Clint Black Album: “No Time To Kill”

On his impressive 1989 debut, Clint Black was KILLING TIME. Four years later, on this release, Black had NO TIME TO KILL. It's no wonder, as stardom led to a hectic touring schedule and marriage to a Hollywood vixen, in addition to his commitment to write all of his own material.

Black's traditional brand of western swing provided some of the best moments in late '80s - early '90s country and he continued to maintain this level of uptempo excellence with the title cut and "Good Run Of Bad Luck." A ballad, however, provided Black with his best recording up to that point: a spinetingling duet with Wynonna on "A Bad Goodbye." The sparse "Half The Man" hits home emotionally as well. A couple of the other ballads aren't too memorable and create a few potholes along the way. Overall, though, NO TIME TO KILL was a strong effort which kept Black in the country fast lane.

I like Clint Black's album No Time To Kill. With the exception of Clint's hit duet with Wynonna Judd, "A Bad Goodbye", this record is more country-sounding than its predecessor, The Hard Way. Clint wrote most of the songs on this record with his long-time songwriting partner and friend, Hayden Nicholas, and those two guys did an excellent job for the most part. "I'll Take Texas", "Half The Man", "Thinkin' Again", "Back To Back", "A Good Run Of Bad Luck"(from the movie Maverick) and the title song "No Time To Kill" are all strong collaborations by Clint and Hayden. Clint also wrote two songs by himself here: "State Of Mind" and the aforementioned "A Bad Goodbye". I think "State Of Mind" has the best lyrics on the album.

However, even though No Time To Kill is a solid record overall, I think it's one song short of being a great album. Clint usually closes his records with great songs, but on this record, I think he and co-producer James Stroud made a major "miss" when they picked the closing song. "Tuckered Out", the concluding song on No Time To Kill, is the song that drags this record down, in my opinion. In "Tuckered Out", Clint uses the names of numerous country artists, including Tanya Tucker, from whom he got the song's title. "Tuckered Out" is a rollicking song, but it's also kind of silly coming from Clint. However, I think "Tuckered Out" is the only low point on a record that overall is well-done. Elsewhere on the record, Clint shows why he got popular in the first place: by writing and singing meaningful songs. For the most part, he did himself proud. No Time To Kill is not Clint's best album, but it's still a solid album from a guy who I think is one of the best performers in country music.

This is album #4 for Mr. Black. After three awesome CD's Clint started to sound too commercial. This album isn't bad but compared to his first three, it falls short. There are a few good songs such as the title cut which has a similar sound to We Tell Ourselves from his last album. A Bad Goodbye with Wynonna Judd is a weak ballad that dosen't compare to Loving Blind or The Hard Way or even the Martina McBride duet "Still Holding On". Tuckered Out is a goofy little ditty song with several country artists named into the lyrics with Tanya Tucker being in the title- I quickly got tired of this novelty song. Whatever happen to great closing songs like Wake Up Yesterday and The Good-night Loving? Anyway, if you want a good Black CD, go out and buy The Hard Way, Put Yourself In My Shoes or Killin' Time. Only buy this after you have heard those and then you'll know what I'm talking about.

I like Clint Black's album No Time To Kill. With the exception of Clint's hit duet with Wynonna Judd, "A Bad Goodbye", this record is more country than its predecessor, The Hard Way. Clint wrote most of the songs here with his songwriting partner and friend, Hayden Nicholas, and for the most part those guys did an excellent job. "Half The Man", "A Good Run Of Bad Luck"(from the movie Maverick), "I'll Take Texas", and the title song "No Time To Kill" are other strong collaborations by Clint and Hayden. The one song(in addition to "A Bad Goodbye") that Clint wrote by himself, "State Of Mind", is also well-written. I think "State Of Mind" has the best lyrics on the album.

However, even though No Time To Kill is a well-done record, I disagree with the reviewers(including Amazon.com's reviewer) who think it's a better album than its predecessor, The Hard Way. I have the tape of the latter album, and there are no "throwaway" songs on The Hard Way--just excellent Clint Black music. On the other hand, No Time To Kill, though it is a solid album, is one song short of being a great album. "Tuckered Out", the concluding song, is the song that drags this album down, in my opinion. In the song, Clint uses the names of numerous country artists(including Tanya Tucker, from whom he got the song's title). It's a rollicking song, but it's also kind of silly coming from Clint, a guy who elsewhere on the album shows that he can write and sing meaningful songs. However, "Tuckered Out" is the only low point on an album that overall is well done. No Time To Kill is not Clint's best album, but it's still a solid album from one of the best performers in country music.

This CD Contains Some Songs That Are On The Greatest Hits Album. Some Are Not. The Songs I Like On Here Are The Title Track, "State Of Mind", "A Bad Goodbye" A Romantic Duet With Wynonna Judd, "A Good Run Of Bad Luck" Which Appeared On The Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster Movie "Maverick", "Half The Man", And "Tuckered Out".