View from East Tennessee

Time Well Wasted is Exactly That

August 17th, 2005 at 12:10 pm (Family, East Tennessee and The South, Entertainment)

Brad Paisley’s new album (why do we still call them albums?) — Time Well Wasted — hit the stores (does anybody still buy music at the store) today. I downloaded mine this morning before work and listed to and from, during lunch, and during my run tonight. The verdict? While he doesn’t meet the exceptionally high standard he’s set for himself, Time Well Wasted is, well, time well wasted. And that’s a good thing.

A former musician myself, I have a great appreciation for well-crafted lyrics set to interesting music played well. It’s not often that music surprises me and makes me nod my head and smile. In fact, I often don’t like a song the first time or two that I hear it, generally because there’s nothing novel about it. But that’s not the case with Brad. With each of his albums, I hurriedly read through the song titles and anxiously listened to the song, waiting for the twist. Famous People? Ah . . . “But when you get back to Beverly Hills, you can tell all your friends that you met one of the most famous people in the country.” Little c. Make a Mistake? “You over-think things, you say what if we’re not meant to be? Well, you know what? So what? Make a mistake with me.” That’s Love? “You’re staring at a burnt steak. You bite the bullet and you clean your plate. And you go on and on about how great is was. That’s not a lie. That’s love.” And of course there’s The Cigar Song. And musicians cannot help but shake their heads in awe of the Make a Mistake guitar work. And the “mistake” at the end.

That’s why like Paisley’s music so much. His albums are packed with nod and smile moments. An outstanding guitarist and singer, performing music that is interesting both melodically and structurally, seasoned with amusing lyrical (and sometimes musicial) twists, Brad Paisley has me grinning and nodding my head in appreciation of his talent more often than any other artist in any genre.

That said, there are a few nod and smile moments in Time Well Wasted, but it’s not quite as packed full of them as his other collections. The World is a nice song with a nice lyrical twist for the hook and some nice lines along the way. “To the world you may be just another girl, but to me, Baby you are the world.” Emphasis on “are.” And that brings me to something else Brad does well. He has a knack for lyrical cadence and melodies that naturally emphasize the right words, making it sound effortless. Prosody, I think they call it.

I have mixed feelings about Alcohol, pardon the pun. One of the things I’ve liked so much about Brad in the past is that I can listen to him with my daughters. He’s about family, he’s clean, he sings hymns, etc. And I know the song mostly describes the negatives of alcohol — “I can make you believe any lie,” “I can get you fired from work,” etc. It’s portrayed as potentially damaging and embarassing. On the other hand, it’s sort of an anthem to the drink, sort of a party song. “You had some of the best times you’ll never remember with me. Alcohol!” Everybody sing! But it’s a catchy song. So really, I’m ambivalent about it. But what do I know? I had a lot of the same thoughts about Whiskey Lullaby.

Waitin’ on a Woman was the first nod and smile moment on the album for me. It was written by Don Sampson and Wynn Varble. It’s about an old married guy talkin to a newlywed on the bench at the mall, both of them waiting for their wives. Get used to it, says the older guy, I’ve been waiting on mine since 1952. “She’ll take her time, but I don’t mind waitin’ on a woman.” Emphases on “woman.” It’s songs like these and Little Moments and Ain’t Nothin’ Like on Mud on the Tires that I really appreciate about Paisley. He has a special way of taking an everyday observation, something common to most everyone, and he gives it perspective, finding the love in simple, ordinary things.

He said the wedding took a year to plan

You talk about an anxious man, I was nervous

Waitin’ on a woman

And then he nudged my arm like old men do

And said, I’ll say this about the honeymoon, it was worth it

Waitin’ on a woman

I’ll Take You Back (written by Brad, Robert Arthur, and Tim Owens) was the next song and the next nod and smile moment. The twist? He’s not taking her back. Except under extraordinary circumstances, those akin to when pigs fly, or when hell freezes over. One line made me laugh out loud, a tough task, especially when I’m alone:

Let’s say I get bucked off a bull and fall and hit my head

And then I get amnesia and forget the things you said

I lose my better judgement and I take up smoking crack

Right then, that’s when

I’ll take you back

The chorus is good, too, and I’ve venture to say it’s the only song you’ll hear this year with the line, “Waa, waa, waa, waa, waa.” Which, by the way, is very hard to type fast. Sort of a tongue-twister for typing. Oh, and the guitar work is excellent. Sort of remniscent of the riff in Life in the Fast Lane by the Eagles.

Rainin’ You (Brad and Tim Owens) is wonderfully simplistic and has a beautiful falsetto chorus. Love is Never-Ending is a nice, if sort of unique in a structural sense, song.

Flowers (Brad Paisley/Chris DuBois/Lee Thomas Miller) is a song about a guy’s unrequited attempts to apologize to his girl a dozen flowers at a time. The novelty comes in the delivery: the flowers are his hostages, and he’s threatening to kill a dozen at a time until he gets what he wants. Stop the senseless killing!

I’ve got a Visa in my wallet

And I’m not afraid to use it

* * * *
Tell me, how many flowers have to die?

For some reason, I didn’t get When I Get Where I’m Going when I downloaded the album from iTunes.

Easy Money, again, I’m sort of ambiguous about.

Yeah, we’re laughing all the way to the bank

‘Cause it all just seems so funny

A bunch of guys like us

In a big tour bus

Making that easy money

Sorry. Can’t relate. I’ve noticed that sometimes as artists get more successful, they lose touch with normal people and can’t connect with them like they used to. Country artists aren’t as susceptible to this as other artists because Country artists are more likely to record other people’s songs, and those other people generally are not “stars” in the sense we’re used to. So I hope this isn’t an indication of that. I thought Celebrity on Mud on the Tires was an indication otherwise. I guess this is tongue and cheek — I’m sure they’re actually working quite hard — but it doesn’t do the job like Life’s Been Good (So Far) by Joe Walsh.

I was disappointed — at least the first time or two — with the instrumental, Time Warp. The song has to be a record for the most number of notes in any single song. The musicianship is impressive, but the song just didn’t resonate with me. Nothing “singable” about it, which might be an odd thing to say about an instrumental, but I think the best instrumentals have a hook that can be hummed. Still, this song once again shows just how techically skillful Brad and the Nashville studio musicians are at their craft. Impressive indeed.

I was also disappointed with the religious song. The song selected wasn’t as good as the religious songs on Brad’s other albums, it was too short, and I didn’t care for the scratchy-record quality.

Finally, Time Well Wasted (Ashley Gorley/Kelley Lovelace) is quite good. Again, it’s another song celebrating the simple things in life. Just because you don’t get something done, doesn’t mean you haven’t lived. In fact, it might just mean the opposite.

All in all, Time Well Wasted is exactly that.

I’m going to go ahead and post this in rough draft. It’s late. I’ll polish it up and add links later.