Brad Paisley's New Album "Fifth Gear"

Brad Paisley’s new album “5^th Gear” is definitely a hit in the country world. Honestly, I had never listened to any of his stuff before this, so this is my first taste of a man from a genre I know very little about. The album is, in many ways, a traditional country album with some weird twists. For instance, the single Ticks has some interesting pick-up lines about going to a dark romantic places and picking ticks off a girl in places that are hard to reach. Songs such as All I Wanted Was a Car and Letter to Me are reminiscent of his youth—probably as a result of a new son in his life—while songs such as Online are clever with their satirical lyrics.

Some of the songs are quite good. Mr. Policeman reminds of older folk music that I really enjoy. If Love Was a Plane captures the risk of love with some interesting and powerful metaphors.

But overall the songs such as I’m Still A Guy reflect the male chauvinism of much of modern America, and Ticks has a catchy tune, but horribly sappy lyrics with metaphors that are just plain weird. The album in many places is just very sappy. Perhaps it is my lack of exposure to country, but if some of the songs were meant to be witty they turned out quite bland.

This album receives about a 3 out of 5