Artist: Kenny Chesney
Album: Life on a Rock
Label: Blue Chair/Columbia/Sony Music
Rating: 2.5 / 5
Review by: Henry Lees
After over 20 years in the business and 14 albums released, Kenny Chesney is certainly nothing short of prolific in his artistry. So, it’s not totally surprising that he would release two albums in less than twelve months. Chesney’s done that before with 2005’s Be As You Are and The Road and The Radio but, was the song pile really ripe enough to pick from this soon again? The gems are too few and far between on Life on a Rock to be able to say yes.
Life on a Rock bows just 10 months after Chesney released Welcome to the Fishbowl last June, and it seems not so much an extension of that album as it does an understated, laid back response to it. Chesney wrote or co-wrote 8 out of the 10 tracks. Life on a Rock is breezy, contented, dotted with wry observations and full of the island-inspired sentiment that fans have come to know and love from the Caribbean Cowboy, whereas Welcome to the Fishbowl resonated with deeper, rawer emotion and passion. This is feet up, slowly rockin’ in the hammock with a warm breath of wind teasing your face and something cool to sip in hand kinda music. Sounds like anyone’s ideal Sunday afternoon, but by and large, the songs on Life is a Rock will not be the ones that whip fans into a frenzy during Chesney’s current No Shoes Nation Tour. Life on a Rock is Chesney at his most chill.
The album’s lead single and first track, “Pirate Flag”, is one of a few exceptions on the album that will likely find it’s place among Chesney’s canon of party pumpers, but not because it’s really worthy of it. After a promising, nautical-feeling ukulele and organ intro, Chesney dives into the first verse…and gives us a slowly rapped personal history lesson. This recent trend of speak-singing verses (à la Blake Shelton, Jason Aldean) needs to run its course. To my mind, it should’ve been done before it started. While “Pirate Flag” does have a refreshing, funky feel, it’s not one of Chesney’s finer efforts.
After this initial misstep, Life on a Rock packs a one-two punch with two of the best tracks on the album. While “When I See This Bar” takes way too long to kick in, (Let’s hope a radio edit will help that out.) it recalls the best of John Mellencamp’s early sound and provides some wonderfully-coloured reminiscences of the best of times and the much loved place that housed them. The way Chesney drawls out “and I taste beers with a hint of lime” had me instantly thirsty for a crisp Corona. “Pieces of our past seem to slip away but, time stands still when I walk in this place.” Whether they’re a favourite watering hole or some other place, we all have them and the song deftly takes us right back there. Secondly, “Spread the Love”, is straight ahead, beach boogie reggae with a love thy neighbour message. There’s nothing groundbreaking about this combo, but with The Wailers, experts in the genre, providing the music and Chesney providing relatable, not-too-lofty lyrics along with a comfortable and convincing vocal track, it’s an easy buy-in and an album bright spot.
A trio of gentle acoustic numbers mark the mid-point of Life on a Rock, spinning tales of beloved, quirky island characters (“Lindy”), waving goodbye to a day on the ocean (“It’s That Time of Day”) and a whimsical duet with Willie Nelson, “Coconut Tree”. It makes one wonder if Chesney will ever run out of ways to tell us how much he loves the islands. Probably not, but sometimes the descriptors used are a little worn and tired. Yet, at other times, they’re enticing and intriguing. Just what is he singing about with the repeated line, “Adios to Jost” in “It’s That Time of Day”? It’s a tip of the hat to Jost Van Dyke, the smallest of the four main islands in the British Virgin bunch. To those of us not in the know, it’s a line that provides an element of mystery that feels a bit like we’re peeking into Chesney’s private journal. With that nod to his favourite Caribbean spot in mind, Chesney is donating part of the proceeds from the sales of Life on a Rock to Friends of the US Virgin Islands National Park to “ensure the legacy of nature for coming generations.” Good on him.
For the remainder of the album, the gently rocking title track and another acoustic beach ballad, “Marley”, provide unremarkable sonic sign posts but, the latter’s confessional lyrics are an insightful lead in to another stand out track. “Must Be Something I Missed”is a shuffle that looks back openly and intelligently at a time when the singer was in emotional turmoil. “I wake up in the morning just making a fist. I don’t call it livin’, I just exist. There must be something I missed.”
The album closer is also its most personal and affecting moment. “Happy on the Hey Now (A Song for Kristi)” is a tribute to Chesney’s long time friend and resident of St. John., Kristi Hansen. Unfortunately, Hansen passed away and this song is a soft, beautiful, moving tribute to the bond Chesney and his other island friends shared with her. “And you’ll live with us as long as memories stay alive. And you left us with so many Kristi. You will never die.”
As Chesney writes in the album’s liner notes,“All these songs came from the heart and they came over time. They came from a place in my soul where I hang on to so many emotions.” There’s no doubt that Life on a Rock is meditative, intensely personal and provides another sun-dappled and rain-spotted window into Chesney’s world, but, the collection as a whole is overly downbeat and could use a little more bite to what it offers to chew on.
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