Toby Keith Album: “Unleashed”

The first time i started listening to Toby Kieth was when i heard his song, "I Wanna Talk About Me" from his 2001 album "Pull My Chain". I really enjoyed that song and thought i should buy the album, i really enjoyed the whole "Pull My Chain" album and was wanting to hear more Toby. After buying a few of his earlier releases such as "How Do You Like Me Now?" and "Greatest Hits", i wasn't really suprised at all with their sound. I wanted some new, different, and espicially good Toby to listen to. When i heard the single of "Courtesy Of The Red, White, and Blue (The Angry American)" i went out and bought the CD-single of it. A good friend of mine told me that the album "Unleashed" wasn't worth the money, considering he bought it on the day of its release, i took his advice and didn't buy it. A few days later he let me borrow the album and i heard just a few of the songs. After hearing "Who's Your Daddy?" and "Good To Go To Mexico", i quickly caught a ride to the record store and bought the album. I couldn't believe how good it was. Every song was excellent, new, and groundbreaking. Toby really did unleash himself on the 13 track disc. After i had heard the album from top to bottom, i decided to share my thoughts of it in this track-by-track review:

1. Courtesy Of The Red, White, and Blue (The Angry American) - The excellent first single about fighting back after 9/11. This song is really brilliant and has a very good meaning.

2. Who's Your Daddy? - Excellent second single. It shows Toby taking on a more upbeat kind of style. Song has very good lyrics about a relationship.

3. Good To Go To Mexico - Sounds very slow starting out, but turns into a very upbeat number about going on vacation to Mexico.

4. It's All Good - Slower track, but has very good lyrics and a nice melody. Very uplifting and hopeful for those still suffering from 9/11.

5. Beer For My Horses (with Willie Nelson) - Probably my favorite on the album. Very upbeat and great lyrics. With Willie alongside Toby, this could very well be one of his biggest hits if he were to release it to radio.

6. Losing My Touch - Slower song, but still very good. Toby, even on slower ballad type songs, still has a rougher and more aggressive sound on this album.

7. Huckleberry - Very addictive. I love the melody and the chorus, including the other parts of the song. Definitely worth a spot as a single.

8. It Works For Me - An upbeat song that has pretty good lyrics, but i don't know if it would be a good radio single or not.

9. Ain't It Just Like You - Another upbeat song. This one is less aggressive, but still is a very good single.

10. Rock You Baby - Very slow ballad, its not that its not a beatiful song, but i don't really care for ballads that much anyway.

11. Rodeo Moon - Another slower type song, i don't really care for it that much.

12. That's Not How It Is - Not as slow as previous 2 songs, but still a slower one that i don't really care for that much.

13. Live Introduction of "The Angry American" - Just a live introduction of song #1. Toby talks about how he felt making the song and what it meant to him before starting in. (It doesn't feature the song live, it's just an introduction). It probably would have made more sense to add this at the very beginning of the album, right before the song it's introducing.

I hope i helped you figure out whether or not you are going to want to buy Toby Kieth's "Unleashed", i think it is a brilliant album and should deserve way more attention than it is getting. Thank you for reading my review of Toby Kieth's "Unleashed".

The album is awesome. If you're a Redneck, you'll dig it. The feeling of indignance he describes in "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue" is something alot of us can relate to. If you don't agree with his music, the answer is simple: don't listen to it. For those of you that do like his music, rock your socks, man!

Siren

...I am a huge country music addict now,..about a year ago I was driving thru the desert and the only radio station I could receive was some damn country music channel,..I heard that song, My List,..by Toby Keith,..and it really really moved me,..I wrote the name down,..and ended up downloading the song on the internet,..since then I have gone nuts,..bought every Toby Keith Cd,..not to mention brooks and dunn and alan jackson,..thanks Toby for showing me the light,..for showing me where all the music talent has ended up,..on the country station. Unleashed is right up there with toby's best,..I think my favorite is Who's your Daddy,...oh yeah, Angry American rocks!

First of all, ignore reviews of country music by pretentious people who detest county music because they feel threatened by country values, and sensibilities.

Toby is at his fun and unabashedly sexy best here. "Who's Your Daddy?" is a fun, hysterical romp. I like that the girl who THOUGHT that she was too sophisticated for him comes back to HIM. That's fun. It's kind of a fantasy for any dumped person to have the dumper who left them because they weren't good enough come crawling back. He plays it well. Plus, with the fun tempo, I challenge you to stand still through this tune. It's rare to find anyone who isn't swaggering by the end of this tune.

I absolutely love "Huckleberry". It is sweet, and tender. (I guess too much for the reviewer to handle. I guess the reviewer is still trying out the teen angst phase of life. Maybe life will get better when they grow up!) This song goes through a large part of the cycle of life. I like the clean instrumentation of this piece. It's a simple, clean arrangement. It's almost like I can see him across the room, sitting on my couch singing it.

The relaxed "Good to go to Mexico" is a fun change of pace. A great contrast to the confrontational, or other wise high energy tunes.

His duet with Willie Nelson on "Beer for My Horses" is a great display of country sensibilities, and normal people being offended at the lenient judicial system. Gee, vigilante justice, sometimes it sounds like a good idea. Another fantasy here, when it isn't taken care of to your satisfaction, take care of it! Not a shortage of opinions or fun to be found in this piece.

Unlike the teen angst crowd, the country music community has NEVER been afraid to embrace their country, so don't feed me a line of bull about "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue" as just taking advantage of the attacks on America to sell a few discs. If that had been his sole objective, he wouldn't have been quite so offensive and confrontational in his lyrics. He could have aimed safer, and cleaner, and sold more, but he was true to himself. I respect that decision.

"It's all Good" is a great getaway from the stresses of life. I think we could all afford to try this now and again.

"Losing my Touch" has a depth that I would have expected from Ronnie Dunn. Toby Keith admiting weakness, and crying in his beer was not what I had anticipated.

This disc shows a great variety of emotions and is a very broad and deep work. Frankly, it was far more than I expected of Toby Keith. I was more than pleasantly surprised. Look past the singles. It goes deeper.

I love the whole disc, and play it quite a bit.

Well, the answer to that is (whoops, probably can't say "hell")--yeah! I do not compare Toby to any other country singer, he's an original and I love his songs like "Who's your Daddy" for making me laugh as much as relating to past hit "Look at me now". I'd imagine alot of us can relate to those lyrics, and, yes, it's pretty sweet when "they" see how you turned out. Toby, stay true to you, your music is refreshing not re-done--you're a kick! And hey, my horses enjoy a beer sometimes. Ive liked your music since "Should have been a cowboy"Your patriotism is exactly how everyone felt before they remembered to be politicly correct.I still like that song.The videos are a hoot that are out for "unleashed" Well, "Who's your daddy" is, thats for sure and for certain.(what female would'nt have wanted to be in that video?!)Toby Keith has worked hard and has'nt "sold out" that makes his music his,(not his "daddys") that makes his music his---and to some of us, ours too.