Kenny Chesney Album: “Kenny Chesney Live”

From the opening bars of Live Those Songs we are reminded of why Kenny Chesney is the star that he his. While Chesney's material has always edged more bubble gum than his contemporaries like Tim McGraw and Keith Urban, the ability for his material to get a live crowd going and his road bands ability to convey more than the studio recordings is evident here.

The band is tight and Chesney's vocals are developed throughout. Somehow most of the tracks here, particularly Beer in Mexico, What I Need to Do and Anything But Mine seem a lot better than the studio recordings and I would have to attribute that to the road band (and one wonders if Chesney shouldn't pull a Tim McGraw and record with them).

The song selection is good...particularly the inclusion of On the Coast of Somewhere Beautiful which Chesney obviously realizes is one of his finest non-single tracks. As noted by many, the songs are primarily from No Shoes and When the Sun Goes Down, logical considering they are is better works, but one wonders why more (album tracks perhaps???) from The Road and the Radio were not included as I consider it to be Chesney's best overall album.

There are some simply cheesy aspects to this album that seem to plague all "live" albums. First, the crowd sounds like it's from some canned "crowd cheer" tape. They always sound the same (like they are 90% females between 15 and 25) and fade in and out in between the vocal parts in a very orderly fashion (which, for anyone who attends concerts on a regular basis knows, crowds don't do). I know, I know: the producers want the purchaser to be able to hear the performer but still, change it up a little. Second, there are weird stutters between a couple tracks where the editing is a little off. In general however, this does not take away from the many positives of the disc.

Overall the disc is a pleasure to listen to for its energy and the added depth that is brought to most of the tracks. I have always wondered why Kenny Chesney is such a star (considering he is a short, bald, semi-average looking guy with less than an great voice and suspect song selections on his CD's) and it is clear from how warm and humble he his on this disc (the way he says "I love you guys very, very much" when the crowd finishes singing Back Where I Come From is from the heart) that he knows that two or three songs and a strategic debut of a new physique before the release of No Shoes is probably the only reason he is still making music. Yet, that is enough. Chesney is a nice guy that made good and that comes across here to the benefit of the disc.

Live country albums are rare (see George Strait for the last one I can remember) and that is regrettable because it is a format that lends itself to great live shows. You have to give props to Chesney for taking a risk in doing this and one hopes that it will drive others to do so as well (wouldn't a Tim McGraw, Keith Urban or Rascal Flatts Live disc be awesome?). One also hopes that this is sign of maybe something different from Chesney in the future. He has refined the beach bum formula of No Shoes a couple times and its time for leap of faith, something different than the songs he has done before.....

But in the meantime the fun continues as we live those songs again.