Album review: Luke Combs - What You See Is What You Get
For my second album review I will be talking about the album What You See Is What You Get by Luke Combs released November 2019, the follow up to his platinum selling debut album This One's For You. Although this album hasn't performed incredibly in the UK, peaking at 27 giving Luke his first top 40 album, it went to number one in the US and Australia. The album has spent 9 weeks in the top 20 in both the US and Australia, spawning 2 top 40 singles in the US.
Now country music is my favourite genre of music, I just love everything about it and Luke combs is one of my favourites within the genre. I discovered him and several other amazing singers at around the same time, all becoming some of my favourite artists over all genres. The others in case you are interested are Carly Pearce, Kane Brown, Midland and Mitchell Tenpenny.
When an album is amazing, especially a debut, I'm always left wondering how the artist will follow it up. This is exactly the situation with Luke's albums, his debut album This One's For You was absolutely incredible and the deluxe edition only enhanced it to an even better first album that we still listen to a lot even two and half years after release. Luke managed to equal his first album effortlessly with his follow up, which considering how much I love his debut is quite impressive. With What You See Is What You Get Luke has continued to be completely open in his songwriting and with the emotions he conveys in each song. The album title is extremely accurate as there are no hidden messages Luke just lays everything plain and honest, as is his way. In terms of style he varies through many types of country music, with an acoustic guitar only on one, a full band on several and a couple of honky tonk type songs. There are also a couple of interesting collaborations which really add to the variety, Eric Church is another country artist I really like and Does To Me, the song he is featured on, is a perfect blend of the two artists styles and works really well. The other collaboration is with Brooks & Dunn who I am less familiar with but they blend really well as they seem to be similar styles and fuse to create the brilliant 1,2 Many.
My favourite song on the album is the perfect Refrigerator Door, I love everything about this song. In particular the lyrics and the way Luke sings the song, it's all about the things you have on the fridge door and the memories linked to them. It creates a nostalgic feel and gets you thinking back, it may even get you paying attention to what's on your own fridge. The way Luke sings about the memories he brings out really let's you know how he feels about each one and gets you feeling the same way about whatever memories it conjures up for you.
Honourable mentions also go to a couple of runner up favourites, Angels Working Overtime and Dear Today. I love these two as they are complete opposites but also amazing in their own right. Angels Working Overtime is a slightly jokey song about his guardian angels and how they have one hell of a job keeping him safe, this is one of the songs with a full country band which goes perfectly with the lyrics as there is a lot going on and it all works well. Dear Today is the stripped back song with Luke and an acoustic guitar, it is essentially a letter from tomorrow saying that today shouldn't be wasted as one day there will not be a tomorrow. This song works perfectly as the stripped back production really allows you to get the full impact of Luke's emotions.
Finally I will end with my ratings for each song on the album;
1. Beer Never Broke My Heart 9.5/10
2. Refrigerator Door 10/10
3. Even Though I'm Leaving 9.5/10
4. Lovin' On You 8.5/10
5. Moon Over Mexico 9/10
6. 1, 2 Many ft Brooks & Dunn 8/10
7. Blue Collar Boys 8.5/10
8. New Every Day 8.5/10
9. Reasons 9/10
10. Every Little Bit Helps 8/10
11. Dear Today 9.5/10
12. What You See Is What You Get 9.5/10
13. Does To Me ft Eric Church 9/10
14. Angels Workin' Overtime 9.5/10
15. All Over Again 8.5/10
16. Nothing Like You 8/10
17. Better Together 9/10
I would love to know which is your favourite song on the album...
If you want your very own copy of Luke Combs albums click below
*affiliate link
When an album is amazing, especially a debut, I'm always left wondering how the artist will follow it up. This is exactly the situation with Luke's albums, his debut album This One's For You was absolutely incredible and the deluxe edition only enhanced it to an even better first album that we still listen to a lot even two and half years after release. Luke managed to equal his first album effortlessly with his follow up, which considering how much I love his debut is quite impressive. With What You See Is What You Get Luke has continued to be completely open in his songwriting and with the emotions he conveys in each song. The album title is extremely accurate as there are no hidden messages Luke just lays everything plain and honest, as is his way. In terms of style he varies through many types of country music, with an acoustic guitar only on one, a full band on several and a couple of honky tonk type songs. There are also a couple of interesting collaborations which really add to the variety, Eric Church is another country artist I really like and Does To Me, the song he is featured on, is a perfect blend of the two artists styles and works really well. The other collaboration is with Brooks & Dunn who I am less familiar with but they blend really well as they seem to be similar styles and fuse to create the brilliant 1,2 Many.
My favourite song on the album is the perfect Refrigerator Door, I love everything about this song. In particular the lyrics and the way Luke sings the song, it's all about the things you have on the fridge door and the memories linked to them. It creates a nostalgic feel and gets you thinking back, it may even get you paying attention to what's on your own fridge. The way Luke sings about the memories he brings out really let's you know how he feels about each one and gets you feeling the same way about whatever memories it conjures up for you.
Honourable mentions also go to a couple of runner up favourites, Angels Working Overtime and Dear Today. I love these two as they are complete opposites but also amazing in their own right. Angels Working Overtime is a slightly jokey song about his guardian angels and how they have one hell of a job keeping him safe, this is one of the songs with a full country band which goes perfectly with the lyrics as there is a lot going on and it all works well. Dear Today is the stripped back song with Luke and an acoustic guitar, it is essentially a letter from tomorrow saying that today shouldn't be wasted as one day there will not be a tomorrow. This song works perfectly as the stripped back production really allows you to get the full impact of Luke's emotions.
Finally I will end with my ratings for each song on the album;
1. Beer Never Broke My Heart 9.5/10
2. Refrigerator Door 10/10
3. Even Though I'm Leaving 9.5/10
4. Lovin' On You 8.5/10
5. Moon Over Mexico 9/10
6. 1, 2 Many ft Brooks & Dunn 8/10
7. Blue Collar Boys 8.5/10
8. New Every Day 8.5/10
9. Reasons 9/10
10. Every Little Bit Helps 8/10
11. Dear Today 9.5/10
12. What You See Is What You Get 9.5/10
13. Does To Me ft Eric Church 9/10
14. Angels Workin' Overtime 9.5/10
15. All Over Again 8.5/10
16. Nothing Like You 8/10
17. Better Together 9/10
I would love to know which is your favourite song on the album...
If you want your very own copy of Luke Combs albums click below
*affiliate link
Comments
Post a Comment