George Strait

The Road Less Traveled

A great return to form

Review Score:

(10/10)
George Strait set very high standards for himself with virtually every album he recorded between 1981 and 1994. Since then, although his popularity has continued to rise, his albums have been more uneven in terms of song quality. With this album, Strait is back at his very best, which guarantees a rock solid country album by a true legend. He experiments with his sound on Rodney Crowell's "Stars On The Water", complete with voice distortion. The singer of "All My Ex's Live In Texas" allowing voice distortion? Yes - and the results are superb, still unquestionably George Strait. His trademark honky tonk sound is represented by "Good Time Charley's" and "The Real Thing", while anyone who hears "Don't Tell Me You're Not In Love" on the way to work will be whistling it for the rest of the day - a very strong melody in the best Strait tradition of "Easy Come, Easy Go". The album finishes with a cover of Merle Haggard's "My Life's Been Grand" - so good it could have been on classic Strait albums such as "Beyond The Blue Neon", "Holding My Own" and "Livin' It Up". This album is as good as anything he has recorded in the past - the real thing, indeed.

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