Brad returns with another good set. There are some great tracks on here, but more than a couple of weak ones too. The opening track, "All I Wanted Was a Car" has No 1 single written all over it - and it shows the uninitiated that Country music isn't about dead dogs at all. The next track is the lead single, "Ticks" - a good melody with patchy lyrics, let down slightly by the image of Brad checking his girl for ticks in a field. "Online", the second single, is one filled with pop culture references track - and went on to be Number 1 - though it could do without the marching band finale.
Next up is "Letter to Me" - this album's "Waitin' On a Woman" - and Brad ponders what it would be like if he could send a letter to himself at seventeen ("Don't worry - these are nowhere near the best years of your life"). "I'm Still a Guy" is a typical Brad song - but nothing special, really - thought the lyrics are witty. "Some Mistakes" is another good track and "It Did" - a rare occasion with a song he didn't write or co-write - tries to squeeze your emotional sponge as hard as it can but falls short because of the simplicity of the words "it did" - but others might like it BECAUSE of it's simplicity.
"Mr Policeman" is an up-tempo ditty about Brad getting chased by car and by foot by a policeman - a nice song with endearing innocence and fun. "If Love Was a Plane" however, is a different story. Maybe it's because I've got sixteen tracks to sit through, but I just didn't have time for his one.
"Oh Love" features Carrie Underwood. A good track, one Brad didn't write. The verses are very short so Carrie only gets to sing for two lines at a time. "Better than This" is a great song - an up-tempo number about where Brad and his mates are camping out with a fire and a few beers, but insists that camping out is good, but if a coach full of "really good lookin' women" stopped by, or if Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard came to visit then it would be a lot better. OK, when it's summarised i doesn't sound as good but, trust me, it is.
"With You, Without You" is a great emotional song where Brad tells his woman that even though she's left him, he can still be in love with her without her. He can just pretend she's out of town for a while.
And then we reach the "Kung Poa Buggaroo" part. "Previously" isn't a song, by the way, it's just a few lines of chat. "Bigger Fish to Fry" as the Bugaroos playing and everything is then toned down to a more relaxing pace with the hymn/standard "When We All Get to Heaven". The instrumental, "Throtteneck", closes things.
In all, a very good album, worthy of three stars, but not as good as "Mud On the Tires" or "Time Well Wasted". If you're new to Brad, check out the latter first. As of January 2009, there have been four consecutive Number 1 singles from this album, having him score ten Number 1s in ten years. If he was as continually consistent like he was on his previous work, there is no doubt Brad Paisley will go down in Country Music history as one of the greats.