Faith Hill Album Series - Finished!

[born]

Talk about unexpected results! When "Roll The Dice" started playing I immediately thought "oh hello #11" but it ended up being a pleasant song. That's how it escaped the bottom.

[bboat11]

Yeah, I know that you always look away

When you don't know what to say,

And you've been looking a lot lately.

Yeah, we both know it might be a mistake,

So even when we're bound to break,

You still catch me when I'm fading.

7. "Love Me To Lie"

Track #6

Runtime: 3:51

Songwriters: Nathan Chapman, Maureen McDonald, Hayley Warner



Total: 62
Average: 6.2
Std Dev: 3.01


.indulgecountry - 1
bboat11 - 2
born - 5
BackwoodsBarbie - 5
castleoblivion26 - 7
tim - 7
Troublemaker - 7
ClevelandRox - 8
Kanenrá:ke - 10
someguy - 10

SPOILER: Click to show

{Songs Remaining}
Break First
Cowboy Lullaby
Damn Good At Holding On
Speak To A Girl
Telluride
The Rest Of Our Life

[bboat11]

Y'all, I cannot believe how dirty this song got done! Faith's vocal performance in this song is absolutely breathtaking and haunting!! To put it mildly, it is VERY obviously her best lead on the entire album... From the somewhat rapid-fire (for the speed of the song) delivery of the pre-chorus to the way her voice suddenly jumps to its upper reaches to kick off the chorus, is one of the most magical transitions I have ever heard from her. It sounds especially good in the context of this album, where most of her fans were excruciatingly hungry to hear new music from her. THIS was exactly the type of song I was hoping for, and she delivered!!

[.indulgecountry]

Yikes. "Love Me to Lie" is easily the best vocal delivery of the entire album. Faith absolutely slayed that song with her voice.

Can we get the awful title track out soon plz? It's so bad.

[bboat11]

Sitting with you in a dark room

Warmed by a fireplace.

You know there's just something about you;

You brighten my day.

6. "The Rest Of Our Life"

Track #1

Runtime: 3:45

Songwriters: Steve Mac, Johnny McDaid, Ed Sheeran, Amy Wadge


Placement in the Singles Rankdown: N/A **Released after the rankdown happened :(





Total: 58
Average: 5.8
Std Dev: 3.43 (Largest!!!)


born - 1
BackwoodsBarbie - 1
Troublemaker - 4
ClevelandRox - 4
someguy - 5
bboat11 - 6
Kanenrá:ke - 8
castleoblivion26 - 9
tim - 9
.indulgecountry - 11

SPOILER: Click to show

{Songs Remaining}
Break First
Cowboy Lullaby
Damn Good At Holding On
Speak To A Girl
Telluride

[bboat11]

Right on .indulgecountry's cue, the title track makes its exit! "The Rest Of Our Life" was definitely a head scratcher as a single, but it has grown on me a lot, to the point that it is now my favorite of the two singles. However, people are very split on it. So split in fact that it is the most polarizing song on the entire album! .indulgecountry finally loses his #11, while born and BackwoodsBarbie both join him in the #1 losses club!

[bboat11]

With that, here is our top 5!!!

Break First
Cowboy Lullaby
Damn Good At Holding On
Speak To A Girl
Telluride

[bboat11]

You picked me up in your beat up Cutlass just south of Telluride.
You lit one up and never said a word 'til we got mountain high.
He said he was bound for Texas to a dusty old ghost town.
I said, "Well, honey, what the hell. Let's chase that sunset down!"

5. "Telluride"

Track #2

Runtime: 4:50

Songwriters: Jessi Alexander, Jon Randall





Total: 57
Average: 5.7
Std Dev: 3.33 (2nd largest!!)


Troublemaker - 2
someguy - 2
Kanenrá:ke - 3
tim - 3
ClevelandRox - 5
.indulgecountry - 5
BackwoodsBarbie - 8
bboat11 - 8
castleoblivion26 - 10
born - 11

SPOILER: Click to show

{Songs Remaining}
Break First
Cowboy Lullaby
Damn Good At Holding On
Speak To A Girl

[bboat11]

"Telluride" is a fine enough song, but tbh I have always found it to be rather overrated. First of all, it always REALLY bothers me when a song's title doesn't make sense. This song being called "Telluride" makes just about as much sense as titling George Strait's "Run" as "Dallas". Or calling Martina's "Cry On The Shoulder Of The Road" "Bakersfield"... ESPECIALLY when you consider that Tim already has a wildly popular song called "Telluride"! There is literally NO rational reason for this song to exist with its current title.

I DO like what this song represents on this album though. This song is clearly meant to be a bit of a nod towards traditional country, and also certainly spices up a mostly lethargic tracklist with some energy. However, as the token traditional song on the album, I have always felt that it is a bit too overproduced. I also hate how long it is. 4:50 isn't unreasonable these days, when the length is used well (like Martina's "This Uncivil War", for example) but the problem is that the song could have literally been half of its length... It is literally over around the 3 minute mark, leaving us with practically two minutes of nothing but instrumental solos... This musical arrangement is not unique enough to warrant a lengthy outro along the lines of Sara Evans' "Born To Fly". I always find myself wondering why the song hasn't ended yet rather than getting lost in the music.

Anyway, suffice it to say, I am pleasantly surprised to see this finish at #5! It was a pretty consistent #2 contender for awhile, and I was resigning myself to the fact that this was probably going to overperform!

[Troublemaker]

^ you couldn't post without mentioning Martina...

[bboat11]

Oct 1, 2019 2:50:28 GMT -5 Troublemaker said:

^ you couldn't post without mentioning Martina...

Lmao you must be incredibly surprised! 😉

[.indulgecountry]

Oh yay @ the title cut finally getting the hell out of here. Awful song. The piano melody is terrible, the lyrics are clumsy and at times nonsensical (I'm still bothered at how dumb and random Faith's part about the kids names sounds in the song), and it's just so damn sleepy and boring. I still maintain that they could've had a hit off this album and it was purely song choice that ruined radio's interest in the project because "The Rest of Our Life" was an absolutely terrible single pick.

OTOH, sad @ "Telluride" biting the dust before "Cowboy Lullaby." I need that one to hurry up and go now too. The other three remaining songs are phenomenal though!

[tim]

I thought I remember “Love Me to Lie” being a fan favorite and therefore I thought it was a strong top 5 contender so I’m a bit shocked to see it leave beforehand. I did like the song overall and while Faith sounded great there were a few spotty parts with the vocal arrangement that I couldn’t get past.

I wasn’t at all expecting the title track to make it as far as did, however, and it very much overstayed its welcome. I didn’t care for the song when it was originally released and while it may have grown on me a tad bit it wasn’t enough for it to escape my bottom 3.

“Telluride” showing up in the top 5 is quite justified and I thought it gave the album some much needed life and energy. I do agree that it is a tad bit longer than it needs to be, but overall the wasn’t enough for me to want to rank it any lower. I do think I ended up ranking this one spot too high in favor of one of the four remaining songs.

And .indulgecountry get outta here with this “Cowboy Lullaby” hate! It’s without a doubt one of the best songs on the entire album.

[bboat11]

She just want a friend to be there

When she opens her eyes in the morning.

She wants you to say what you mean,

And mean everything that you're saying.

4. "Speak To A Girl"

Track #10

Runtime: 3:54

Songwriters: Shy Carter, Dave Gibson, Joe Spargur

Placement in the Singles Rankdown: #33 of 40





Total: 54
Average: 5.4
Std Dev: 2.67


castleoblivion26 - 2
Troublemaker - 3
someguy - 3
.indulgecountry - 3
tim - 4
ClevelandRox - 7
BackwoodsBarbie - 7
born - 7
Kanenrá:ke - 9
bboat11 - 9

SPOILER: Click to show

{Songs Remaining}
Break First
Cowboy Lullaby
Damn Good At Holding On

[bboat11]

"Speak To A Girl" bows out here at #4, leaving us an all-album track Top 3!!! I have always thought that "Speak To A Girl" was every bit as much of a questionable single choice as "The Rest Of Our Life", especially as the lead single. I remember how quickly the overall opinion on this project went south as soon as the public heard this song... I personally think #4 is a bit too high for it, and it only got that high based on single bias. Neither single should have made the top 5, imo.

That being said, I do enjoy this song a fair amount. It just is not a very good representative of the strengths of this album, and did not do what it needed to do as a single.

[bboat11]

The sky is made from empty space and stars.

Our love is made from lonely broken hearts.

And the only thing that keeps us from being gone

Is that we're damn good at holding on.

3. "Damn Good At Holding On"

Track #8

Runtime: 3:39

Songwriters: Barry Dean, Lori McKenna



Total: 53
Average: 5.3
Std Dev: 3.02


Kanenrá:ke - 1
.indulgecountry - 2
BackwoodsBarbie - 2
bboat11 - 4
castleoblivion26 - 6
Troublemaker - 6
born - 6
someguy - 7
ClevelandRox - 9
tim - 10

SPOILER: Click to show

{Songs Remaining}
Break First
Cowboy Lullaby

[bboat11]

"Damn Good At Holding On" had a very interesting trajectory! It ranged all the way from last place when tim submitted all the way up to #2 after my list near the end, but ultimately settled in at #3 for multiple positions at the very end.

This is a song that has always gotten lost in the shuffle for me, because the album is rather ballad-heavy. However, I have been listening to it a lot more for this rankdown, and have come to the conclusion that it is freaking awesome, so I am more than happy with this placement! I am pretty surprised though that this managed to do so much better than "Sleeping In The Stars", because that is the song that I usually tend to confuse it with in my mind. Imo both deserved to be in the top 5.

[bboat11]

There's just something about horses

That can touch you deep down in your soul.

Girl, look at 'em go.

Makes you wanna just throw off your cares and your troubles

And go somewhere no one's ever gone before.

2. "Cowboy Lullaby"

Track #4

Runtime: 5:56

Songwriters: Brett Beavers, Brett James



Total: 51
Average: 5.1
Std Dev: 3.00


ClevelandRox - 1
tim - 1
born - 2
BackwoodsBarbie - 4
Troublemaker - 5
Kanenrá:ke - 6
bboat11 - 7
.indulgecountry - 8
castleoblivion26 - 8
someguy - 9

---

Do you know how hard it is tryin' to hold a conversation

Knowin' you're right there across the room?

So I don't hear a word that they're sayin'.

1. "Break First"

Track #5

Runtime: 4:06

Songwriters: Jerry Flowers, Ashley Gorley, Emily Weisband




OMG THIS IS THE SHOW THAT I WAS AT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 


Total: 21
Average: 2.1
Std Dev: 1.20 (Smallest!!!)


Troublemaker - 1
bboat11 - 1
castleoblivion26 - 1
someguy - 1
ClevelandRox - 2
tim - 2
Kanenrá:ke - 2
BackwoodsBarbie - 3
born - 4
.indulgecountry - 4

[bboat11]

"Cowboy Lullaby" is a fantastic song!!! I love the overall mellow vibe, plus the juxtaposition between the way horses make you feel and the way love makes you feel. This is a classic-sounding country song, and a perfect song for Tim McGraw to lead on. I especially love the delivery of the "there's just something 'bout horses" line. However, my gripe with this song sounds similar to complaints I have made before... IT IS TOO DAMN LONG!!!!!!!! The song itself literally ends with 2 entire minutes left!!!! As much as I complain about long songs, I do like them when they work well and when they make sense. In this case, the outro makes absolutely zero sense. The entire thing is just the same four chords repeated over and over again, with the full band playing the exact same riff over the top of it. The instrumentation is beautiful of course (steel guitar!!! OMG!!!!!) but I just would consider the song to have so much more replay value if the ending were more reasonable... Still, the song itself is so good that I have no qualms about seeing it in the top 2! I had a feeling it would do better than I ranked it! This song was never a top 2 contender until it got lucky thanks to born's #2 rank right at the end!

"Break First"... This song was the OBVIOUS winner from this album. The lyrics, both of their vocals, the production, the way the crowd reacted when it was performed live, the way that this streamed and sold, the way both Tim and Faith fans temporarily gave up their stupid fighting and clamored for it to be released as a single....this song was very obviously the closest thing this album had to a smash hit!!!!! Literally the only piece that was missing is that the label chose not to release it to radio in favor of two of the most head-scratching single choices of either of their entire careers. This song had absolutely zero competition to win this rankdown, and it delivered its decisive blow all while being the least polarizing song on the entire album.

So there you have it, folks! Thank you to those who participated!!!! Hopefully you guys enjoyed the album well enough despite literally nobody wanting to do this one yet!! :)

[castleoblivion26]

I will still never understand why "Break First" wasn't a single. I love this song.

Also while I agree that "Speak to a Girl" should not have been a lead single I still love that song and wish it had done better for them. I love the message of the song as well as the way they both sound.

[.indulgecountry]

Called it. I don't get how they had "Break First" there on the album and never released it to radio. It was the obvious hit single of the record. At least it got its justice in this rankdown by winning!! What a great song!

Don't get the love for "Cowboy Lullaby" tho evidently. It's alright, but one of the more meh tracks on this album for me.

[born]

Great results. I loved “Break First” and I thought it would be bottom 5 because of how pop leaning it is (melody wise). Glad it won!

[tim]

I probably underranked “Speak to a Girl” by one point and would actually put it as my #3 now which means that it would’ve tied with “Damn Good at Holding On”...which speaking of I really wanted to rally around because I knew it was another favorite for many from the album but something about it just never clicked with me. This is also the one rare instance where I didn’t think their voices blended well together at certain points but that has to do more with the production and arrangement of the song as a whole.

And while I had a hunch that “Break First” would likely be the winner I’m absolutely thrilled to see “Cowboy Lullaby” come in second because it was love at first listen! It not only has a great melody but is wonderfully written and had it been recorded and released from a solo Tim project I think it could’ve been a hit.

Now that we finally got this album out of the way it’s time to bring on the next one bboat11!!

[someguy]

I'm glad to see "Break First" win, but that makes it even worse why it was never a single. Had it been released, I think that the Tim/Faith duets project would have had a completely different success level.

[someguy]

1. Break First
2. Telluride
3. Speak To A Girl


That would have been the perfect singles trajectory from the duets album

[bboat11]

Oct 5, 2019 2:56:00 GMT -5 someguy said:

1. Break First
2. Telluride
3. Speak To A Girl


That would have been the perfect singles trajectory from the duets album

Especially because those were pretty much the songs from the album that they were performing on their tour, before the album was ever released! Like, they put in all the work to hype them up, used them to get fans excited for the project, and then never released them to radio!! It made zero sense.

[someguy]

Oct 5, 2019 2:59:59 GMT -5 bboat11 said:

Oct 5, 2019 2:56:00 GMT -5 someguy said:

1. Break First
2. Telluride
3. Speak To A Girl


That would have been the perfect singles trajectory from the duets album

Especially because those were pretty much the songs from the album that they were performing on their tour, before the album was ever released! Like, they put in all the work to hype them up, used them to get fans excited for the project, and then never released them to radio!! It made zero sense.

Oh yeah, absolutely. I saw them on tour before the album came out, and they sang all of these. I was so disappointed with the rollout of the album.

[bboat11]

Oh hi.

[bboat11]

Let me just sneakily add to my post count here...

[bboat11]

And I oop...