Eli Young Band - "Always The Love Songs"

[S4C]

Add date: September 29

Debuts at #60 this week on Billboard/R&R.

I'm glad this is off to a good start. :) There's no link on their myspace yet, but we should get one soon - at least from AllAboutCountry - since their album also comes out next week.

[Ten Pound Hammer]

Hopefully this one doesn't take nearly a full year between its first and last chart weeks.

[zaclord]

LOL i think this one will do a little better now, since they are a little known to more people.

[EmersonDrive13Rocks]

Hopefully this will do well on radio even though I haven't heard it yet.

[edwin1961]

Sept 9, 2008 19:25:26 GMT -5 EmersonDrive13Rocks said:

Hopefully this will do well on radio even though I haven't heard it yet.

You know radio will not give much attention to a song debuting at #60, and one much much higher. Sometimes it's all up to pressure from the audience for a song to be added.

[nncountrykid]

They're going to break out any time now. I swear by it.

[kevin59]

Listen to Song (Allaccess)

wm.allaccess.com/allaccess/eliyalwa.wma

[nncountrykid]

www.universalrepublic.com/artists/eliyoungband/default.htm


download the title track and "Guinevere" from there for free

Guinevere will be a Top 10 hit, it would be tragic if it wasn't.

[kw9461]

It took me a long time to warm up to When It Rains, but it's not going to take near as long with this song. This song is terrific. It's already off to a quick start, and I really think this could be a big hit for these guys. I'll go out on a limb and say it cracks the T10.

[nncountrykid]

I've listened to the new album about five times in the last 48 hours. Amazing.

My top record of 2008 so far.

If they're not huge by this time next year, something's wrong.

[kw9461]

Sept 19, 2008 11:58:26 GMT -5 nncountrykid said:

I've listened to the new album about five times in the last 48 hours. Amazing.

My top record of 2008 so far.

If they're not huge by this time next year, something's wrong.

I agree with that. Their album is terrific. I've easily listened to it 5 or 6 times since Tuesday, and there isn't a bad song to be found (How Should I Know is my least favorite, but it's still worth a listen). Every time through I find another song that has to be released, which would make for about 8 singles from the album. Seriously though, Guinevere, Get In The Car And Drive, and Mystery In the Making all have smash hit potential. If I had one critique of the album, it's that there's not enough variety in tempo (Guinevere is the only real ballad, and there's nothing truely up-tempo), but that's negligible, because their sound is great throughout. Definitely one of my 3 favorite albums of the year.

[zaclord]

i love this album! "Jet Black & Jealous", "History In The Making", "Radio Waves", "Get In The Car And Drive", "Guinevere", & the 2 singles are all amazing songs! they need to go big!

[maverick]

Sept 19, 2008 12:13:35 GMT -5 kw9461 said:

Sept 19, 2008 11:58:26 GMT -5 nncountrykid said:

I've listened to the new album about five times in the last 48 hours. Amazing.

My top record of 2008 so far.

If they're not huge by this time next year, something's wrong.

I agree with that. Their album is terrific. I've easily listened to it 5 or 6 times since Tuesday, and there isn't a bad song to be found (How Should I Know is my least favorite, but it's still worth a listen). Every time through I find another song that has to be released, which would make for about 8 singles from the album. Seriously though, Guinevere, Get In The Car And Drive, and Mystery In the Making all have smash hit potential. If I had one critique of the album, it's that there's not enough variety in tempo (Guinevere is the only real ballad, and there's nothing truely up-tempo), but that's negligible, because their sound is great throughout. Definitely one of my 3 favorite albums of the year.

That tempo has been pretty consistent throughout all their albums thus far. It seems to be their thing. I like these guys but after a while it does start to bug me a little that there is no change of pace. To me, this is one of the weaker Texas albums released or to be released this year.

[leilamaurizia]

AMG review

3 1/2 out of 5 stars

Review by Andrew Leahey
Fans of Rascal Flatts and other slick, harmony-drenched country groups will find much to enjoy about the Eli Young Band, whose songs borrow from rock and pop without ever fully exiting the country camp. The flagship track on this major-label debut is "When It Rains," a holdover from the band's independent release in 2005. Like the other 11 songs found on Jet Black & Jealous, the revamped version of "When It Rains" gleams with commercial sheen, from its polished vocals to the crisp mix of banjo, pedal steel, and electric guitar. Yet there's also a fiery quality to the song, whose twang is balanced by a set of Nashville-gothic lyrics ("It's good to see the world in pain when I take a walk outside") and rock & roll undercurrents. In fact, such moments are the real highlights of Jet Black & Jealous. This isn't country music in the tractor-driving, American flag-waving sense; it's country music with pop production and rock muscle, and the album sounds its strongest while occupying the three-way intersection between those genres. "Radio" is tailor-made for its titular medium, "Always the Love Songs" borrows an intro from the Wallflowers' "6th Avenue Heartache," and "Throw and Go" is a dark, dangerous rock song in cowboys' clothing. Jet Black & Jealous thrives on that contrast, and the Eli Young Band's official debut is promising indeed.

Track Picks:
When It Rains
Radio Waves

Country Universe

3 out of 5 stars

Album Review: Eli Young Band, Jet Black & Jealous
Posted by Dan Milliken

Be warned, purists: Eli Young Band’s major-label debut is a textbook example of just how loosely country music has been defined by its modern commercial market. In true contemporary form, most everything about Jet Black & Jealous - from the omnipresent electric guitars to the (endearingly) emo-sounding title - suggests a significant and varied pop-rock influence, with little more than Mike Eli’s leading twang to mark the quartet as a country act. Factor in the group’s slick, hipster-cowboy appearance, and the comparisons to Lyric Street poster boys Rascal Flatts become all but inevitable.

But despite some significant concessions to convention, Eli & Co. distinguish themselves from the radio pack with their less-is-more delivery and a songwriting approach based in simple, uncontrived observation. Jet Black & Jealous traverses a wide spectrum of contemporary styles over its twelve tracks, but the set is united by a central, consistent narrative voice that manages to sound grounded in genuine experience, even as it sometimes ventures into overly familiar territory. It’s not the strongest set of songs, with some reaching for golden hooks and slightly missing the mark (”Radio Waves,” “Get in the Car and Drive”), and others riffing on uncreative or unexciting themes (”Always the Love Songs,” “Famous”). But even in their shortcomings, Eli Young Band comes across as an act that tells the truth - or at least tries.

The album kicks off with a revamped rendition of “When it Rains,” the band’s first Top 40 country hit and a highlight of their 2005 independent release, Level. Penned by guitarist and partial group-namesake James Young, the song is a stroke of melancholy genius: cold, terse, believable, hooky, even musically unorthodox (Young employs almost every chord in the song’s given key, a true rarity in country music). The extra polish applied to the piece in this Jet Black & Jealous incarnation may be off-putting to fans of the original recording - Eli’s vocal, especially, sounds noticeably thinner and tamer than before - but for the most part, the added production and harmonies only lend the number a bit more punch and momentum, making for a dazzling introduction to the set.

Alas, the brilliant leading example of “When it Rains” ends up casting a long shadow over the ensuing songs, which, for all their high points, never quite manage to match the comprehensive strength of that opening number. In reality, there is much to admire about some of the material on Jet Black & Jealous; it’s just the kind of album that must be picked apart individually in order for that material to make a fair case for itself.

In general, Eli Young Band is at their best when playing up their rock chops. They channel Radney Foster on the outlaw frenzy “Throw and Go,” then sugarcoat Bob Dylan on the title track, an ear-candy break-up ditty whose titular phrase is presumably just there to sound cool, as it’s never actually explained. Then there’s “Enough is Enough,” a frank appraisal of a withering relationship that finds Eli lamenting, “I can’t lean on you, ’cause I fall right over.” A slow-burning shuffle, it’s the closest sonic relative to “When it Rains” that the group has included here, and another indication that that that particular style suits them very well.

Less winning, however, are their stabs at patented contemporary country themes. They try on Kenny Chesney’s classic rock nostalgia (see “I Go Back,”) and easy-as-that life philosophies (see “Don’t Blink”) in “Always the Love Songs” and “Mystery in the Making,” respectively, then rewrite Sugarland’s “Tennessee” as “Radio Waves,” sacrificing some of the original’s catchiness and quirky charm in the process. They do manage to beat the Flatts boys at their own melodramatic game on the fun “Get in the Car and Drive,” but then over-do that, too, on the inane “How Should I Know” and “Guinevere.”

But to the group’s credit, they expound on their recycled cliches in a manner nuanced and conversational enough to make the stories themselves come across as real, and their delivery remains spot-on through the rough patches. In addition to the appreciable lack of a truly bombastic moment anywhere in the set, Eli is endowed with an Everyman tone that sounds convicted no matter what the musical setting, and the group’s harmony-driven sound is pleasant enough to make even the lacking material sound halfway-decent.

So all in all, it’s a mixed showcase of the act. On one hand we have the twangin’ alt-rockers who produce mature numbers like “Enough is Enough”; on the other, we have yet another country boy band just doing their darndest to break into a radio format that favors indiscriminately catchy tunes like “Always the Love Songs.” And then, somewhere perfectly in the middle, we have the Texan phenoms of “When it Rains” fame, the rare act who produces music that is both artistically fulfilled and commercially attractive. Eli Young Band will likely spend the rest of their career trying to achieve that hallowed middle ground, and it will be interesting to see whether they can manage to do so on future releases - but for the moment, we have Jet Black & Jealous: the sound of a promising young act weighing its options.

[nncountrykid]

I really hope Universal South pushes this.

If I had to rank 'em I'd say.

Radio Waves
Guinevere
Get In The Car And Drive
Always The Love Songs
Enough is Enough

I've been playing it for the last 10 days virtually non stop. My roommates hate country and they both are into it pretty hard now.

So that either means its too crossover to do anything at radio, or its got a good chance of being huge.
Mystery In The Making

[Minimalism]

This is rather mediocre to me, especially if compared to the greatness of "When It Rains". I still like it though, and hopefully this will chart higher than WIR.

[S4C]

Free download of "Enough Is Enough" at Amazon.

I still haven't bought this album :-\. I'm such a bad fan...

[Marv]

I really like this song, and I hope it does very well.

Sounds like I've gotta go buy this CD.

[zaclord]

its a great CD. you should enjoy it.

i hope "Radio Waves" or "Jet Black & Jealous" is the next single after this. those 2 are my favorites on the album! :)

[Dustin J.]

Dec 16, 2008 22:15:47 GMT -5 @zaclord said:

its a great CD. you should enjoy it.

i hope "Radio Waves" or "Jet Black & Jealous" is the next single after this. those 2 are my favorites on the album! :)

Agreed... the entire album is solid and, as others have mentioned, "Radio Waves" is one of my personal faves along with "Enough Is Enough".

[nncountrykid]

I'd personally like to see "Radio Waves" and "Get In The Car And Drive" released.

[kw9461]

I like Radio Waves, but I'd rather see Guinevere and Mystery In The Making as singles. It's really hard to go wrong with this album though, because I don't think there is a bad song on it.

[kevin59]

Watch NEW Video for Song (CMT)

www.cmt.com/videos/eli-young-band/339175/always-the-love-songs.jhtml

[joey2002]

this song is growing one me, i hope it does well for them...

[Ten Pound Hammer]

This is certainly starting to take off now. Finally into the Top 20 and just this side of the Hot 100. Would Top 10 be too much to ask for?

[kw9461]

Mar 14, 2009 16:19:51 GMT -5 Ten Pound Hammer said:

This is certainly starting to take off now. Finally into the Top 20 and just this side of the Hot 100. Would Top 10 be too much to ask for?

I sure hope it isn't too much to ask for. I've been really liking this song since day 1, and very pleased to see it doing well. Their album is terrific, and I really think that if they can get their foot in the door there are other songs on the album that could be hits.

On a side note, if this makes the T10, Eli Young Band will become the 4th band to notch their first T10 hit in the past year. That's the best run for new band's since '98-'99, when Dixie Chicks, The Wilkinsons, Yankey Grey, and SHeDAISY all notched their first T10's. And with new singles by Love And Theft and Gloriana off to great starts, this appears to be a great time to be a new band in country music.

[rsmatto]

Mar 14, 2009 17:29:28 GMT -5 kw9461 said:

That's the best run for new duo's since '98-'99

I'm sure you meant "groups" not duos.

[kw9461]

Mar 14, 2009 20:55:53 GMT -5 rsmatto said:

Mar 14, 2009 17:29:28 GMT -5 kw9461 said:

That's the best run for new duo's since '98-'99

I'm sure you meant "groups" not duos.

Yes, yes I did. I spent quite a bit of time making sure my info was right, and then couldn't even type it right.

[Zazie]

I liked Rains better but I'd be very happy to see this one make the top 10. Can it? Give it +1.5 million every week for 6 weeks and it would have a big enough audience. Most of the current top 10 songs will be gone by then, but this one will still be looking up at --

Swift (probably), Atkins, McGraw, RF, Underwood, Aldean accounts for 6
Sugarland, Montgomery Gentry makes it 8
Trace Adkins will probably be up there -- I'll guess Martina won't, and I'm saying Strait, Owens, and the other current occupants are gone. Also I'm assuming John Rich fades quickly.

Even so, this one will have to stay ahead of AJ, Keith Urban, Brad Paisley, and Dierks Bentley to get there. I'm guessing Toby climbs more slowly but he could pose a problem too. That will be after 33 chart weeks. Of course it has a big lead on the bigger stars but Brad's lead single, KU's album release could pose problems.

Plus the song isn't going to gain anything like 1.5 mill this week, but you could say some help is coming because it cracked the top 20 and it will be able to maintain a high average gain. I don't know -- I'm glad you brought this up and I'm rooting for it to happen but it looks like it will take a near-miracle.

[maverick]

Mar 14, 2009 17:29:28 GMT -5 kw9461 said:

Mar 14, 2009 16:19:51 GMT -5 Ten Pound Hammer said:

This is certainly starting to take off now. Finally into the Top 20 and just this side of the Hot 100. Would Top 10 be too much to ask for?

I sure hope it isn't too much to ask for. I've been really liking this song since day 1, and very pleased to see it doing well. Their album is terrific, and I really think that if they can get their foot in the door there are other songs on the album that could be hits.

On a side note, if this makes the T10, Eli Young Band will become the 4th band to notch their first T10 hit in the past year. That's the best run for new band's since '98-'99, when Dixie Chicks, The Wilkinsons, Yankey Grey, and SHeDAISY all notched their first T10's. And with new singles by Love And Theft and Gloriana off to great starts, this appears to be a great time to be a new band in country music.

Except they aren't a new band...