Little Rebellion Music

The Outsiders – Eric Church (EMI, 2014)

After a strange, and at times sociopathic, marketing campaign, Eric Church dropped his fourth studio album, The Outsiders, today.

Anyone enjoying the privilege of recording for EMI with a six-figure budget cannot by any definition be considered to be an outsider, but Church has done his best to convince us all that he is not part of the mainstream. And so there he was in Rolling Stone claiming that the process of writing for the new record “was not fun.” Of course not. How can we all be impressed by what a serious artist he is if he actually finds joy in his work?!

So, no, I am not a fan of Eric Church the Persona. Eric Church the songwriter and performer however, that has always been another matter. His previous effort, Chief, is one of the most impressive albums of the last decade.

But sadly, to break the bad news early, The Outsiders is a bit of a mess. While I don’t read other reviews before I finish mine, I can guess that the majority of critics are lauding this album for daring to be different. Sure, it’s different, but so what? Different is not a measure of quality. The album’s problem seems also applicable to “the persona”: trying to do more than it can handle and trying too hard to convince.

There are of course moments that shine in many of these songs and generally it is the quieter tracks that impress the most. Everything about ‘The Man Who Was Gonna Die Young’ works, ‘Roller Coaster Ride’ and ‘Talladega’ are solid pop-rock, current single ‘Give Me Back My Hometown’ is modern stadium-rock, and ‘Like a Wrecking Ball’ surprises as a soulful ballad.

But there are some strange things going on on this record. ‘Cold One’ works so well at the start, until it completely unnecessarily does a sonic 180 in the first chorus, and again during a (too) long guitar solo. If only he had showed the restraint of leaving it to be a simple song. This album doesn’t seem to be made up of songs, but of a whole lot of parts of songs all stitched together. Church, and producer Jay Joyce, manage to overdo at least one thing in every song. And if he indeed wrote 100+ songs for this project, as he claims, how does ‘Broke Record’ make the cut?

Church seemingly can’t make it through a verse without referencing Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash, but then there’s ‘That’s Damn Rock ‘n’ Roll,’ which reveals how he really wants to be seen – a misunderstood rockstar.

Where 2011’s Chief felt effortless, almost everything about The Outsiders feels calculated and overly thought-through. It is a damn shame to hear so many great ideas, melodies, and lyrics not reach their full potential as they are buried under too much music, effects, and showiness. In an attempt to be edgy and absolutely-positively-not-mainstream, there are production choices here that seem to have been included just because they make the song “different,” rather than make it better.

It all culminates in ‘Devil, Devil (Prelude: Princess of Darkness),’ of which the spoken anti-Nashville intro is so astonishingly pretentious it actually made me laugh out loud. I can only hope it was meant as a joke all along.

I really wanted to like this album, but it is just too frustrating of a listen. It is an ego-trip dressed up as serious art. May this be the worst album Eric Church will ever make, and may he return to servicing the songs rather than his image.

The Outsiders is available via digital retailers and in stores today.

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Liv Carter

Liv is a career coach for creatives, and the people who work with them.
She holds several certificates from Berklee College of Music, and a certificate in Positive Psychology from UC Berkeley.
Her main influences are coffee, cats, and Alexander Hamilton.

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