Reviews
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Caroline Doctorow
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Toby Keith
Toby Keith’s 35 BIGGEST hits? My God, the only thing bigger than this guy’s cowboy hat is his ego. Granted, he’s had a few hits since 2001, when a national tragedy lurched him into the spotlight with “The Angry American.” I’ll also admit that since I live north of the Mason-Dixon line and east of the Hudson River, I don’t have cause to hear his stuff with regularity, but saying that Toby Keith had 35 hits (and according to the title, that’s only the ‘biggest’ ones) is like saying that Bucky Dent (a ‘Yankee’) hit 35 home runs a year – It just ain’t so. Who does this guy think he is? Elvis? Hank? George? Hell, even the estates of Lefty and Jimmie had the good taste to restrain themselves from such pomposity.
I guess I don’t need to tell you that contemporary country music is certainly not about restraint, and Toby Keith is the perfect representative for the state of contemporary country music. As the old joke goes, ‘everything’s big in Texas,’ and these days, everything’s big in country music, from the size of the hat to the size of the production. Problem is, that production is so bland that it’s generic. Synthesized keyboards and processed echo dominate most of these tracks. You could erase Keith’s voice and replace it with some Celine Dion drivel, and you’d end up with a perfectly serviceable (and perfectly awful) pop album. About the only thing that defines this as ‘country music’ is the subject matter (cowboys, drinking, divorce, trucks…) and Keith’s big ol’ hat. I thought that songwriting style and instrumentation were the main factors in determining whether or not something was ‘country’, but I guess I’m just too old-school.
If Toby Keith is writing for the ‘contemporary’ country audience, though, then he must think they’re a bunch of dumb-asses. He overstates the obvious on virtually every song and leaves nothing for the listener to discern. A good example is his jingoistic rally cry for American revenge (Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue”), and “I Wanna Talk about Me” is another example of a guy who simply can’t imply anything that can be overtly spewed. He just doesn’t know how to be subtle. It’s telling when the best song on disk one is a duet with Sting (“I’m So Happy I Can’t Stop Crying”), and the best song on disk two is a duet with Willie (Beer for My Horses”). I know a lot of country fans will figure that I’m the dumb-ass, but if this is Country, then I’ll let Celine Dion eat my hat.
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