CD Review: Gary Allen - Hard Living

(andPOP) - Gary Allen’s Hard Living is a simple and honest album, but there is a lot it’s lacking. The album starts and ends strong, but in between it’s a bore. At its best the album has amazing guitars and great choruses, but the rest of the time Allen’s efforts are tired.

It’s a disc full of short tracks, none hitting even the five-minute mark. And stylistically, Allen does not stray. Each and every song sounds nearly the same, and halfway through the album the mid-tempo anthems feel awkward and lazy.

The album’s opener is strong, but still feels like the skeleton of a song that needs more substance. With the proper push it could be a powerful single. But it ends up sounding like every other overly commercial track on Country Radio.

When Allen sings clichés and bad rhymes like, “she’s so cool, breaking all the rules,” it’s almost embarrassing. Even though a clever hook backs it, the song sounds hopelessly proletarian. After a decade in the business, Allen’s sound should be more complex.

Living hard finishes with its title track that ends up being the stand out of the album. It’s a telling story of his life on the road and struggles that’s dynamic, fast-paced and well produced. If Allen had channeled this emotion throughout the rest of the album, it might have been worth a second listen.

Instead, the album art says everything. Gary Allen is a modern cowboy cliché. Hard Living has too many pictures of Allen in badly flared jeans with tacky embroidery, and not enough depth in its music.