Top 5/Bottom 5: Gary Allan

[Ten Pound Hammer]

You asked for it. Go as far past 5 as you want.

TOP
1. Smoke Rings in the Dark
2. It Ain't the Whiskey
3. Songs About Rain
4. Man to Man
5. Right Where I Need to Be
6. Get Off on the Pain
7. Nothing On but the Radio
8. Watching Airplanes
9. Every Storm (Runs Out of Rain)
10. Her Man
11. It Would Be You
12. Pieces (almost everyone thought this was boring, but I loved it)
13. Forever and a Day
14. Lovin' You Against My Will
15. A Feelin' Like That
16. Learning How to Bend
17. Best I Ever Had
18. Man of Me
19. The One
20. Kiss Me When I'm Down

BOTTOM

1. I'll Take Today (boring, clumsy hook)
2. From Where I'm Sitting (ditto)
3. Tough Little Boys (sappy as heck, even with his killer voice)
4. She's So California (great sound, cliché lyrics)
5. Life Ain't Always Beautiful (probably the only sad song of his that was TOO much of a downer for me)

[gonecountry]

TOP
1. Right Where I Need to Be
2. Life Ain't Always Beautiful
3. It Ain't the Whiskey
4. Smoke Rings in the Dark
5. Man of Me
6. Tough Little Boys
7. Every Storm (Runs Out of Rain)
8. Songs About Rain
9. Nothing On but the Radio
10. Get Off on the Pain
11. Man to Man
12. Learning How to Bend
13. Best I Ever Had
14. A Feelin' Like That
15. Watching Airplanes
16. Her Man
17. It Would Be You
18. She's So California
19. Lovin' You Against My Will
20. The One

ALBUM TRACKS:
1. Alright Guy (my #3 song overall)
2. Drinking Dark Whiskey (my #4 song overall)
3. Like It’s A Bad Thing
4. Runaway
5. I Just Got Back From Hell
6. We Fly By Night
7. Tough Goodbye
8. Cowboy Blues
9. Bones
10. Half of My Mistakes

BOTTOM
1. Today
2. Pieces

[sabre14]

Top:
1. Best I Ever Had (Gary's wife passing away and the unmatched emotion in this song make this #1, though "Smoke Rings" is an extremely close 2nd)
2. Smoke Rings In The Dark 
3. It Ain't The Whiskey
4. Life Ain't Always Beautiful
5. Man To Man
6. Forever And A Day
7. Songs About Rain
8. Man Of Me
9. Every Storm (Runs Of Out Of Rain)
10. Right Where I Need To Be
11. It Would Be You
12. Watching Airplanes
13. A Feelin' Like That
14. Lovin' You Against My Will
15. Today
16. Get Off On The Pain
17. Her Man
18. The One
19. Tough Little Boys
20. Living In A House Full Of Love
21. From Where I'm Sitting
22. Kiss Me When I'm Down
23. She's So California
24. No Man In His Wrong Heart
25. Nothing On But The Radio (just a tad overrated I believe but still a good song)

Album Tracks:
1. Promise Broken
2. We Fly By Night
3. I Just Got Back From Hell
4. The Devil's Candy
5. One More Time
6. Ring
7. Puttin' Memories Away
8. Sorry
9. Alright Guy
10. I'm Doin' My Best
11. Drinkin' Dark Whiskey
12. Tough All Over
13. Sand In My Soul
14. He Can't Quit Her
15. Can't Do It Today (I could easily go another 15)

Bottom: 
1. Learning How To Bend
2. Pieces (I still like these but I had to find something to put here so I could at least make an attempt to follow the rules)

[Deleted]

Top:

Life Ain't Always Beautiful
It Ain't The Whiskey
Man To Man
Smoke Rings In The Dark
Every Storm
Nothin' On But The Radio
Right Where I Need To Be

Bottom:

Watching Airplanes
Songs About Rain (objectively a great song,it just never quite clicked with me)
Tough Little Boys
Learning How To Bend
Pieces

[recjus85]

Top

1. Smoke Rings In The Dark
2. Man Of Me
3. Best I Ever Had
4. Man To Man
5. Songs About Rain
6. Watching Airplanes
7. Every Storm Runs Out Of Rain
8. A Feelin' Like That
9. Her Man
10. The One
11. Learning How To Bend
12. It Would Be You
13. Today
14. Runaway
15. Alright Guy

Bottom (don't really hate any of these)

1. Pieces
2. Nothin' On But The Radio
3. Right Where I Need To Be
4. Tough Little Boys
5. Life Ain't Always Beautiful

[Steven]

Top:
1. A Showman's Life
2. Best I Ever Had
3. Drinkin' Dark Whiskey
4. Every Storm (Runs Out of Rain)
5. Get Off On The Pain
6. Her Man
7. It Ain't The Whiskey
8. Kiss Me When I'm Down
9. Learning How To Bend
10. Life Ain't Always Beautiful
11. Promise Broken
12. Smoke Rings In The Dark
13. Songs About Rain
14. Today
15. Watching Airplanes
16. We Fly By Night
17. Yesterday's Rain
18. I Just Got Back From Hell
19. I Think I've Had Enough
20. Right Where I Need To Be
21. Sand In My Soul

Bottom: (I don't dislike any of these songs. Hell, I don't think there's a single Gary Allan song I truly dislike.)
1.What Kind of Fool
2. Tough Goodbye
3. Tough Little Boys
4. We Touched The Sun
5. Half Of My Mistakes
6. He Can't Quit Her
7. Like It's A Bad Thing
8. Man To Man
9. No Damn Good
10. Nothing on but The Radio
11. Pieces
12. Bones
13. Puttin' Memories Away
14. See if I Care
15. She Gets Me
16. She's So California
17. That Ain't Gonna Fly
18. The Devil's Candy
19. What Would Willie Do

[Andy]

Gary is probably my favorite mainstream artist to debut within the past twenty years that experienced a large amount of commercial success, so ranking his songs is very tough. He's probably among my top 15 or 20 favorite artists, period, too, with only a discography on the smallish side holding him back. He's never put out a bad album in my eyes.

TOP
No Judgment Day
A Showman's Life
Man to Man
Songs About Rain
Life Ain't Always Beautiful
Promise Broken
What Would Willie Do
Bourbon Borderline
Don't Tell Mama
Learning to Live With Me
Sorry
Her Man
It Would Be You
The Devil's Candy
No Regrets
We Fly By Night
Learning How to Bend
As Long as You're Looking Back
Half of My Mistakes

BOTTOM (don't really dislike these, but if I had to name least favorites, these would be them)
Nothing on but the Radio
Pieces
Guys Like Me
Adobe Walls
Like It's a Bad Thing

I admit I wasn't completely wild about Set You Free - not a bad album by any means, just below Gary Allan standards in my opinion. But Smoke Rings in the Dark through Tough All Over is just a phenomenal album run (with only a few tracks on See If I Care being weak), and while I wasn't a huge fan initally, I've really come around to both Livin' Hard and Get Off on the Pain and now view them as legitimately strong albums, if a notch below what initially preceded them. His first two albums, while not extremely memorable outside of a couple of fantastic songs, are always pleasant listens, too.

[ryanroberts]

Huge Gary Allan fan. Enjoy/love all of his records, but my favorite stretch of his is Smoke Rings-Tough All Over. 4 of the greatest albums ever. Also I recently listened to the Living Hard record and at first I wasn't wild about it. Thought it was too rocking not as traditional as his previous output. To a certain degree it was, but either way not a bad album at all.


Top 20:
A Showman's Life - Love the Sound of this one. It's also one of those songs similar to a Colder Weather by ZBB or Fly Over States by Aldean that you can picture the music video in your head start to finish.
No Judgment Day
I Just Got Back From Hell
Promise Broken
Don't Tell Mama I Was Drinkin'
^2-5 The most hard hitting lyrics I've ever heard. "I just got back from hell and to tell the truth i've been mad at everyone including God and You". That is DEEP and DARK and more importantly REAL!
Smoke Rings In the Dark
Man To Man
Man of Me
It Would Be You
Her Man
Gary Allan's Version of Drinkin' Man and Highway Junkie. Drinkin Man was on youtube years ago, but then got pulled.
I'm Doin' My Best
What Would Willie Do
Runaway
Bourbon Borderline
Life Ain't Always Beautiful
Forever and A Day
From Where I'm Sitting
She's So California

Bottom 5 ( Overall like these songs, but I'll admit I'm tired of hearing some)
Today
Watching Airplanes
Best I Ever Had
Nothin On But The Radio
Tough Little Boys

[Ten Pound Hammer]

I just realized that, although I have about half of Gary's albums, I've only ever heard two album cuts: "No Judgment Day" (an Internet station played it once), and "Tough All Over" (a local staiton played it after the album came out).

[sabre14]

Jul 11, 2014 9:33:42 GMT -5 Ten Pound Hammer said:

I just realized that, although I have about half of Gary's albums, I've only ever heard two album cuts: "No Judgment Day" (an Internet station played it once), and "Tough All Over" (a local staiton played it after the album came out).

Here are some of my favorites. :)

Song: "Promise Broken"
Writers: Deric Ruttan, Margaret Findley
Album: Tough All Over



Song: "I Just Got Back From Hell"
Writers: Harley Allen, Gary Allan
Album: Tough All Over



Song: "We Fly By Night"
Writers: Gary Allan, Odie Blackmon, Jamie O'Hara
Album: Get Off On The Pain



Song: "The Devil's Candy"
Writers: Harley Allen, Carson Chamberlain
Album: Alright Guy

[Andy]

Fantastic picks, sabre14. Ten Pound Hammer, Gary is an excellent album artist in my view, so you're in for a treat. If you have them, start with Smoke Rings in the Dark (if you prefer neotraditional Gary) or Tough All Over (if you prefer moody/rocking Gary).

[kw9461]

Wow, such a tough list to rank.

1. It Would Be You
2. Smoke Rings In The Dark
3. It Ain't The Whiskey
4. Every Storm (Runs Out Of Rain)
5. Her Man
6. Kiss Me When I'm Down
7. Man To Man
8. Right Where I Need To Be
9. Songs About Rain
10. Lovin' You Against My Will
11. Watching Airplanes
12. Life Ain't Always Beautiful
13. A Feelin' Like That
14. Best I Ever Had
15. Pieces
16. Get Off On The Pain
17. No Man In His Wrong Heart
18. Man Of Me
19. From Where I'm Sitting
20. Nothin' On But The Radio


Album Cuts:
1. We Fly By Night (just a crime this didn't get released, my overall favorite Gary song)
2. Sand In My Soul
3. Bourbon Borderline
4. Hungover Heart
5. That Ain't Gonna Fly
6. Wine Me Up
7. See If I Care
8. You Without Me
9. Don't Leave Her Lonely Too Long
10. Guys Like Me
11. Runaway
12. One More Time
13. Half Of My Mistakes
14. Yesterday's Rain
15. Like It's A Bad Thing

Least Faves (really splitting hairs here):
1. She's So California (just kind of blah, a really poor single choice)
2. Today (good song buried beneath the worst production of Gary's career)
3. Tough Little Boys (i go back and forth on this one, but it is pretty sappy)

[Kanenrá:ke]

Gary is my favorite male artist right behind Terri Clark! I'm going to to a top 50 songs (not just singles)

Top
01. We Fly By Night (why wasn't this a single :'( )
02. Smoke Rings In The Dark
03. It Ain't The Whiskey
04. Alright Guy
05. I Just Got Back From Hell
06. Don't Tell Momma
07. Man To Man
08. Drinkin' Dark Whiskey
09. Promise Broken
10. Best I Ever Had
11. Bourbon Borderline
12. Puttin' Memories Away
13. A Showman's Life
14. Lovin' You Against My Will
15. The Devil's Candy
16. Sand In My Soul
17. Half My Mistakes
18. Hungover Heart
19. Life Ain't Always Beautiful
20. From Where I'm Sitting
21. Cryin' For Nothing
22. Songs About Rain
23. I Think I've Had Enough
24. See If I Care
25. No Man In His Wrong Heart
26. It Would Be You
27. Ring
28. Adobe Walls
29. Watching Airplanes
30. Yesterday's Rain
31. Kiss Me When I'm Down
32. Every Storm (Runs Out Of Rain)
33. Right Where I Need To Be
34. Learning How To Bend
35. I'm Doin' My Best
36. Learning To Live With Me
37. What Kind Of Fool
38. Her Man
39. When You Give Yourself Away
40. Drop
41. I Can Love You
42. Get Off On The Pain
43. Nothing On But The Radio
44. We Touched The Sun
45. Tough All Over
46. What's On My Mind
47. Pieces
48. You Don't Know A Thing About Me
49. Man Of Me
50. A Feelin' Like That

Bottom (I Don't hate any song he's ever recorded but these are the one's I tend to skip if anything.)
01. Today
02. Wake Up Screaming
03. Wrecking Ball
04. Runaway (I know it's a fan favorite but I've never liked this song much.)
05. Living Hard

[tim]

I've been a fan of Gary's since his debut "Her Man" in 1996 when I first started keeping up with Billboard. He is one of my favorite artists and as most would agree with is one of country music's most underrated artists of our time. MCA could have also done a better job with the handling of the single choices, especially with and after the Living Hard era.

Top 10 Favorites:

1. Life Ain't Always Beautiful
2. Lovin' You Against My Will
3. Smoke Rings in the Dark
4. Her Man
5. Man of Me
6. The One
7. Today (the pain in Gary's voice gets me every time)
8. Every Storm (Runs out of Rain)
9. Best I Ever Had
10. Forever and a Day

Album Tracks that should've been singles:

1. Trying to Matter
2. See If I Care
3. We Touched the Sun
4. Alright Guy
5. Good As New (current album)
6. One More Time (current album)
7. Tough Goodbye (current album)
8. No Regrets

[someguy]

Top Singles:

1. Right Where I Need To Be
2. A Feelin' Like That
3. Smoke Rings In The Dark
4. Lovin' You Against My Will
5. Man To Man
6. Songs About Rain
7. Life Ain't Always Beautiful
8. Man Of Me
9. Every Storm (Runs Out Of Rain)
10. Watching Airplanes
11. Best I Ever Had
12. It Ain't The Whiskey
13. Pieces
14. Tough Little Boys
15. The One

Bottom Singles:

1. She's So California
2. Today
3. Get Off On The Pain

[.indulgecountry]

Never much cared for Gary Allan. His voice doesn't do much for me personally and I've not familiar with all his singles and very few of his album tracks. I do love a few of his songs though.

Top
01. Watching Airplanes
02. Right Where I Need to Be
03. Nothing on but the Radio
04. Smoke Rings in the Dark
05. Learning How to Bend

Bottom
01. Every Storm (Runs Out of Rain)
02. Today
03. Get Off on the Pain
04. Tough Little Boys
05. Life Ain't Always Beautiful

[Deleted]

New list :)

1. Smoke Rings In The Dark
2. Lovin' You Against My Will
3. Best I Ever Had
4. Every Storm (Runs Out Of Rain)
5. Get Off On The Pain
6. It Would Be You
7. Songs About Rain
8. Man Of Me
9. It Ain't The Whiskey
10. Right Where I Need To Be
11. Man To Man
12. Watching Airplanes
13. Kiss Me When I'm Down
14. Her Man
15. Forever and A Day
16. Life Ain't Always Beautiful
17. Today
18. Learning How To Bend
19. No Man In His Wrong Heart
20. Pieces
21. A Feelin' Like That
22. Tough Little Boys
23. She's So California
24. I'll Take Today
25. Hangover Tonight (don't see this going much higher)

Top 40 Album Tracks :)

1. A Showman's Life (w/Willie Nelson)
2. Tough All Over
3. Don't Tell Mama
4. Nickajack Cave (Johnny Cash's Redemption)
5. One More Time
6. I Just Got Back From Hell
7. Promise Broken
8. Cowboy Blues
9. Bourbon Borderline
10. No Judgment Day
11. Sand In My Soul
12. Putting My Misery On Display
13. What Would Willie Do
14. Sorry
15. Can't Do It Today
16. Learning To Live With Me
17. Bones
18. Half Of My Mistakes
19. We Fly By Night
20. Living Hard
21. The Devil's Candy
22. Runaway
23. Used Heart For Sale
24. Alright Guy
25. I Think I've Had Enough
26. Drop
27. Drinkin' Dark Whiskey
28. What Kind Of Fool
29. When You Give Yourself Away
30. Cryin' For Nothin'
31. Puttin' Memories Away
32. Tough Goodbye
33. That Ain't Gonna Fly
34. Wake Up Screaming
35. You Without Me
36. Along The Way
37. See If I Care
38. He Can't Quit Her
39. What's On My Mind
40. We Touched The Sun

Album Rankings
1. Smoke Rings In The Dark
2. Tough All Over
3. Set You Free
4. Alright Guy
5. Get Off On The Pain
6. It Would Be You
7. See If I Care
8. Living Hard
9. Used Heart For Sale

Bottom:
1. The One
2. Nothing On But The Radio
3. From Where I'm Sitting
4. Living In A House Full Of Love

[phil1996]

Top

1. Best I Ever Had (Exactly what Sabre14 said. )
2. Songs About Rain
3. Kiss Me When I'm Down
4. Smoke Rings In The Dark
5. Putting My Misery On Display
6. Like It's a Bad Thing
7. It Ain't The Whiskey
8. Get Off On The Pain
9. Her Man
10. Sand In My Soul
11. One More Time
12. Hangover Tonight
13. Watching Airplanes
14. Today
15. Drinking Dark Whiskey
16. What's On My Mind
17. A Showmans Life
18. What Would Willie Do
19. Hungover Heart
20. That Ain't Gonna Fly

Bottom (These aren't bad, just not his best)

1. A Tough Goodbye
2. Nothing On But The Radio

[countrymusicjunkie]

Top:
1.Smoke Rings In The Dark
2.She's So California
3.Lovin' You Against My Will
4.Watching Airplanes
5.Best I Ever Had
6.Life Ain't Always Beautiful
7.Man To Man
8.Songs About Rain
9.Her Man
10.It Would Be You
11.Every Storm (Runs Out Of Rain)
12.Today
13.The One
14.Mess Me Up
15.Kiss Me When I'm Down
16.Pieces 
17.A Feeling Like That
18.It Ain't The Whiskey
19.Right Where I Need To Be
20.I'll Take Today

Top Album Tracks:
1.Promise Broken
2.Along The Way
3.A Showman's Life
4.Like It's A Bad Thing
5.No Regrets
6.I Think I've Had Enough
7.I Just Got Back From Hell
8.We Touched The Sun
9.Sand In My Soul
10.Half Of My Mistakes

Bottom:
1.Hangover Tonight
2.Nothing On But The Radio
3.Do You Wish It Was Me
4.Tough Little Boys
5.Man Of Me