Australia - born Keith Urban is modern country music’s only real rock star. Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing is slicker than anything Urban has produced before, but that's because it's more ambitious as well. Urban is a rocking guitarist, and he can combine his tough approach to playing guitar with pop songwriting and brilliant production elements.
Urban’s songwriting style touches on the classic elements of rock, country, and
mainstream pop, and you have something that hasn't been heard in the country genre in this way before. Co-producing with Dan Huff, Urban wrote or co-wrote ten of the album's 13 songs. The production is thoroughly modern, and sounds regal and inviting. The album's first single, "Once in a Lifetime," entered the Billboard chart at number 17, the highest debuting single since the chart's inception. There are other rocking songs, including "Faster Car," with its smoking, funky bassline and layered power chords. "I Told You So," uses acoustic guitars, fiddles, and the ganjo. Both songs build to the breaking point and allow Urban's voice to soar above the instruments.
"I Can't Stop Loving You," is another big climax tune, but it becomes one of the great modern country love songs with its incessant reaching to its crescendo. "Used to the Pain," is a rocking love song that drips with emotion. "Raise the Barn," was written in reaction to the destruction done by Hurricane Katrina.
Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing is Urban’s masterpiece. It might just be a taste of what he will offer in the future. |
