Album: Take The Weather With You
Artist: Jimmy Buffett
The crowd speaks an awkward hush as Jimmy Buffett performs his opening tracks at the Verizon Wireless Ampitheathere as he is singing some of his new tracks off “License To Chill” the album released with the infamous single “It’s 5 o’ Clock Somewhere”. Buffett’s fans are waiting for his famous songs such as “Cheeseburger In Paradise” or “Come Monday”. This makes Buffett’s goal for his new album “Take The Weather With You” obvious:
”To Make Them Sing along”.
A diehard Jimmy Buffet fan wouldn’t have a tough time admitting that Buffett’s last few albums have really been below average. The last album, “License To Chill”, was kind of like a country tribute to Buffett’s previous work, if you think about it. A kind of album that you really don’t want to listen to since Buffett isn’t really country and the guest stars shouldn’t ever have the privilege of singing on a JB album. The lyrics were kind of forced such as “What Would Jimmy Buffett do?” on “It’s 5 O’clock Somewhere” and some other songs such which is most apparent on the singles of the albums. So on Jimmy Buffett’s last album, he wasn’t really himself, he had to add guest starts to enhance the experience, would he need any of these on his new record?
No, this is a straight up Jimmy Buffett sing out loud record that he usually makes. Jimmy Buffett goes back to his acoustic/folk style which is most apparent on the opening track single “Bama Breeze”, as Jimmy Buffett sings with a calm acoustic guitar and what sounds like a harmonica on the background. JB sings one of the catchiest choruses I have seen him write in a while; the song is showing the fans that Jimmy is back to his old self all over again. The third-track “Take The Weather With You”, opens with Jimmy’s sing along vocals and again seems to be the most he has thought outside the box in a while. The song is a sing along [with what seems to be a female], with a keyboard in the background that really fits in well with Jimmy’s sort of deep vocals there is a brief keyboard hault and the acoustic guitar starts to flow in. This is one of Buffett’s smartest songs in a while, since structure wise it isn’t the same as his other songs. The fifth track is a nice acoustic love song “Whoop De Doo”, a straight up great song. The track features the best beat of the album and though is always in refrain Buffett’s vocals match the beat so perfectly that you can tell that he really took his time making this record. There is a bit of a brief beat change where the beat gets a little higher, sort of a breakdown but it’s cool because it’s leads perfectly in sort of a remix of the opening verse. Buffett’s proclaims toward the end of the song: “It’s funny that I used to give a damn”, proving that his lyrics have become more deep than his average song on the last album.
If you like the Jimmy Buffett on the last album there are still some songs left for you on “Take The Weather With You”. “Nothin’ But A Breeze”, is one of the more calm and relaxed songs beat wise on the album. The beat sounds like something you would here in “Volcano” on one of his older albums, are “Hey Good Lookin” on “License To Chill”. The song has a guitar solo throw in which sounds great especially along with it’s just got my feet wet off my beach. The chorus along with the rest of the album is very catchy. “Cinco De Mayo In Memphis”, is one of the songs on the album that I would say sounds like Buffett’s older work. It has a very nice Mexican beat and Jimmy’s lyrics and tone are as laidback as they have been on the whole album. So these are the songs if you like “License To Chill”.
But overall this seems like a reflective album than a “country” or “folk” album. This album gets as personal into Jimmy’s childhood, fun, depression, than any album he has released in his newer albums. This makes it for a more interesting and unpredictable experience. See on Buffett’s other albums you could tell that he was going to make a country album. But this album can be folk, acoustic, pop, but no matter what it will not be waste tracks and it won’t be straight up country.
Many things keep this from being the CD it has the potential to be. Some of the lyrical themes in the album can get repetitive so it may seem like you are hearing the same lyrics by Buffett just to a different beat. The second half of the CD is still good and features some nice songs, but lacks the emotion and consistency that the first half had. But still this is a great CD, just with a few flaws.
This is a nice effort by Buffett. He will have his fans singing along to this album, because it goes back to some of his old habits, it is not just one genre, and it has some of his best songs he has released on one collection in a long time. This album is highly recommended for big Jimmy Buffett fans and fans that are trying to get into him should try his earlier stuff on records such as “A1A” and “Songs You Know By Heart”. Jimmy Buffett is a great artist that after over 25 albums can still somehow reinvent his own sound.
Pros:
Not country like his last record.
The songs don’t all have the same beat.
Very well produced and catchy.
Even goes back to the acoustic guitar.
Cons:
Sometimes the lyrics can get repetitive.
The 2nd half of the album is good, but not as consistent as the first.
Download These:
Bama Breeze
Take The Weather With You
Whoop De Doo
Nothin’ But A Breeze
