BIG AND RICH: “Between Raising Hell and Amazing Grace” (Warner Bros., 2 stars)
Despite their grandiose claims of creating a genre-busting “country music without prejudice,” Big and Rich have always come across as more gimmicky than good.
This time out, the duo frontload all their serious, slow to mid-tempo material, but none of it matches the best from their previous two albums. Cliche-filled efforts like “Lost in This Moment” and “Faster Than Angels Fly” (“They burned the candle at both ends”) underscore just how hokey and trite these two supposed rebels can be.
The boisterous stuff comes on “Side B,” but much of it has a recycled feel. “Radio” is a variation of “Comin’ to Your City” from the duo’s last album, and “Please Man” is the obligatory rock-and-rap number, with Wyclef Jean filling in for Cowboy Troy (who has his own new album). A countrified version of AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long” is fun, but we can only hope that “High Five” is meant as a parody. Otherwise, it is truly dreadful.
– N.C.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
