Disco de Clint Black: “The Hard Way”

This is the last cd that Clint Black released that I can call country. There are a few signs of the things to come here, but you can let them slide by considering the quality of the songs. Almost all of these songs have pure country sounds. For some reason he changed his style to pure pop from stone country. Does he think we like that? Hmm. Get this and his the 2 previous releases and start praying for him to come to his senses.

I have all of Clint Blacks CD's except his newest one as I don't care for his duet with wife Lisa Hartman. If new singles are appealing to me I will buy it, but for now Clint has to prove that he still has it. I believe his first three albums (this is his third) are his best and rate them all 5 stars. Following this awesome album, Clint started to lose his originality as his music sounded so commercial. This Album has so many gems on it including my all time favorite Clint Black song, When My Ship Comes In, which was a number one hit in 1992. Surprisingly, it was omitted from his "alleged" Greatest Hits Package along with my other two favorites: Loving Blind and Where Are You Now, which were also number one hits.Enough Negitive remarks about Clint as I think he is one of the most gifted singer song writers ever. This album, which is now 7 years old gets more play than all of his other stuff combined as it has an original sound with a real country feel to it. The opening song, We Tell Ourselves, hit number one and probably was one of the most played songs of '92 because it is a great song. Like I mentioned earlier, When My Ship Comes In, is and will always be in my top 5 favorite country songs of all time as it has probably the best arrangment of instuments and lyrics I have ever heard. Buying Time, The Good Old Days and There Never Was A Train are among my favorite non singles which are much better than many of his recent singles. If you want an album without any filter or you just are wondering which Clint Black album to buy, make it this one! Clint- I hope your next album will be as good as this one!

The Hard Way was Clint Black's third release, held up for a spell due to legal problems with his record company and (former) manager. The wait was definitely worth it. As usual, Black co-wrote all of the songs, the majority with his guitarist Hayden Nicholas. The lyrics bear Black's trademark wit, while the melodies are more adventurous than before, thanks in part to Black's use of Nashville's top session players.

The toe-tapping opener "We Tell Ourselves" sets the tone for the rest of the album: aggressive, insightful, downbeat, but never maudlin. Uptempo tunes have always been Black's specialty and The Hard Way continues that tradition. In addition to "We Tell Ourselves," Black excels on the sarcastic "In The Good Old Days" and the delightfully vengeful "Something To Cry About." With pure charm, he even pulls off the logistically impossible "When My Ship Comes In," which involves sailing out of Colorado.

The Hard Way concludes with the reflective "Wake Up Yesterday." Perhaps the most autobiographical song on the album, the main character is profiled at a major crossroad in his life (which Black certainly was at the time in his business dealings). While there is nothing on this album as outstanding as his debut singles "A Better Man" and "Killin' Time," The Hard Way does contain a solid bunch of recordings which made it one of the top country releases of 1992.

I have Clint Black's first five CD's, and I think he's a great country singer - one of the best of his generation. However, for some reason, this is my least favorite. Overall, it sounds pretty good, but there really aren't any songs that stand out. It's a bit boring and too many of the songs are indistinguishable from each other. If you're a big Clint Black fan, then you'll probably like this CD fine. Otehrwise, you'd be better off with his Greatest Hits or debut CD.