Album Review: Lady Antebellum - Need You Now (3.5/5)

Lady Antebellum is a country threesome consisting of Charles Kelley (brother of singer Josh Kelley), Hillary Scott and Dave Haywood. Kelley and Scott do the vocals, frequently harmonizing, and both are quite good singers. Haywood does the rest, including backup vocals. The group exploded over the last 2 years, winning several Grammys the other week.

Need You Now is their second album and it's already off to a good start, debuting at #1 on the Billboard 200 with strong first-week sales and scoring a #1 country hit, "Need You Now," that is currently #3 on the Hot 100. That title track is the album's standout highlight, a mid-tempo, minor-keyed love song of sorts that finds the two lead singers late at night "a little drunk" and pining for each other. It's a great song that pop audiences, primed by the recent crossover success of Taylor Swift, are ready to embrace.

On the brighter side, "American Honey" is a pleasant piece of Americana nostalgia ("I just want to go back in time to American honey), although, frankly, I'm not sure what they're singing about. Is it a girl? Summertime? Literally the gooey golden bee stuff? All three? The even more upbeat "Stars Tonight" is another winner, a guitar-heavy, toe-tapping song that's really itching to get played at a bar dance floor.

A few of the more lovelorn ballads are good too, such as "Hello World." The song begins with Kelley's deep, expressive voice over a repeating piano refrain. It's a nice song, even if does get a little too bombastic at the end. "When You Got a Good Thing" is another good one, with a stronger slide guitar (that's the "country" guitar sound).

Apart from these songs, I feel like a lot of the album is kind of bland. Second track "Our Kind of Love" is case in point. It's got country-style guitar and strings, a pleasant mid-tempo rhythm, and appealing harmonies from Kelley and Scott, but it doesn't have spark. There's nothing wrong with it, but nothing really right either. "Perfect Day" has appropriate exuberance and "Love This Pain" finds Kelley and Scott doing a good harmony over a rollicking guitar and mandolin melody. Later on there's "If I Knew Then," another sad love song, "Something 'Bout a Woman," the most "down home" country-sounding song here, and finally "Ready to Love Again," another sad love song.

I'm not a big country listener, but I don't need a broad grounding in the genre to know this sounds very commercial. It's clearly meant to generate hits, which is a double-edged sword. Sure, it sounds slick, and there are some winners here, but there's also nothing really different or interesting that hasn't been done before.

Best: Need You Now, American Honey, Stars Tonight, Hello World