Album Review: Blake Shelton – Startin’ Fires

Many savvy observers of mainstream country recognize Blake Shelton as one of the format’s finest interpreters of a song. On his fifth studio album, the Oklahoma native and beau of firecracker Miranda Lambert (a connection alluded to by the title track) does not fail to impress, offering vocal performances worthy of past career highlights like “Austin,” “Goodbye Time,” and “Home.”

Sadly, this new batch of songs never quite allows Shelton to return to those artistic heights. The problem isn’t one of inconsistency–in fact, quite the opposite. The material and production is almost unfailingly solid, so seldom daring to disappoint or really excel that the songs end up bleeding together.

The flow of the collection is limited and repetitive, with the first three songs revealing most of what’s to come in the next eight. It begins with the country pride anthem “Green,” the lovin’ groove of “Good at Startin’ Fires,” and the regret-filled “She Wouldn’t Be Gone.” Then there’s the country pride anthem “Country Strong,” the lovin’ groove of “This Is Gonna Take All Night,” and the regret-filled “100 Miles.” Finally, there’s the country pride anthem “Home Sweet Home,” the lovin’ groove of “Never Lovin’ You,” and the regret-filled “I Don’t Care” (curiously repeated from Pure BS).

The album’s production is marked by similar consistency, with most of the songs occupying the same mid-tempo, countrypolitan-meets-new-traditional sonic territory. This is a space where Shelton sounds good and clearly feels at home, but producer Scott Hendricks would have done well to mix things up a bit in the interest of giving fans a more dynamic listening experience. The sonic and thematic consistency (verging on repetitiveness) of the whole means that songs and performances that might be excellent in themselves become hard to differentiate or, even worse, occasionally even forgettable in context.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the album’s finest moment is the one in which it dares to stray from its established course. The album-ending duet with Lambert on “Bare Skin Rug” (recorded in an intimate fireside setting) is affecting and quirky and everything else an album by an interesting character like Shelton should be. If he had taken a few more chances like that, Startin’ Fires could have been something really special.

Instead, it’s just very good, expertly-sung contemporary country that manages to satisfy even as it refuses to challenge convention or try anything especially new–such music certainly has its place.