Kip Moore seems to have been though the mill a bit since his debut album ‘Up All Night’ introduced him to the country music world as an exciting newcomer. Having released a few singles that failed to impact radio in a meaningful way reports say he scrapped a whole album and started afresh, coming up with ‘Wild Ones’, his long-overdue sophomore record. In interviews Kip talks of the pain he has been feeling over the last three years after hitting dead-end after dead-end in the attempt to release new material, and so I expected a lot of that frustration to come out in ‘Wild Ones’.
I was largely disappointed by ‘Wild Ones’ in that respect, since not many of the songs seemed very personal, more focusing on an all-encompassing arena-rock sound, even more than on ‘Up All Night’. Kicking off with ‘Wild Ones’, fans who have seen his amazing live show will be familiar with it as an upbeat show-opener. On record it is largely the same, but with some interesting production, focusing heavily on drums, as Kip does to some extent throughout the album. I quite like this since it adds a certain weight to the song, making it sound much more primal, working for both his Springsteen-esque vocals and simple lyrics.
‘Come And Get It’ is a better song, and one that may also have been familiar to some fans. Whilst still having a certain emphasis on the bass drum, it is more interesting vocally as well as melodically. However, as is the trend throughout the album, there isn’t too much of interest in the lyrics since Kip has focused too much on his arena-rock sound, whilst largely ignoring the style of some of his most heartfelt songs such as the stripped-back ‘Faith When I Fall’ and ‘Hey Pretty Girl’. Having said this there are some very good rock songs on ‘Wild Ones’, such as my favorite ‘Lipstick’, which is based around life on tour and has an intensity that is somewhat lacking on some of the other similarly-styled songs.
Having talked about arena-rock, which comprises most of the album, it’s important to note the songs that do buck the trend and show a softer side to Kip. Songs like ‘Girl Of The Summer’ show what he can do with a softer sound. With a really nice guitar refrain as an intro the really smooth melody begins, suiting Kip’s powerful-yet-raspy vocals really well. Likewise ‘Running For You’ is the most romantic song on the album, and also one of the more subdued sounds, with a more subtle drum beat and some electric guitar as backing for the verses. Melodically the song is satisfying, and along with Kip’s stunning rugged good looks he’s succeeded in persuading many of his women-fans that this is the most mind-blowing song ever written (it’s not).
Overall, ‘Wild Ones’ is OK. It’s not as good as ‘Up All Night’ even though some of the songs are better, there just isn’t enough variety on the album. If Kip had included his fantastic song ‘Dirt Road’ then I think it would have made the world of difference, giving the album more of a heartfelt feel. The final track ‘Comeback Kid’ does this, but 13 tracks in, it’s too late, the impression of the album is already made.
As for the overall theme of the album, it seems to revolve a lot around girls and sex, with songs like ‘What You Got On Tonight’ and ‘Backseat’ (from the deluxe version) being quite graphic and a bit cringey to listen to. For a guy who can’t stop talking about how much of a badass he is not giving a damn about other people, making the music he wants to make and telling the current trends to screw themselves, he doesn’t seem afraid to use sex as a selling point. I wonder where I’ve seen that before, it can’t be in mainstream country can it?
Originally posted here.
