unfortunately, in quite some of the songs just for the three to five minutes the song is running.

There are songs which stay longer in your mind. It may be a matter of taste, but my favorites – apart from the title track – are Chevy Spaceship, Hallelujahville and Sheryl Crow. Overall, Here on Earth does enter the top rankings to me.

 

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