Alan Jackson – Page 16 – Country Universe

Retro Single Review: George Jones & Alan Jackson, "A Good Year for the Roses"

July 28, 2012 Kevin John Coyne 4

1994 | Peak: #56

So, Alan Jackson is at the peak of his first wave of popularity, and he partners up with a still-potent George Jones to cover one of the Possum’s greatest singles.

I qualify that statement with “one of”, simply because “He Stopped Loving Her Today”, “The Window Up Above”, and “She Thinks I Still Care” exist, but in my personal opinion, the original recording of “A Good Year for the Roses” really is the best George Jones single.

Retro Single Review: Alan Jackson, "Gone Country"

July 14, 2012 Kevin John Coyne 7

“I hear down there, it’s changed, you see. They’re not as backward as they used to be.”

Album Review: Zac Brown Band, <i>Uncaged</i>

July 10, 2012 Ben Foster 3

Zac Brown Band
Uncaged

Uncaged may be the product of studio recording sessions, but it pulses with the energy of a live set.

Album Review: Alan Jackson, <i>Thirty Miles West</i>

July 2, 2012 Kevin John Coyne 3

Alan Jackson
Thirty Miles West

Jackson does so many basic things right on his new album that it’s tempting to award him five stars right off the bat.

The production is clean, his singing get in the way of the song, and those songs have complete ideas and actual structure. It’s the first mainstream country album in a long time that isn’t overrun with production tricks, or kicking up the loudness to eleven, or playing an exaggerated personality type that’s condescending to its audience.

Retro Single Review: Alan Jackson, "Livin' on Love"

June 10, 2012 Kevin John Coyne 1

1994 | Peak: #1

So catchy, so charming, and so full of little funny details that you can forgive him for ripping off “Two Sparrows in a Hurricane” so blatantly.

Retro Single Review: Alan Jackson, "Summertime Blues"

May 29, 2012 Kevin John Coyne 7

1994 | Peak: #1

A blatant attempt to recreate the “Chattahoochee” phenomenon.

Retro Single Review: Alan Jackson, "(Who Says) You Can't Have it All"

April 29, 2012 Leeann Ward 3

1993 | Peak: #4

“(Who Says) You Can’t Have It All” is not just an average song of lost love. Rather, the loss translates into a certain resolution from a man who is the lord and master of his proverbial castle that has turned into nothing more than a lonely room with “a ceiling, a floor and four walls”, full of pictures and memories of the broken past.