Lady Antebellum

Lady Antebellum are on fire right now in country music and with this excellent no.1 debut you can easily see why!!
They begin with their first superb hit Love Don't Live Here and the hits just keep on coming.With some fantastic catchy uptempos like their current hit Lookin' For A Good Time and Slow Down Sister these songs will be stuck in your head in no time.There's also the great female empowering song Long Gone which Hillary mainly sings on her own and Home Is Where The Heart Is which has a real summer sound to it,including a lovely fiddle arrangement.
There's also some beautiful ballads including the gorgeous All We'd Ever Need where Charles and Hillary sing as a duet(this really shows off their fantastic voices)and Can't Take My Eyes Off You.
This is a top notch debut from one of the hottest new bands in country right now....

Back at the start of 2008, an exciting new trio with flawless harmonies burst onto the country music scene. Their name, Lady Antebellum. Since the release of this debut album, the group have thrived from 3 hugely popular singles, and solid weekly sales that have placed them at the top of the game. Recently, they took home the coveted `Vocal Group of the Year' at the CMA's, de-crowning long term champs Rascal Flatts.

This album is a good set of songs, however the majority aren't history makers. A lot of `filler' sounding songs water down starlet moments like `Love Don't Live Here' and `I Run to You'. The vocals these 3 create are amazing: the harmonies possibly the purest country music has heard for a long time. The production is average however: think `Take That' gone country. This, however, may come down to the mediocre material again. The three write an awful lot of music - not only taking a majority of the co-writes on this record, but also co-writing a lot of songs on other artist's records - and you can sense that there is a definite formula. This formula however has been beaten dry on this record - even if it is only 11 tracks long.

The set kicks off with the stomping `Love Don't Live Here', which spent near 40 weeks on the charts, peaking at #3 eventually. The song is melodically perfect, and the vocals play off the melody fantastically. A story of moving on, in a kiss-off manner. Good material. `Lookin' For A Good Time' was the group's second single, confirming them as a group best suited to upbeat songs. The cheeky, promiscuous lyrics are more than fitting for the driving chord progression, and overtly suited for country radio. No doubt a few honky-tonks will keep this track on their playlists for a while.

`All We'd Ever Need' is a big, big melody, and this shows disappointingly with the vocal. The group aren't amazing vocalists in the sense that they can sing like Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood: they're a harmony group. This track is a soaring ballad, more pop/rock than country, but ultimately drowns the main vocal out. The production is somewhat restricted, possibly to compensate for this. The lyric is strong however, one of the best on the album, but the overall feel of the track is odd. `Long Gone' takes us back to the upbeat, with a middle of the road `I'm so gone' sort of song. The vocals return to a delightful harmony - the second best vocal on the album, and, contradicting the previous track, actually out-do the melody.

`I Run to You' is by far the best song on the album. The group's first #1, and for good reason. The strongest vocal on the album - an outstanding harmony; the best lyrics on the album - solid thematics with unusual rhymes; and a great melody - driving, in a sophisticated manner. Flawless. The track took home `Single of the Year' at the 2009 CMA awards.

However, from here the set divulges into mediocrity. `Love's Looking Good On You' sounds like a poor Rod Stewart impersonation song. An annoying hook, corny lyrics: not fine. `Home Is Where The Heart Is' is however a pleasant song, the light in the dark end of this album. Uplifting melody, a couple state-name drops in the lyric: bursting with the feeling of home and happiness, the track is perfectly complemented by a fiddle that trickles in and out perfectly.

`Things People Say' is another weak melody. The lyrics are sincere, but overall, you forget it's on the CD afterward. The story of someone being left by a lover in a small town, where everybody tries to help them out, but nothing they can say make the questions or heartbreak go away. Been done before, a lot better. `Slow Down Sister' is another one of these weird, bad Rod Stewart sound alike songs. `Take That' also springs to mind. Another annoying hook, and just a poor lyric. `Can't Take My Eyes Off You' will have you snoring by the end: a boring melody, a poor lyric in the `not so obvious love' setting. The set closes with another huge melody that drowns the group's vocals out, `One Day You Will'. It possesses the feel of an American Idol/ X Factor winning song, and is just bland. The melody would probably be effective with a big vocalist, a lyric overhaul and a different arrangement. That last comment probably sums up why the track is easily forgettable.

To take this album with a pinch of salt is probably necessary. It's the first offering from a group of amazing harmony vocalists; and, from the earlier part of this album, and co-writes with other artists, what seem to be credible songwriters. Hopefully Lady Antebellum will go on to bigger things, both melodically and in popularity. An exciting group, but an average album with good highlights.

3 Stars.

Don't be put off by the unusual name. This is an album you should buy if you like Sugarland, Calasia, Lantana or similar. There is a good mix of original material, even the slow songs aren't depressing so you don't have to reach for the 'next track' button as you often have to do with some country artists.