The Outsiders - Eric Church

The Outsiders was perhaps the most anticipated album of the first half of 2013. Why? Because Eric Church's previous album, Chief, is considered by a lot of people in the country music industry as one of the best albums in the last 5 years. So while everybody had high hopes for him, Eric Church didn't give a fuck. He tried to push the limit with Chief, the industry caught up to him, and now he tries to go right back on the edge between country and rock music. In my opinion, this album stands up to the expectations; it's totally different from Chief, and that's good. This is an outstanding country album, each song pushing the limit a bit further, while still staying country (in most cases). Maybe some songs push the limit a bit far, but in general, this is a deeply country album, and anyone saying otherwise is absolutely clueless about country music.

Like said previously, this album pushes the definition of country to its limit, sometimes with success, sometimes it's just too far, at least to my taste. This album could very well be compared with Parmalee's last album, but in my mind, Eric Church did a better job of integrating his country roots into this album. This album is very diverse, with lots of experimentation on Church's side. Sometimes it results in a great song, sometimes it doesn't. Take the example of Devil, Devil (Prelude: Princess of Darkness); it's 8 minutes long, very rock, very grunge, yet still very enjoyable. The Joint, on the other hand, is a total miss for me. I'm guessing that the appreciation of those songs will vary from individuals to individuals.

The album has a lot of potential singles, like Talladega, Cold One and Roller Coaster Ride.If you are looking for good old country, you'll find songs that you'll enjoy a lot on this album. While we don't enjoy musical experimentation like on The Wheelhouse by Brad Paisley, this is more of a style experiment. The song-writing is excellent on the entire album, so that was absolutely not left behind. As a matter of fact, Eric Church uses both the lyrics as much as the music to express himself, to showcase his emotions in many ways. This is a very emotional album, and we can feel the personal connections with the lyrics and the music at many points.

TL;DR: If you liked Eric Church before, you'll like this album. If you didn't, at least give a try to Give Me Back My Hometown, Talladega, Cold One and Roller Coaster Ride.

9/10


The Outsiders

This was the first single of the album, and Eric Church said many times in interviews that he actually didn't quite mind that it didn't chart high. As a matter of fact, he even went further saying that The Outsiders will be one of those songs people will know Eric Church for, a song that everyone will remember. I'd tend to agree with him, in the sense that The Outsiders is the one song explaining how he pushes his own bounds musically. The lyrics are pretty repetitive on this song, but the message is clear. Eric Church wants to be an outsider, and for this album, it's pretty much mission accomplished. As far as country fans are concerned, chances are that they won't like this song. They'll know it, but maybe it won't be their favourite song.

7.5/10

A Man Who Was Gonna Die Young
The lyrics of this song are amazingly good, and very personal to Church. That being said, I find that the music sounds way too much like Like Jesus Does, at least as far as the main guitar is concerned. All in all, very emotional song, but it's a slow song, so if that bores you, be aware.

7.5/10

Cold One
This song, similarly to The Outsiders, pushes the limit of how rock country can be. That's in my mind the furthest it can go. The song is well written, and the main chorus as well as the play on words of "Cold One" is pretty good. The solo of high tempo guitar/banjo that becomes more and more "rock" as the times goes by is also a good touch, perhaps reflecting Church's own musical evolution.

8/10

Roller Coaster Ride
This is hands down my favourite song of the album, and I'd go as far as saying that I like it as much as I liked Springsteen. Yes you read me right. The rhythm and chorus are insanely good, a definite ear-worm. The electric guitar after the chorus is also very enjoyable. The song is well-written too. All in all, this is a future top 10 hit hands down, I don't think there's even a question about that. The song remains absolutely country in its core as well, if that's something that you don't like.

10/10

Talladega
Many people have this song as their favourite of the album, perhaps because it's a good ol' country song. The story of the boy going to see NASCAR at Talladega is very poetic and emotional. This song, while being about "the good old days", doesn't fall in the easy "slow country" downfall, and offers musical diversity, with variations in tempo, and high level of instrumental complexity. Like Roller Coaster Ride, this will easily become a top 10 summer song when the NASCAR fever starts.

9.5/10

Broke Record
This is perhaps the most instrumentally interesting song of the album. The guitar intro is very enjoyable, and the rest of the song doesn't disappoint either. The song-writing is excellent too, with many references between a music terms and the emotions he's feeling falling in love for the girl. All in all, excellent song, but doesn't have the ear-worm factor that other songs have.

9/10

Like A Wrecking Ball
This is more or less an experimental song, it's very different from anything he's done so far. Overall it's a good song, but it's kind of weird with the voice being behind a filter for the entire duration of the song.

7.5/10

That's Damn Rock & Roll
Title says it, it's a rock song. This song seems very personal to the experience of Eric Church, explaining maybe the very "rock" tendency of the album. This is also an experimentation on the album, but it's also quite enjoyable. That being said, it's too rock for my taste, and lacks the emotional shock of The Outsiders.

7.5/10

Dark Side
This is a very emotional song, and the lyrics are insanely dark, telling the story of a man with a dark side of which he's not proud of. This is a deeply country, while being quite rock. Perhaps one of the best demonstrations of the album of how rock and country can cohabit. The singing and song-writing are both excellent.

8.5/10

Devil, Devil (Prelude: Princess of Darkness)
This is another experimental song, and it lasts for a full 8 minutes. Overall, it's very enjoyable, but totally unlike anything else you've listened from him so far. Similarly to Like A Wrecking Ball, Church talks behind a voice filter for a good part of the song, which is supposed to add a "grunge" factor to the song, but I don't like it. The lyrics are also pretty dark in this song.

7.5/10

Give Me Back My Hometown

This is one of my favourite songs of the album, and it's the second single of it as well. As of now, the song is still climbing in the rankings, so we'll see if it's a #1 single. This is a very emotional song, and the drum rhythm is very enjoyable. The singing and song-writing are also excellent on this song. One funny thing about the song is that the video seems like a total joke, making no sense whatsoever about what everybody understands from the song. Rumour has it that the director never read the lyrics before making the video.

9.5/10

The Joint
This is Eric Church, so instead of having a song about drinking, we have a song about smoking pot. I wish that wasn't the final song of the album, because it's one of the songs that I think pushes the definition of country too far. This song is also trying pretty hard to be grunge, and I genuinely don't buy that.

6/10