The Singles Jukebox

And our attempt to tie up all remaining loose ends in pop today in the space of a week begins with our highest score for a non-Swiftian country single…

[Video][Myspace]
[7.25]

Frank Kogan: Romantic piano from a long lost romantic rendezvous, and all the thousand things that went wrong between then and now are set aside as the night gets later and the bottle gets emptier. This is MOR slush like a thousand other pieces of MOR slush, but a bit warmer, and more insistent, as it plays into the early morning.
[8]

Chuck Eddy: Drunk dialing after midnight from two lonely apartments while the rain pours down; feels as much like a just barely R&B-infused ’80s adult contemporary quiet-storm as anything you’d peg as “country”. So subtle it slipped right by me at first; now I think it’s a heartbreaker. Though if they’d “rather hurt than feel nothin’ at all,” shouldn’t they drink less?
[9]

Kat Stevens: I get the feeling that these two have rung up their respective shoulders-to-cry-on at stupid o’clock one too many times in the past, and this time no-one is answering the phone so they’ll both just get drunker and more miserable. If only they could ring each other up! But it wouldn’t do much good — both are looking for a personality type neither of them possess: a dependable adult who will listen to their problems without interrupting to offload their own. Or at least someone to tell them to grow a backbone.
[5]

Matt Cibula: Ho to the hum. Actual small-town booty calls are more exciting than this gauzy thing.
[3]

Iain Mew: I love the big ‘waaaaaAAAaa-woooh’ guitar wails (cf. “Feel”, “Torn”) the first couple of times round. Everything else is very pretty and well put together but just a touch too plodding to really tug the heartstrings.
[6]

Edward Okulicz: What would you call a torch song if it sent shivers up your spine rather than burning? Quite aside from the gorgeous melody, it’s also a succession of moments of sublime emotional punctum, courtesy of Hillary Scott’s gripping performance (oh, when she sings “I wonder if I ever cross your mind”, I melt). The words are heartfelt and simple, making this a fantastic bit of emotion-manipulation to accompany rainy drives, gazing out of windows or any pensive lovesick moment you care to name. A wonderful piece of radio pop both subtle enough to sit on a country station, and tasteful enough to cross over with ease.
[10]

David Moore: The country/teen confessional divide’s been trickier than usual these days, what with Taylor Swift carrying on the legacy of teen-confessional almost single-handedly for, like, two years running now and confessional stalwarts increasingly letting Martin/Luke/etc. deodorize all the feeling, and even the “feeling”, out of their work. So when I hear Lady Antebellum sing “I’d rather hurt than feel nothin’ at all” I’ll gladly take it, even if it errs on the side of “feeling.” Ambivalent about anonodude, who was much better providing unobtrusive back-up to Taylor on album #1 than he is in this more Sugarlandish co-protagonist role — would rather see her taking that shot of whisky with some male harmony overdubs. But I’m feeling (“feeling”?) the piano plinking and decorative electric guitar swoons and general swell of the thing.
[7]

Ian Mathers: I don’t like the guy’s singing at all, so that keeps this from a higher mark. But it’s mostly her singing, and when he’s just backing her up he’s fine, there’s just something about the timbre of his voice that rubs me wrong – it’s certainly not what I expected him to sound like from his backing vocals. I am dwelling on this because the rest of the song is good enough I keep getting tempted to go up to a 9, and I am reminding myself why that’s probably just a bit too high.
[8]

Jonathan Bradley: It’s a bit enthusiastic comparing this to “Time After Time,” but damn if it doesn’t have that same heartbroken pulse coursing through it; few songs this year have sounded as desolate. If my understanding of the rules of intoxication is correct, “I’m a little drunk” should be translated as “I’m thoroughly shitfaced” (no one drunk-dials while tipsy). It’s credit to the tune’s commitment to misery that even though, since this is a male/female duet, the late night plea of “I need you now” should expectedly result in a reunion, both singers sound like they will be falling asleep (or passing out) alone tonight.
[9]

Thomas Inskeep: It’s got a bit of “One Headlight,” a bit of Kenny Rogers’ mid-’80s productions, a late-night wooziness befitting a song whose chorus begins “it’s a quarter after one”, and an Adult Contemporary feel that should help it cross to that format in a couple of months. But in spite of — because of? — all of that, this works in spades. A sad, lovely male/female duet from the rising-star band in country right now, this is about to go #1 on the US country singles chart for good reason — it’s one of 2009’s best country singles.
[8]

Additional Scores

Anthony Easton: [7]
Martin Skidmore: [7]