Craig Morgan - “Love Remembers”
Morgan’s first single for BNA (after abruptly leaving Broken Bow earlier this year), “Love Remembers” is a slickly-produced radio track destined to impact the Country charts like no Morgan single before it. From top to bottom, this is not only a hit, but a gigantic, smash hit. It will undoubtedly be one of the handful of songs that defines the summer format, playing out from the exposed speakers of open pick-up doors and ringing, tinny, from compact beach-blanket boom boxes.
In a move that stands to pay huge dividends, Morgan has here abandoned the sometimes quirky, often twangy nature of his music, instead offering what sits as a startling departure from songs like “Redneck Yacht Club” and “International Harvester.”
“Love Remembers” is full of vibrant, colorful imagery (”The taste of cotton candy lip gloss on the lips of a long kiss“) that is nonetheless, at times, disjointed–it is a song less concerned with telling a story in sequence than it is with creating an aesthetic. The concept that “Love Remembers,” as illustrated by various lyrical examples, is far more important here than any specific scenario in the lyric.
The result is a song that sounds really cool–until you start thinking about what it actually means.
In addition to being a song that floats around the edges of various visual motifs (summer, rain), “Love Remembers” copies whole pages from the Rascal Flatts playbook, offering up the kind of crescendoing and over-sung pop-country that the public en masse so readily consumes.
What Morgan set out to do–produce a mega-hit and re-position himself as a top-tier radio contender–he has done not only effectivley but superbly.
But it is still exceptionally disappointing to hear him succumb to the temptations of the format.
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17 Comments
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May 12, 2008 at 4:55 am Permalink
That was awful. I really like Craig (and puts on a superb live show) but this is really off. It is way over sung crushing any sort of nuance he usually has in his music. I agree with the RF observation as well-it is like you put a half dozen RF ditties in a blender to come up with this. I know we all have to make concessions to commerce but it really bums me out when an artist I like strips their work of the cool things that made it them.
May 12, 2008 at 7:07 am Permalink
Good call, paint by numbers pop-country. Good voice, shame about the cop out for the chart lottery though.
May 12, 2008 at 9:51 am Permalink
I dont get the “sell-out” perspective with Morgan. The songs that you mentioned (”yacht club”, ” intl harvester”) are exactly what country radio has loved for many years, and those are exactly the songs that pander to the middle america, top 40 audience. “Thats what I like about sundays” was a big hit for him and it is the typical, “slice o’ life / list” song that is as predictable as Tim McGraw renewing his membership to the tanning parlor. Perhaps those songs werent “summer anthems” and didnt result in him becoming a stadium headliner, but lets not act like he is friggin’ Lyle Lovett deciding that he needs to start cutting Jeffrey Steele songs to be more popular….
May 12, 2008 at 2:09 pm Permalink
In my view, Morgan has always been aiming at the top ten on radio, and this song is just part of the trend. Maybe its a slightly more blatantly commercial effort, but emphasis on slightly.
I agree with Kelly, too, that “Yacht Club” and (especially) “International Harvester” was pandering to part of the audience.
May 12, 2008 at 2:40 pm Permalink
“but lets not act like he is friggin’ Lyle Lovett deciding that he needs to start cutting Jeffrey Steele songs to be more popular….”
that was awesome.
May 12, 2008 at 4:33 pm Permalink
Well Craig Morgan’s voice for me has always been weak- sort like Aaron Tippen lite. I have also thought that his songs were geared to a part of the country music community that was ignored by pop-country singers. I never found offense in his music- but it wasn’t Willie or Hank or even Hank, Jr. But this song( which sounds like John Rich in some ways)hits back on a point I can never make enough of: The need for bigger fame with poorer quality songs. Anyone with a mind can hear those cliches. Why do you country singers( especially male ones) think that the only way to really grab their listener is to fill up three minutes with general, unreal cliches. That shows a true lack of respect for the listener. It tells the listener that the music isn’t important but the feeling is. It is also a cheap way to get a hit- without real effort or grace. Just here- here are all the feelings wrapped up in simple music so you can feel good for three minutes without thinking. I don’t think the average country listener is that dumb- but he/she can only take what radio and CMT offer them. Shame. Shame on Craig Morgan. His fame will burn bright but probably fast. He has no substance as an artist- or maybe he never was one to start.
May 12, 2008 at 5:23 pm Permalink
I think if we’re going to talk about Craig Morgan’s “cop-out” catalog, we really can’t exclude highlights like “I Got You” and “Little Bit of Life” (can you say “vacuous list song?”). “Redneck Yacht Club” may have been radio-friendly, but it at least had some personality, and it seemed to indicate at the time that maybe Morgan was finding his artistic niche as sort of a novelty man. But there goes that hope.
May 12, 2008 at 6:06 pm Permalink
I’m neutral on Morgan but I 100% hate those huge International Harversters hogging the highway when I gotta be somewhere. I paid for the road too. At least let me have my half.
May 12, 2008 at 6:23 pm Permalink
I thought Craig had found his niche and hit his stride with “Little Bit of Life” and “International Harvester”. Now I just think he’s over-reaching to sound totally commercial on this cut. It seems that the “Big Nashville Label Syndrome” is about to transform Craig into something unrecognizable to his long time fans. It reminds me of the Ricky Skaggs song, off his “Live In London” CD, titled “Don’t Get Above Your Raise’n”……
May 13, 2008 at 2:18 am Permalink
Jim, I’m so glad you reviewed this song. Until I read your review, I thought I was the only one who didn’t like it. My radio station played it a couple weeks ago to get listener comments and people were calling in saying that it was awesome. I thought I was missing the point of the song or something, but I guess they just like the “over-sung pop-country.” You’re probably right that it will be a hit.
May 13, 2008 at 2:49 pm Permalink
Great pic of Craig at the top of the article, by the way.
;-)
May 13, 2008 at 7:19 pm Permalink
I’m listening to this song right now and it has no impact on me at the moment, I think it will take me a few more listens to finally get used to this song!
May 13, 2008 at 7:38 pm Permalink
It’s a decent song that is over done for Craig Morgan but not other pop-country artists. His more acoustic sound is preferred to this but at least he has another hit on his hands.
May 14, 2008 at 12:34 am Permalink
Jim,
It was reviewed @ allaccess and it looks as if they read your review and the comments here (Glossing over that you basically said what they say about it likely being a ginormous hit of this coming summer).
May 14, 2008 at 10:56 am Permalink
I love this song!! I enjoy it, and cannot wait to hear what he is going to do next!! WAY TO GO CRAIG!
May 14, 2008 at 8:55 pm Permalink
I think this review and the comments are way off. I’ll be the first to point out a “sell-out”, just as I did with my former favorite artist Kenny Chesney, but Craig Morgan is definitely not one of these guys. I see no “pop” in this song. I see another great song with lyrics that paint a picture just as most of CM’s songs do. Most songwriters envy CM’s ability to do this. Whether he pens them or not(which in most cases he does), his album is full of these songs. CM hasn’t sold out and you’ll see on his upcoming album.
May 14, 2008 at 10:55 pm Permalink
Out of curiosity, have you guys heard his self-titled debut from 2000? He actually started out fairly traditional and has become less so with each release. This latest single is atrocious.
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