You release an album or you don't. I've been feeling guilty for weeks now about Chase Rice's GO DOWN SINGING. He's been an interesting artist, one to watch and he's on an artistic journey so I want to be supportive. But the album came out last month.
Or kind of did.
And it will come out this month.
Or kind of will.
And it will come out in November.
Or kind of will.
I don't have the time to be f**ked around.
November 8th. That's when the album comes out vinyl.
October 25th. That's when the album comes out on CD.
September 20th. That's when it came out on streaming.
Get it the f**k together.
"I did my best and I went for broke," Chase sings convincingly on the title track.
But let me correct him: No, you did not.
CDs sell best today in country music. Vinyl, of course, has had a huge resurgence. Streaming is a third way of obtaining music.
You're not doing your best if your album comes out in three formats but all three have a different release date -- especially true if your first release date is September 20th and your last is November
Get your act together. There's no excuse for it. Your fans should be able to get your album on the same day. There shouldn't be a different release date for each format.
Now I've felt bad that I've ignored the album when, in fact, I'm only interested in the vinyl version. So I'm actually jumping the gun by reviewing it since it's not coming out until November 8th. (I'm reviewing the vinyl copy via the advance copy C.I. has.)
What was the point of this nonsense? It wasn't to qualify for the Grammys because, despite three different release dates, not a one of them was in time to qualify for the Grammys that will be handed out in 2025.
It's not just frustrating, it's stupid.
And what's really sad is that it harms a great album.
He's dug even deeper and continued his artistic journey. GO DOWN SINGIN' is one of 2024's finest releases and a worthy follow up to last year's I HATE COWBOYS & ALL DOGS GO TO HELL.
"That Word Don't Work No More" is a duet he performs with Lori McKenna.
She burns the casserole
The kids have made a mess
He ain't stuck in traffic
No, he's out with the boys again
He stumbles in half drunk, quarter after four
Drops his keys a couple times, slams the old front door
Stands in the kitchen asking for forgiveness
But that word don't work no more
The kids have made a mess
He ain't stuck in traffic
No, he's out with the boys again
He stumbles in half drunk, quarter after four
Drops his keys a couple times, slams the old front door
Stands in the kitchen asking for forgiveness
But that word don't work no more
No more saying "I'm sorry"
No more "Baby don't go"
We use the words too many times they lose their meaning, lose their rhymes
On this long and crooked road
No more "Baby don't go"
We use the words too many times they lose their meaning, lose their rhymes
On this long and crooked road
Chase and Lori sing the song beautifully (they wrote it with Oscar Charles. It's one of eleven amazing songs on the album. "Oh Tennessee" is another example.
Chase actually has something to say. And he's got a voice that's incredible.
But he needs a label. SAVING COUNTRY MUSIC's Ben Christensen's review made clear what the album sounds like: Chase is independent. I'd further guess that DACK JANIELS and FIREBIRD RECORDS are labels he himself has started -- don't GOOGLE them, you won't find anything applying to Chase, I didn't. But if Ben got that right, he gets so much wrong:
Go Down Singin’ is like a continuation and a sister album to Chase’s 2023 release I Hate Cowboys & All Dogs Go To Hell. They both come in the wake of his father’s death, with his dad adorning the previous album cover, and Chase in a similar pose holding Coors beers gracing this one. This also dovetails with the final song on the album, “You in ’85,” where Chase draws similarities with his pops and himself across a span of 40 years.
Clearly the death of his father inspired a dramatic recalibration of priorities for Chase, and that is reflected in the songs of this album.
How do you read that?
Chase released his first album in 2010. Ben's review argues that this album and 2023's are "in the wake of his father's death" and "Clearly the death of his father inspired a dramatic recalibration of priorities for Chase . . ."
That's how that reads. But, here's the thing, Chase's father has been dead for almost 20 years. He passed away before Chase recorded for his first album. Died when Chase was 22, according to PEOPLE magazine. So the death's not recent.
That doesn't make it any less important. But it does mean that you can't argue that his father just recently passed away and that's forced him to think about his life choices -- he has a love/hate relationship with the music business -- and move towards an independent label and these songs.
We have a popular lie in America; You work hard and you get rich or at least comfortable.
That's not true for most people.
We have another lie about successful people: You work hard and you make it and cue the happily ever after.
Chase did make it. He's a great songwriter and he's had enough success that he'll probably be able to live on residuals from songwriting and recording for the rest of his life.
GO DOWN SINGIN' is about that second lie. Success doesn't make your life better. Sure, you don't have to worry about money and that's great. We should all be that fortunate. But success doesn't bring back your father, it doesn't bring you the relationship that lasts.
And Chase isn't a 20-something. He's realized that financial success is not life. His songs are covering life, exploring life. And what he's writing goes to the push-pull, love-hate relationship he has with country music and what Joni Mitchell dubbed "the star maker machinery behind the popular song" ("Free Man In Paris").
And the push-pull and love-hate, the friction from that, creates the art that is GO DOWN SINGIN'.
"If Drinkin' Helped" is another great song from the album. But, Chase, it's a great album most people aren't going to hear because the release got f**ked up. If you father were still alive, don't you think he'd tell you that you can't do it all? You need a label of some form or you need to hire people to work for your label -- people smart enough to know your anticipated album can't have three different release dates in the United States.
Enthusiasm has already cooled for this album and that's a damn shame because it's one of the two best albums of this year (Beyonce has the other one, COWBOY CARTER).
No one seems to know what they're doing in the music business these days.
Nick Jonas, for example. He's got a growing family so more bills coming in. His 2014 album NICK JONAS and his 2016 album LAST YEAR WAS COMPLICATED? Fans loved them. Many, including me, would like to have them on vinyl. But Nick's happy leaving money on the table. Both albums sold out of their vinyl copies within six months of being released.
In the old days, when record companies knew how to make money, that meant back to New Jersey for more copies to be pressed. Not these days.
These days, you go years and years without bothering to press more copies. And then you whine about the state of the music business while pretending you've done a damn thing to improve it.
Give it up for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Cher.
Maybe the reason she's a legend and still pertinent all these years after she had her first hit (with Sonny, "I've Got You Babe") is because she knows how to please her fans.
Last week, I ordered a Cher album. Not FOREVER (which did finally come in the mail from AMAZON). It was CLOSER TO TRUTH.
I bought it back in 2013 when it came out. On CD. It wasn't available on vinyl. But -- pay attention, Nick Jonas -- it is now. Cher cares about her fans. That's why she put STARS on streaming a few years ago. It's why she's put both CLOSER TO THE TRUTH and 2001's LIVING PROOF on vinyl for the first time.
Now Cher's not perfect and she makes mistakes. Example? Sure. Let's drop back to the GEFFEN RECORDS period. She released three studio albums and one greatest hits album. CHER ("We All Sleep Alone," "I Found Someone," "Main Man") and HEART OF STONE ("If I Could Turn Back Time," "Just Like Jesse James," the title track, and "After All" with Peter Cetera) were platinum albums. The greatest hits went gold. The third studio album, LOVE HURTS, also just went gold. "Love And Understanding" and "Save Up All Your Tears" were hits but the album only made it to number 48. In the United States.
In England, the same album made it to number one. Well . . . Sort of the same album. See, the UK version also had "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss)" -- her hit single from her film MERMAIDS. I can remember being ticked off that the song wasn't on the US edition.
When CLOSER TO THE TRUTH was released, I was disappointed it did not include the hit "You Haven't Seen The Last of Me" from her film BURLESQUE.
So here's the happy ending on that one: The vinyl "limited edition" version of CLOSER TO THE TRUTH selling right now on AMAZON does include "You Haven't Seen The Last Of Me."
I haven't gotten LIVING PROOF in the mail from AMAZON yet so I can't comment there but I can say the vinyl version of CLOSER TO THE TRUTH sounds even better than the CD did.
I'll note that the cover is a little different -- I've got the CD on top of the new vinyl.
And, if you note the sticker -- zoomed in below -- you'll see that "Pride" is also a bonus track on the album so there are 13 tracks on the new limited edition CLOSER TO THE TRUTH while the original back in 2013 only included elven.
From my 2013 review:
Myself, I love "Sirens." I love the whole damn album and, with Cher
talking like this is her last studio album, I have to wonder why she
didn't call it Follow This, You Bitches?
Seriously, how do any of her peers or those following in her wake top this?
I don't know. I'm hopeful this isn't Cher's last studio album. I'm hopeful she'll return to do a power ballad one. As I've noted before, I think Steve Grand's amazing "All American Boy" is a song demanding Cher put her take on it. But if, in the sixth decade of her amazing recording career, this is how Cher chooses to go out, she's going out a winner.
And that's obvious by the last track. Pink co-wrote "I Walk Alone" and some have zoomed in on that song. Solo, Pink wrote the album closer "Lie To Me" and I really think that's the better song and Cher provides an incredible vocal performance. Best of all, the song continues the theme of life at a vantage point of wisdom and loss. In 1987, Cher sang, "All my life I've been driven by perfection." In 2013, she achieves it. Closer To The Truth drops Tuesday.
Seriously, how do any of her peers or those following in her wake top this?
I don't know. I'm hopeful this isn't Cher's last studio album. I'm hopeful she'll return to do a power ballad one. As I've noted before, I think Steve Grand's amazing "All American Boy" is a song demanding Cher put her take on it. But if, in the sixth decade of her amazing recording career, this is how Cher chooses to go out, she's going out a winner.
And that's obvious by the last track. Pink co-wrote "I Walk Alone" and some have zoomed in on that song. Solo, Pink wrote the album closer "Lie To Me" and I really think that's the better song and Cher provides an incredible vocal performance. Best of all, the song continues the theme of life at a vantage point of wisdom and loss. In 1987, Cher sang, "All my life I've been driven by perfection." In 2013, she achieves it. Closer To The Truth drops Tuesday.
Ten years later, CLOSER TO THE TRUTH is out on vinyl and the album only sounds richer and stronger. Good music can do that. I really think GO DOWN SINGIN' has been screwed over by the rollout but I also think that, ten years from now, people will still be listening to it.
