"Fastest Girl In Town," co-written by Miranda and Angaleena Presley (from Miranda's group The Pistol Annies), is my favorite from the album. It is a rockin' track that I could hear a metal gal, or a female R&B singer, pulling off. It's not about the genre, it's about the attitude. Another song that she didn't write, but seems perfect for her, is "Mama's Broken Heart," where she explains that when her heart gets broken, she doesn't fix her makeup like her mom would have done. Nah, she cuts her bangs with a rusty scissor, numbs the pain "at the expense of my liver" and is "holding the matches when the firetrucks show up." On the other hand, she writes and sings "Safe," a lovely ode to a guy (likely her husband, country singer Blake Shelton).
One of the things I like about Miranda is that she can totally rock out (as on "Fastest Girl"), she can do traditional country ("Dear Diamond," "Same Old You") and then go into left field (playing with autotune on "Fine Tune").
As I mentioned, Miranda also has a new group, Pistol Annies, with Angaleena Presley and Ashley Monroe (who has collaborated with The Raconteurs and also worked with Jack White on Wanda Jackson's album). I like them also, and I hope it's a long term thing, not just a one-off. I just liked Miranda's solo album better, but both records are definitely worth hearing.
2 comments:
Great review! Miranda is definitely a force to be reckoned with. I wasn't sure she'd be able to top Revolution, but I shouldn't have doubted her. Fastest Girl In Town is one of my faves too.
Unfortunately het last album is too pop-driven. I guess she will hardly ever outshine her previous albums. From an inspiring country/rock’n’roll young artist she has become a ‘slightly grown-up Taylor Swift’ to my disappointment! I’m not from the US, but to my humble taste in music, when I first came across the country music, Miranda stroke me as someone who was able to blend traditional country with a fine classic rock bit. That’s what I still appreciate, and therefore I still love listening to her previous tracks. But no the ‘Four the record’! What a title! I guess when artists choose such a title for their records (like “Play on”, album 6, etc.), it merely indicates the decline of creativity and a everlasting necessity to earn money. Her previous albums showed energy, dash, a unique style, though less popularity. Now I can see that to be on top of popularity and financial success one strongly needs to be mainstream. And as always every artists goes pop one day.
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