Kenny Chesney - "The Big Revival"

[Deleted]

Kenny Chesney
"The Big Revival"
(Blue Chair Records/Columbia Nashville)

Release Date: September 23, 2014

Stream Full Album Below! (via Kenny Chesney YouTube page)



Track List:

01 "The Big Revival" (Dennis Linde)

02 "Drink It Up" (David Lee Murphy/Rodney Clawson/Vicky McGehee)

03 "'Til It's Gone" (David Lee Murphy/Rodney Clawson/Jimmy Yeary)

04 "American Kids" (Rodney Clawson/Shane McAnally/Luke Laird)

05 "Wild Child" [featuring Grace Potter] (Kenny Chesney/Shane McAnally/Josh Osborne)

06 "Beer Can Chicken" (Kenny Chesney/David Lee Murphy/Ross Copperman)

07 "Rock Bottom" (Craig Wiseman/Matt Dragstrem)

08 "Don't It" (Brent Cobb/Chase McGill)

09 "Save It For A Rainy Day" (Andrew Dorff/Matt Ramsey/Brad Tursi)

10 "Flora-Bama" (Kenny Chesney/David Lee Murphy/Ross Copperman)

11 "If This Bus Could Talk" (Kenny Chesney/Tom Douglas)

---

I'm listening through for the first time now and I gotta say, I'm really enjoying this. That's not really a surprise since I've loved almost all of Kenny's music, but this is yet another strong album based on early indications. "Wild Child" is beautifully-produced, and both "Drink It Up" and "'Til It's Gone" have that Kenny sound but also manage to sound somewhat new and not derivative of the stuff he's done in the past. I could see both of those ones doing well at radio.

[zjames]

I really enjoyed "American Kids" and I liked "Flora-Bama" even more so I'm super excited to listen to the album. I'll post a full album review later.

[Deleted]

I posted this earlier, but this album will also have a Zinepak edition so that should be cool. Unfortuneatly the link runs slow for me so ill just have to wait. I'm glad too that Kenny stood up for women in country music as well

[zjames]

jhomes87 "The Big Revival" is available to stream on Spotify, so 9 of 11 tracks are available for listening.

[dm2081]

Till It's Gone and Wild Child were the two standout songs to me,they both sounded great. I imagine Drink It a Up will be a single at some point, either 2nd or 3rd. Could be a big hit next summer/early spring.

[stevieb1434]

My best guess for singles would be "Wild Child", "Drink It Up", and "Til It's Gone". For a fifth single I'd say it's between "Don't It" and "Rock Bottom". Just not sure if country radio would play the former.

I think Kenny delivered with this album much like Hemingway's Whiskey. When he takes his time to put out the best album he can the results show. Can't wait to hear these songs live next summer.

[phil1996]

"The Big Revival" is one of the more energetic songs you'll hear. And Kenny sings it like he's sleep talking. That kind of disappointed me. Not close to as good as the John Anderson/Montgomery Gentry versions. Haven't made it through the whole album yet, I'll post more when I'm finished listening.

[Kentucky25]

Upon first listen, none of these really stood out to me. Not saying it won't, it's just with all the great stuff that's came out recently, I'm not very hyped about this...btw, this whole "everyone release albums within like a two month span" is hard on my wallet lol.

[George Strait Junkie]

So far this album ain't half bad. Sounds better than his last few albums. Here's my ranking of all the songs so far.

1. American Kids - very addicting song
2. Save it For A Rainy Day - this should be the next single
3. Wild Child - or this one could be the next single
4. Don't It
5. Drink It Up
6. Til It's Gone
7. The Big Revival - ehh dont care for his version of this song
8. Rock Bottom - the one track i hate so far
9. Flora-Bama - i swear this will be the next single i hope not but it will be just watch

[zjames]

Love
4. "American Kids"
5. "Wild Child (with Grace Potter)"
8. "Don't It"
9. "Save It for a Rainy Day"
10. "Flora-Bama"
11. "If This Bus Could Talk"

Like
2. "Drink It Up"
3. "Til It's Gone"
6. "Beer Can Chicken"
7. "Rock Bottom"

Meh
1. "The Big Revival"

What a great comeback from Life On A Rock! This album definitely feels like a resurgence for Kenny. "Drink It Up" and "Til It's Gone" are the radio-friendly, lively songs you'd expect from Chesney. "Wild Child", "If This Bus Could Talk", and especially "Don't It" are the most memorable and interesting songs. There's also no way that "Save It For A Rainy Day" isn't a huge smash hit in 2015.

The only songs that don't quite work for me are "Rock Bottom" and "The Big Revival". I love the theme of "Rock Bottom", but the execution lyrically and production-wise doesn't meet its potential. "The Big Revival" sounds a little messy and it doesn't do anything for me.

Overall, this is a very strong album that highlights the familiar Kenny sound while still sounding fresh and innovative. 4.0/5.0.

Single Predictions
1. "American Kids"
2. "Til It's Gone"
3. "Flora-Bama"
4. "Save It for a Rainy Day"
If 5. "Drink It Up"

"Beer Can Chicken" and "Wild Child (with Grace Potter)" are the other top contenders.

[Deleted]

I'm a big Kenny fan so of course this sounds great to me. Only listened to it once so far but i loved Til It's Gone,American Kids,Wild Child(w/Grace Potter), Rock Bottom(i seem to be in the minority on this), Don't It, Save It For A Rainy Day and If This Bus Could Talk and even the tracks i didn't love i still enjoyed immensly 9/10

[someguy]

I'm a pretty big Kenny fan, so this is kind of biased, but I think this album is great. For me, it's a big step up from both Life On A Rock and Welcome To The Fishbowl. I did like both of those albums, but they weren't up to the standard that Kenny set for himself with some of his albums throughout the 2000s. This album sounds fresher, and a bit of a return to form for him (I think he knows it, too - I don't think the title is accidental).

Initially my favourites are "American Kids", "Til It's Gone", "Beer Can Chicken", "Wild Child" and "If This Bus Could Talk", but I don't think there's a dud on here. "Rock Bottom" is my least favourite at the moment, but it's not bad at all. I think this is the album that Kenny needed to make at this point to secure his spot commercially for the next few years.

[dm2081]

My singles predictions:
1. American Kids
2. 'Til It's Gone
3. Drink It Up
4. Wild Child
Don't think they'll make it to 5.

[Deleted]

A great review of the album from The Tennessean:

www.tennessean.com/story/entertainment/music/2014/09/20/kenny-chesney-shuns-bro-country-trend-songs-matter/15915383/

**

I'm really enjoying this album from Kenny. Like someguy said, I think it's several steps above both Welcome To The Fishbowl and Life On A Rock, although it's missing the real 'impact' tracks that Hemingway's Whiskey had...songs like "You And Tequila", "Seven Days", and "Somewhere With You". Hemingway's Whiskey is one of my all-time favorite Chesney albums, though, right up there with Everywhere We Go and No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems, and probably just a bit behind When The Sun Goes Down (I'd say this one is my favorite from him).

Still, The Big Revival is a very solid effort from Kenny. It's got some great radio-friendly tunes on it but also some more thoughtful and reflective lyrics as well. I've only listened through once so far but I didn't hear a bad song on it. I was worried about "Beer Can Chicken" simply because of its title, but it was actually a pretty good song.

I think "'Til It's Gone" will be another easy top 3 for Kenny if not a #1. I could see "Drink It Up" as a potential single as well, but if it does get released, I think it will be held off for the 4th or 5th single. "Drink It Up" just seems a bit too thematically similar to "'Til It's Gone", and the 2 tracks share 2 of the same co-writers (David Lee Murphy & Rodney Clawson) as well. So, with the label having gone with TIG, I think they'll want something a little different for the 3rd single. Kenny has been big on "Wild Child" so I think that has a good chance of coming 3rd. After that I can see almost any of the other remaining tracks getting released.

My predictions for singles:

01 "American Kids"
02 "'Til It's Gone"
---------------------
03 "Wild Child"
04 "Flora-Bama" / "Drink It Up" / "Rock Bottom"
05 "Don't It" / "Save It For A Rainy Day" / or possibly "If This Bus Could Talk"

Overall, I give the album at least 4 stars out of 5, maybe 4.5. I'll hopefully pick up my copy soon and give some more detailed thoughts at some point.

[onebuffalo]

A #1 debut on two charts:

www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/6259353/kenny-chesney-eighth-no-1-album?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=biz_breakingnews&utm_campaign=Breaking%20News

[Deleted]

Just a heads up, Amazon has the digital album on sale for $5.99 :)

[someguy]

I hope Kenny can pull it off...this is such a great return to form for him.

[Marv]

How would you folks compare this CD to recent CDs of his such as 'Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates', which I still play from time to time?

[gurustu]

Streamed it and am actually not a fan of this record. I was a big fan of "Hemingway's Whiskey" and "Welcome to the Fishbowl", but this one honestly doesn't do much for me. "American Kids" and "Flora Bama" sound like hits for sure (but that doesn't mean I like those two songs). My favs are "Til It's Gone", "Save it for a Rainy Day" and "If This Bus Could Talk"; but other than that it would take a few listens to grow on me and even then I don't think it would actually grow on me. 3 songs out of 11 for me doesn't even warrant paying the $5.99 price and I hate to say that, but that's my opinion.

[Uncle Lumpy]

I'm with gurustu. I haven't been a huge fan of Chesneys latter albums but could always pick out a few songs that grabbed me. Those songs have been slowly dwindling per album. Theres nothing that grabbed me after three listens. Its a step up from "Pirate Flag" , not that is really much of an accomplishment. Theres nothing offensive really , just nothing that makes me want to listen anymore.

[Deleted]

Sept 30, 2014 17:06:24 GMT -5 liza said:

Final album sales chart for the week

www.hitsdailydouble.com/sales/salescht.cgi

Kenny missed #1 on overall chart which went to Tony Bennett/Lady Gaga, but will be #1 on the country chart, as expected.

These are HDD's numbers though, and not Billboard/SoundScan numbers (which are the official ones). Billboard will announce tomorrow who is #1. Usually the order winds up being the same as what HDD reports but that's not always the case, so in weeks where it's very close (like this one, with Tony/Gaga, Barbara, and Kenny all very close), the actual Billboard results could actually be different.

[onebuffalo]

Sept 30, 2014 17:06:24 GMT -5 liza said:

Final album sales chart for the week

www.hitsdailydouble.com/sales/salescht.cgi

Kenny missed #1 on overall chart which went to Tony Bennett/Lady Gaga, but will be #1 on the country chart, as expected.

You are correct by 1000 copies. Not bad for Kenny Chesney's 13th #1 country CD with 130,000 sold.

[someguy]

Oct 1, 2014 10:05:59 GMT -5 onebuffalo said:

Sept 30, 2014 17:06:24 GMT -5 liza said:

Final album sales chart for the week

www.hitsdailydouble.com/sales/salescht.cgi

Kenny missed #1 on overall chart which went to Tony Bennett/Lady Gaga, but will be #1 on the country chart, as expected.

You are correct by 1000 copies. Not bad for Kenny Chesney's 13th #1 country CD with 130,000 sold.

Especially given the numbers for some recent high-profile country debuts (Tim, Blake, Brad, Lady A, etc.). Kenny's opening is excellent in that context.