by Brady Vercher

I seriously wanted to like Gary Allan’s latest album, Living Hard. I’ve been to more of his concerts than can be counted on one hand. I thought his previous four albums were outstanding and I wanted this one to be outstanding as well. But it didn’t work out that way and I was disappointed. The consensus amongst everyone I had spoken with about the album turned out to be the same. I should have been prepared after the comments he made, describing the album as having more edge than his previous, already edgy albums.

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It just wasn’t the same. I commenced to writing an entire review about how disappointing the album was, but when I sat down and starting thinking about it, something happened. I started to realize just how great Allan’s performance on this collection of songs really is. In this age of digital perfection and technically proficient vocals, Gary Allan is able to do something that most artists aren’t capable of. He injects a raw emotion, a completely honest emotion, into his vocal performance that forces you to take notice

The lead single, “Watching Airplanes,” kicks off the album and upon it’s release it showed some promise and in some ways, it mirrors Allan himself; both provide a reprieve from the monotony of the “me too” mentality inherent in current mainstream happy-go-lucky releases.

In Allan’s previous release, Tough All Over, his pain and anger were on full display, whereas you can witness his healing and growth in Living Hard, even though he hasn’t yet fully healed. The journey is evident on “We Touched The Sun,” “Yesterday’s Rain,” and “Learning How To Bend,” the latter of which finds Allan nailing a few falsettos.

The biggest blemish on the record is top-of-the-lungs shouting rocker, “Wrecking Ball.” The restraint showcased on the the rest of the album somehow got misplaced and lines like “I’m a wreck y’all / She’s a wrecking ball,” don’t really do much to help. Despite that, it’s probably a big hit at his live shows. The only other cut that’s nearly as rowdy, is the title cut, “Living Hard.” Amongst the crazy guitars, Allan sings about “baring my soul for the price of your ticket.” It’s an autobiographical cut about life on the road, which again is probably gobbled up live, but it doesn’t translate well to record. Both “Wrecking Ball” and “Living Hard” seem to be out of place when the record is taken as a whole, which is odd, considering “Living Hard” is the title track.

At a time when fires are raging out of control in California, sparking the largest evacuation in that state’s history, it seems eerily prescient as Allan sings, “She’s a wild fire out of control, headed for ya. So when you get burned, don’t say I didn’t warn ya.” Those words come from a song called “She’s So California.” Say what!?!?!?

Allan’s cover of “Half of My Mistakes” doesn’t really deviate from Radney Foster’s version, which isn’t a bad thing and will surely bring more exposure to a song that’s worth hearing. In actuality, it sounds like it would fit in to one of his previous albums.

Overall, Gary Allan has made an artistic statement with Living Hard and despite my initial dissapointment, that is worth being lauded. He certainly hasn’t remained stagnant and the transition is actually a logical one. Besides, it’s not “Like It’s A Bad Thing” that he don’t do it like everybody else does. The album could have been an all out rock fest, but Allan shows suprising restraint in delivering masterful performances and only a couple of bad ones.

3 1/2 stars