

The first song is the single "Born Free" a beautiful ballad written about the American spirit. This song begins with a simple acoustic guitar melody joined by some piano chording. The song gains much of its essence from teh wailing of Kid Rock's raspy yet well tuned voice. The song becomes more layered at the chorus with electric guitars and more prominent drums, but for the most part Ritchie's voice and lyrics truly carry the feeling and meaning to the song.
The second track "Slow my Roll" is an up-beat and laid-back tune. The title "Slow my Roll" is humorous in reference to the titles and lyrics of past Kid Rock rap songs, but this song is still quite bluegrass. Even though the tempo increases on this song, it is still based in simple but layered musicianship coming from acoustic and twangy electric guitars blended with simple but driving drum beats. Ritchie's vocals hold strong through the second song and remind the audience to relax and enjoy the ride.

The fourth track "Purple Sky" is another powerful tune, similar to Born Free. The music is similar to the first two tracks with the electric guita being a littl e more prominent on this song and carrying more of a melody rather than simple chords. By the time Kid Rock begins the chorus the audience is already hooked and it only gets better as he pours his heart out into this beautiful and elegant love song.

"When it Rains" the fifth song on the album, and a little bit of a detour from the inspiring and encouraging first few tracks. Not to say that it is not a good song, it is just much more sad than the first few tracks. "When it Rains" deals with reminiscence of a time long since past, and is a great representation of the album, showing where Ritchie has come from. Kid Rock sings very well on this song once again and by the breakdown towards the end of the song, the audience is nearly brought to tears.
"God Bless Saturday" is an up-beat anthem for the working class. The song opens with a fun twangy electric guitar riff, leading to Kid Rock howling about the tough workweek. However when the chorus hits the band picks up and rejoices in the fun and excitement of saturday. This song is thematically targeted to show respect to the blue collar workers which make up much of Ritchie's audience. Thematically this song carries along with the rest of the album talking about working hard but enjoying and being grateful the good times that we have.
"Collide" is a very slow ballad with two guest stars featured. Kid Rock duets with Cheryl Crow once again, playing off of the success of their previous song "Picture" off the album Cocky. Kid Rock once again proves his range as he gets down and connects soul to soul with the audience with this heart-rending lament. Kid Rock and Cheryl Crow produce another great song about lost love. The other performer on this track is Bob Seger on the piano, Seger is a great influence of Kid Rock and perhaps this helped Kid Rock tap into his spiritual essence in his singing.
The eighth song "Flyin' High" is possibly the most fun song of the entire album. This song keeps up a slow tempo, but remains up beat. The feeling portrayed is the unwinding after a long day and enjoying the litte thing that are present at that moment. Instead of remembering a good time, this song makes a good time out of what and whom ever ever is present at that moment. After the guitar solo Kid Rock shares a verse with Zac Brown a famous country singer/guitar player who typically sings this style of relaxed and happy tune. No matter who you are where you are or whats happening, when this song is played it instantly produces a good time.

"Rock On" is a slower song very much similar to a classic ballad by a southern rock artist, such as Lynyrd Skynyrd might record. Even though this is one of the most dismal and mournful songs on the album, it still has the essence of "Rolling on" and the spirit that Kid Rock has kept through the album to push through adversity and never give up.
The penultimate song on the album is "Rock Bottom Blues" a very fun throwback bluesy tune, complete with harmonica and clapping. This song starts off slow but determined with a straight blues driven rhythm guitar, and the then band keeps joining in and the song snowballs to a great jam session piano, singing, and guitar.

From cover to cover Kid Rock truly explored a new musical genre and style, and left everything he had on this album. Ritchie proves his gift for writing truly legendary songs from chorus after chorus that makes you want to stand up and sing along, to the heartmelting emotions that he brings out in his ballads. This is an incredible album that anyboddy who enjoys music can appreciate.
very well organized blog and very interesting! i feel your passion for music. Great post, keep it up Robbie!!
ReplyDeleteGreat blog, you provide a lot of interesting analysis you offer on the specific songs. Maybe I'll consider picking up the album even though I;m not a fan of music all that much! You're my first stop for the latest and greatest music album reviews. Keep up the good work Ribbe Starbu.
ReplyDeleteI love how detailed and consistent you are with your coverage of music that you like. It's really amazing how you were able to sum up Kid Rock's discography in such a well written post.
ReplyDeletenice robbie you obviously take time and provide good info. looking forward to the next blog!
ReplyDeleteDude the aesthetic appeal of your blog is totally overwhelming. There's somehting about it that just makes me... read on and stuff. Oh, on a side note, Ritchie looks kinda like a more trimmed up Rob Zombie
ReplyDelete