Midland - The Last Resort: Greetings From

Midland - The Last Resort - Greetings From (Album)

3.5

Rating

3.5/5

Flyctory.com Pros

Good country album with (mostly) catching songs
Signature sound

Flyctory.com Cons

Songs are rather similar
Majority of songs already released

I had reviews of the Texas country band Midland a couple of times on Flyctory.com already. In April 2019, I reviewed their album Let It Roll, followed by The Sonic Ranch (March 2021) and their EP The Last Resort in July 2021. Now they are back with… The Last Resort. Typical Nashville strategies: first selling a part of an album as an EP and then selling the whole set of songs (not even splitting an album in two EPs). I hate that strategy and typically ignore the sequel releases. However, I have been too curious about the full album release on 6th May 2022. Thus, I share my thoughts with you.

Midland – About the Band

I just refer to the bio information I gave about the band in the reviews stated above. Their song Drinkin’ Problem is still by far their unbeaten most commercial success.

Midland – The Last Resort: Greetings From – Track by Track

The twelve song album lasts 41 minutes. The album includes the complete feature EP (five tracks). Before the album release, the band additionally featured The Last Resort and Longneck Way To Go, so that only five tracks have not been previously released. Interestingly, the press kit only features the lyrics of the EP release, in the order in which these five tracks have originally been released.

1. The Last Resort

The Last Resort is a typical Midland song. The band opens with traditional sounds, crisp and a bit of ironic lyrics. The song does not feel outdated and quickly stays in your mind. Good one.

2. If I Lived Here

The second song of the album moves a bit more to the rocking side, but also nicely features a steel guitar solo. Good one.

3. Two To Two Step

You may disagree, but what is now happening on this album is something I would name the series of country music commercial shame. Five songs in a row, all known by the listener already. Vice versa, you could also say that only one track out of the first seven is not already familiar to somebody who indeed purchased the album. I could just refer to what I wrote about this track ten months ago. Catching country song with a good vibe, which is driven by the guitar riffs in the background.

4. Take Her Off Your Hands

A slower song about winning a ladies’ heart. You know it already. You read my review. I feel that this kind of song works very well for the Texans.

5. Sunrise Tells The Story

In the 2022 album arrangement, the three slower songs follow rather one after another. I feel it is a good one. However, I also have to admit that over the curse of a year, the other tracks played a stronger role in my memories.

6. And Then Some

And Then Some has been the opener of the EP – now it is closing the block of four EP songs of the album. Good recording.

7. Longneck Way To Go (feat. Jon Pardi)

This nice collaboration with Jon Pardi has been one of the feature songs for the album release. Good song, which again comes with the certain Midland touch.

8. Life Ain’t Fair

Glad that this block of songs is over – and now four of the five new tracks follow one after another. Having so many previously released tracks in a row also takes you the chance to create surprising moments. The tracks felt a bit of boring to me, just because I knew them before. Life Ain’t Fair is different. Especially in the verses, the vocals sound a bit like Bob Dylan. The chorus does not work too well for me, though.

9. King Of Saturday Night

King Of Saturday Night comes with a strong touch of rock and blues and is thus my favorite in this block of four songs. The song is made to party and thus also has a bit of simplicity. But it makes me smile.

10. Paycheck To Paycheck

The 2:56 minutes Paycheck To Paycheck is in fact the shortest song of the whole album. It works with strong drums and breaking melody lines – but overall, I feel it is the weak spot on the album.

11. Bury Me In Blue Jeans

This song could become the Midland contribution to summer 2022 country music parties. Nice groove, which comes with a reggae touch. Makes you move.

12. Adios Cowboy

The 2021 EP closed with Adios Cowboy – and so does the prolonged 2022 release. A farewell, which even more reminds me of The Eagles than during my listen in summer 2021.

Midland – The Last Resort: Greetings From – Spotify

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

Midland – The Last Resort: Greetings From – My View

Not too surprisingly, I have a view on the album as a collection of twelve songs and then, there is a big BUT with negative thoughts. First of all, The Last Resort – Greetings From is a really good album. But it is not very good to me. The key reason is that the Midland sound tends to become monotonous and boring to me. Only few songs really add a new flavor to the set of tracks. Of course, this effect is even boosted by the fact that you already know more half of the tracks. And that’s the second downside: I feel that Midland is cheating their fans with that strategy.

Please, buy that album only if you have never heard of the EP in 2021 before. Otherwise, the music industry will continue with these reprehensible release schedules – and parallelly complains that the importance of album releases is massively decreasing. These releases feel to me like putting a loaded weapon at your head, pulling the trigger and complaining that you are not that alive any more.

All “classic” blog posts

No reviews – just debating and certain topics – these are my “traditional” blog posts in the categories Just blogging, Just blogging on music and Sports Blogging: