Laura Bell Bundy’s second country album, titled Achin’ & Shakin’, is essentially a two-sided record—the “Achin’” side, a collection of ballads produced by Nathan Chapman [Taylor Swift], is up front while the “Shakin’” side, produced by Mike Shimshack, serves as the album’s back end.
The two halves couldn’t be more different, and not just because of the tempo and tone of the songs. Bundy’s tact shifts considerably, too—on Achin’, she focuses her energy on singing the hell out of a series of high quality songs, while on Shakin’ her attention is directed more towards selling a set of theatrical, often campy up-tempos that rely more on her skills as an actress than as a vocalist.
Bundy’s first single came from Shakin’, and was it ever a disaster. “Giddy On Up” is gimmicky song with tinny production that does nothing to draw out Bundy’s warm, sultry warble. To the contrary, her voice sounded nasally and stifled, and the song stalled at #31 on the Country singles chart.
Thank God Bundy’s label, Mercury, has decided to drop the next single from Chapman’s exemplary subset.
“Drop on By,” written by Brice Long and Ronnie Rogers, showcases a vibrant vocalist at the top of her game. Bundy’s an outstanding interpretor when given material to work with, and she demonstrates that here by handling this swanky “come back” ballad with a deft touch. To be sure, this is a little different than most of the fare being offered to country radio these days—it’s a little bit smoky, with some jazz undertones that really play up the Broadway star’s New York City connection.
That’s a good thing, because country music could stand for a shot of flair right now. Bundy’s cabaret country provides a satisfying counterpoint to the overblown arena pop that has been flooding the format.
An unnecessary string section runs through the chorus, and tempts the track into melodramatic territory. It’s a dangerous production choice, since Bundy—coming from a theatrical background—already has a tendency to “overact” in her singing. Sometimes, her instinct to play the role of the song’s narrator makes her singing feel a bit impersonal.
Thankfully, that’s not the case here, and the strings never distract from Bundy’s wonderful performance. This girl’s got soul, and panache, and country radio sure could use some of that.
I had a bit of a soft spot for “Giddy on Up,” but this is definitely better, and I hope it does better at radio. I love the mix of genre influences. It has a nice bluesy sound with a touch of traditional country, and it all sounds great.
I much prefer the ballad side of the album to the uptempo side, which is interesting because I prefer uptempo music. I did love “Giddy on Up” though, but some of the other uptempos aren’t so good, IMO.
This however, is not my favorite ballad. I would’ve preferred “Homecoming Queen” or “Curse the Bed” for my favorites, or “Cigarette” because I think of the Achin’ side that its the most radio-friendly. This should do alright, but I don’t think it will do better than her debut single did.
Ben and/or Nicolas: Can you describe what it was about “Giddy On Up” that you liked?
I loved the twangy vocal performance she gave, it had a lot of personality about it that really worked for the song; reminded me a bit of Dolly Parton or Kellie Pickler, who are some of my favorites. And I thought the lyrics were really clever and I enjoyed the driving production w/ the fiddle and banjo.
One thing I liked about “Giddy On Up” was the fact that, if you heard it, you didn’t forget it. The aggressive production really caused it to stand out from everything else on the radio. Plus I thought she totally sold the vocals. Her performance was brimming with attitude, especially on lines like “You better be movin’ on.” But from a lyrical standpoint, it was a typical girl power kiss-off cheating song. There was really nothing special about the lyrics except a reference to Bath & Body Works, so I understand why many critics loathed it, and I can’t really defend it. It mainly made its mark through the vocals and production.
I liked “Giddy On Up” – but I agree that “Drop On By” is a better song and vocal performance – this girl has promise!
Also, the strings on the latter were not “unnecessary” in my opinion – and not only “never distracted” but added a welcome “Dusty Springfield”/ countrypolitan feel that was most welcome.
All in all, fine first outing for her – hope she makes another one!
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I agree one thing I really liked about “Giddy On Up” was the fact that, if you heard it, you didn’t forget it. Was really great in every way.