Chesney travels familiar roads on 'Fishbowl'
Posted June 17, 2012
Kenny Chesney,Welcome to the Fishbowl
* * ½ (out of four) COUNTRY
Now that he has released more than a dozen albums, achieved massive popularity as a performer, won all those CMA Awardsand starred in a 3-D concert film, the 44-year-old good-timin' country king seems to be trapped in a sort of creative cul-de-sac.
Though the arrangements of these dozen tunes are up to date and his voice retains that bland average-Joe quality that the masses and radio programmers adore, most of the themes are calculated standard issue. You've got your buzzed beach-bum ode (Time Flies), your dot-on-the-map ditty (I'm a Small Town), your arena fist-pumper (the Tim McGraw duet Feel Like a Rock Star) your ailing-parent/spouse weepers (While He Still Knows Who I Am and Sing 'Em Good My Friend) and your high-price-of-fame complaint (the title track).
Yes, there's some witty wordplay here and there, and Feel Like a Rock Star is a keeper, but too much of the approach is Nashville cookie-cutter. Moodier, more personal-sounding material such as Come Over, Always Gonna Be You and To Get to You (55th and 3rd)— all of which deal with uneasy romance — are more interesting but lack memorable melodies. Even closing track You and Tequila, a reprise of his 2011 hit via a live duet with Grace Potter, sounds a bit watered-down.
>Download:Come Over, Feel Like a Rock Star, Always Gonna Be You
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