CD Review – Get Closer – Keith Urban

13 years ago Liv Carter 5

Get Closer – Keith Urban (Capitol Nashville, 2010)

Keith Urban recently said that if you stick to your own sound some people will praise you for being consistent, while others will call you out for being repetitive. While his sixth studio album, Get Closer, might not persuade the latter group to think differently, it is an improvement on an already good formula in many ways.

First single ‘Put You in a Song’, currently nearing the top 10, is perhaps the one which gives those complaining of repetition the most ammunition. Aside from giving me the urge to shout out “more cowbell”, the song never had much impact on me. I do like that its premise is bittersweet – the guy knows he can’t get the girl but he’s sort of ok with that and instead dreams of writing a song about her. You’d feel sorry for him if it wasn’t for the fact that Keith’s interpretation makes him sound so darn happy about it. The lyrics may be rather bland (and certainly far below what we should expect from co-writers Sarah Buxton and Jedd Hughes) but no one turns bland into bright better than Keith Urban.

To get the only bad news out of the way, ‘All for You’ is dreadful. There could be a good love song in there but as it is presented here, it is such an immature way of looking at love. I do not mind the occasional ‘ode to my love’ but there is no perspective in the lyrics. That’s made even more obvious when contrasted with the Dave Pahanish and Joe West co-write ‘Without You’ which presents the idea that the good things in life are given meaning by having the right person in your life. The already strong original version is improved upon by the beautiful banjo and fiddle arrangement. Paired with Keith’s warm and genuine interpretation, this country tune is up there with the best ballads he has recorded.  

After the overproduced Love, Pain and the Whole Crazy Thing and the (too) pop-leaning Defying Gravity, Keith returns to a more earthy sound here. Get Closer sounds like the logical follow-up to 2004’s Be Here. Reaching for a more southern rock sound are tracks ‘You Gonna Fly’ and ‘Georgia Woods.’ The first, written by Preston Brust and Chris Lucas (LoCash Cowboys) with Jaren Johnston, has some dirtier sounding guitars paired with a propulsive rhythm and sees the protagonist reassuring his new love that she is ‘hiding from the world with a broken wing/but you better believe/you gonna fly with me.’ And the second song about new love blossoming under the Georgia pines, is the heaviest track here, with the guitar treatment adding a slightly darker tone to an already more visceral sound.

Ready-made radio hit ‘Long Hot Summer’ continues the Keith Urban tradition of summer songs. The driving tempo underscored by gloriously persistent and insistent banjo combined with upbeat lyrics about putting your feet on the dashboard and singing along with the radio means this has ‘smash hit’ written all over it.   

Get Closer ends with two more serious songs. ‘Right on Back to You’ describes a moment of realization with the guy concluding he is making the same relationship mistake again by running away while instead he should allow himself to get closer (hence the album title). The sound of the rain hitting the car windows isn’t just used as a gimmick in the intro but carries on through the entire first verse giving the song real atmosphere. The whole thing is so visual you can just imagine him sitting there in his car working himself up into a frenzy before finally nearly collapsing in despair at the end of the song shouting ‘I am nothing without you’. The ending with wailing guitars interspersed with ‘I was a fool’-confessions borrows heavily from the ending of ‘Stupid Boy’ but it fits just as well here.

Over the better part of a decade I have heard closer ‘Shut out the Lights’ in various versions. The one finally put to record is the best executed but sacrifices some of the exasperation of earlier passes at it. It still remains a strong tune with lyrics describing a couple mid-fight, both fed up with rehashing the same arguments and wondering if they should just break the ‘never let the sun set on an argument’ relationship rule.

Dann Huff once again oversaw this project and while it took a few listens to appreciate some of the production choices, he manages to add a lot with a few details like the pedal effects on ‘Georgia Woods;’ the whistle announcing the chorus on ‘You Gonna Fly;’ how the slight volume increases help build the tension in the first verse of ‘Long Hot Summer.’ I have previously expressed the wish for Keith to try to expand his sound by working with a different producer, but with both he and Huff having curtailed their propensity for cramming too much into a song and polishing everything to a shine, maybe there is some life left in this partnership. Another pleasant result of the more organic production is that it leaves more space for Keith’s vocals. He sounds stronger and more confident than perhaps ever before. Not weighed down by unnecessary layers of music, most tracks have a lot more air in them. It’s like someone opened the windows and let fresh air into the studio.

Get Closer sees Keith Urban at his pop-country best and is forceful, tender, cheerful and serious in all the right places. 

Get Closer is in stores today, November 16. It is available in an 8-track version (which was made available for review), as well as a Target exclusive version with 11 songs and 4 live tracks.

Liv Carter

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.
Liv Carter

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