Blaine Larsen – “It Did”

Great review.

“The preternaturally deep-voiced youngster is an undeniably gifted singer who elevates the quality of much of the material he touches – and who too often chooses material of such quality that it requires elevation.”

This is how I feel about Blaine Larsen. He has an excellent, warm voice, but his song choices haven’t impressed me much. I have his first album and many of the songs sound pretty pedestrian for a guy with such a strong, mature voice. I know he was young when he recorded, but the voice didn’t match the age while the songs did. It was a little disconcerting.

I agree its not the greatest song in the world, but I’d be lieing if I said I didn’t like it…I am such a big fan of Blaine, and really want to see him break through.

Pick up his second album, “rockin’ you tonight”, an album I thought was overlooked by many people.

Does Blaine have a smooth voice? Probably one of the smoothest.

But there’s something I enjoy more about the edge of Brad’s voice.

Or maybe more like “which do you want, the Big Mac or Whopper”…

I don’t like the way it seems like Larsen is slowing down the lyrics as compared to Paisley’s version. That may only be because I’m so used to Paisley’s version.

“Rockin You Tonight,” was a great album.

30 years ago Larsen would’ve been a pretty big act in country music. The guy is in the wrong time frame

So its better than what radio is currently serving up…

Was that suppose to be a compliment?

True. But Brad did write “Online” and “I’m Still a Guy” which beat out “It Did” as a single largely, if not entirely, because of the business of songwriting. Not the quality of the songs. Don’t get me wrong, Brad’s a fantastic writer, singer, and showman. Both of those other son gs were excellent. He could have put out almost anything from 5th gear and it would have done well. But given the option to make a pile of money off a single and have a hit, or to have a hit and not make nearly as much money, I think the choice is clear.
And “It Did” is not just better than what radio has been serving up. It’s a return to actual talent. As fans, we should embrace and artists like Blaine Larsen, Brad Paisley, and Josh Turner before we lose our genre.

First of all, I would like to express my opinion on 5th Gear and Brad’s version of the song. Brad is my favorite artist, and I think 5th Gear is one of his best albums. It has a great variety of music and every song is likeable. Even(if not especially)”It Did”. I think this song is beautiful, i liked it from the first time i heard it. But mind you, I am female, and women usually have a better ear for beautiful love songs than men do.

I have yet to hear Blaine’s version of this song. This is because I came across this review without knowing that Blaine redid it. I have searched iTunes and YouTube for the song, but I cannot find it. I would highly appreciate if somebody would post a link to his song, or show me how to find it, so I can add on to this comment.

On the songwriting debate, I’m on Leeann’s side. An artist doesn’t release a single because they wrote it. They release a song because they think that fans will like it. They want the radio to play songs that will not only make money, but also recruit fans. They want people to think “I like this song, I should listen to some more songs by this artist, maybe even buy the album”. This is what happened to me with “Ticks”, and now i’m practically in love with the guy. And I like songs that weren’t written by who sings them. Kenny Chesney didn’t write a single song on “Poets and Pirates”, but how many singles did he release from it? Four. And that is plenty.

I am in agreement with Matt M.

Also, if the reviewer is such an authority on song quality and lyrical presentation, perhaps soon there will be a song to review from the author of the article.

I thought the criticism in paragraphs 3 and 4 was pretty compelling, and I don’t see where you’d have to be a songwriter to notice the problem. And in general, I don’t think that you have to be a practitioner of something in order to offer cogent opinions about it. That being said, the nature, intensity and manner of expression that characterizes much of much of the song criticism here does tend to make a “if it’s as easy as you seem to suggest, why aren’t you doing it” response more understandable.

Amen to that. And BTW, the notion that artists don’t release certain songs because they don’t write them is not conjecture, theory or opinion. It’s an absolute fact that many artists, especially ones in the position of Paisley, who can release almost anything to guaranteed high chart positions and audience accolades, will release their own songs over that of others’. And who can blame them? Given the option to make someone else a buttload of cash, or keep it for yourself, I think it’s safe to say that almost all of us would choose the latter. Sorry LeeAnn, but I was right on that statement. I’m sure of it.

As for the review, let us no lose perspective, folks. When a promising new artist like Blaine Larsen hits the scene, we all need to keep in mind that the artists doing real country music are growing fewer and further between with each passing year. Jamey Johnson, Easton Corbin, and yes, Blaine Larsen, all need and deserve our support as real country fans. We can nit-pick over whether we think this lyric is touching enough here or descriptive enough there. But Alan Jackson can’t keep singing about Bologna forever. If we keep tearing down the great new artists before they can get traction, we’ll all be listening to “WTAY… All Taylor Swift, all the time!”

Oh, and one more thing, Mel. Not that it really matters, but “It Did” relates to Blaine Larsen’s personal life more closely to that of Paisley’s. Paisley had to actually change the words from the original Marv Green version to acommodate his real-life experience (Paisley’s wife had a son, not a daughter). Larsen’s actual life experience fit in perfectly with the lyric of this song. No lyric changes required.