Steel Magnolia – Keep On Loving You
Germ-free and racing up the charts…
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[5.67]
Michaelangelo Matos: Can You Duet contestants, it says. Nashville-slick, sure. And there’s something juiced about it that I find appealing. This is a couple and they sing lustily at each other without sounding contrived. The tune is sunny but has some blues in it. Not great, but its directness keeps me coming back.
[7]
Anthony Easton: They seem too young to keep on keep on loving anyone.
[5]
Alfred Soto: Thankfully not a REO Speedwagon cover, but a tough-voiced couple whose timbres suggest they spend as much time arguing as as they do loving.
[6]
Chuck Eddy: For people who think REO Speedwagon (who 30 years ago had a #1 single of the same name) weren’t faceless enough, apparently….Though actually, REO (both in their early death-rock days and on Hi Infidelity) could be pretty great. And this song is almost as bland as some ignorant people think all current Nashville country is.
[4]
John Seroff: The band sounds like a Gloriana knockoff and the song doesn’t so much evoke young love as it does fabric softener. I am not shocked to discover that they are reality TV finds.
[3]
Alex Ostroff: “Keep on Loving You” locks into a steady, loping groove early on, but the tune runs on autopilot for the most part. The band’s vague declarations of devotion have neither the romance of magnolias, nor the edge and fire of steel. It’s an oddly passionless turn from a real-life couple, saved from wallpaper status by Meghan Linsey’s voice, which has an appealing tone, reminiscent of the sultrier side of Norah Jones.
[5]
Jonathan Bogart: It’s a big, dumb obvious song based around a repeated three-note crescendo that was already big, dumb and obvious in 1971 when this kind of good-time country-blues-rock was perfected. But I’m a sucker for any woman who reminds me of Bonnie Bramlett or Maggie Bell, neither of whom ever had a duet partner who could keep up with them either, and I went from imagining the crowds hollering along with this at a concert to hollering along with it myself terrifyingly fast.
[9]
Martin Skidmore: I quite like their voices, though he sounds more soft rock than country — she’s more of a country wailer. There’s an appealing sense of urgency, almost passion, to this.
[7]
Hillary Brown: This is fine, but it’s rather lacking in heat, especially considering the performers and the content of the song. Ain’t y’all supposed to sound like you want to bone each other?
[5]