The first notes hit with a pounding rhythm, the bluesy howl of a harmonica and the power of a restless wind. And before you know it, Doug Stone's debut release for Columbia Records Nashville, Faith In Me, Faith In You, has swept you into its wonderfully changing currents, flowing in a new direction with high-energy rock beats as strong as Stone's acclaimed balladry.
In the last five years, the Georgia native's expressive, heart-rending delivery and his knock for picking hit songs have made him one of the most successful and popular artists in country music. Now, in 1995, comes a move with fresh creative opportunities for Stone — marked by his shift of labels from Epic to Columbia, both divisions of Sony Music Entertainment, Inc., and the release of his sixth album.
Faith In Me, Faith In You, which Stone co-produced with James Stroud, is lined with stylistic surprises, compelling changes of pace and mood, and stunning vocal and instrumental arrangements. It is an album of emotional depth, poignantly exploring the pain of lost loves and — in the case of the inspiring, gospel-tinged title track — the way trust and belief can overcome life's obstacles. Yet it's also an unabashedly entertaining release, with an array of scorchers that show, just in case you didn't know, that Stone can rock.
"I'm not the straight and narrow country way — I'm a little bent," he says with a chuckle. "And like the album, there's no telling what you're going to get."
What Columbia gets is a performer who has seen his albums go gold four times and platinum twice; an artist who has looged eight No. 1 singles starting in 1990, and for five years never had a single place lower than the Top 5. That track record of top-level consistency — built with gems like "(I'd Be Better Off) In A Pine Box," "Fourteen Minutes Old," "Too Busy Being In Love," and "Why Didn't I Think Of That" — is nothing short of phenomenal on the intensely competitive country charts. And the impressive hitmaking pattern shows every sign of continuing with the diverse Faith In Me, Faith In You.
One thing that Stone, a self-proclaimed Frank Zappa fan, wanted to do was rev up the beat. "I was going for as many up-tempos as I could get, because most people know me by my ballads," he says. "It's real risky, too, because you're staking your career that they're going to like your up-tempos. But I figure, what the heck. I'm only here one time, and if I don't do it, I'll turn around when I'm 60 years old and go, "Dad gum, I wish I had done that just to see if they'd have liked it."
There's plenty of live-wire material to like, starting with the explosive opening cut "You Won't Outlive Me." The song whips through vivid images of a defiant, hot-rodding, "fast-lane dreamer," and is filled with autobiographical lyrics about Stone's youth ("There never was a dare that I did not take/They never made a rule that I could not break...")
Or there's the infectiously funky rocker, "Born In The Dark," about a man not fooled when his woman fools around. Stone's warm tenor takes a pedal-to-the-metal bluesy turn that kicks the song into overdrive. But sit tight, because there's also the high-octane bounce of "Enough About Me" and its humorous take on dating conversation ("Enough about me, let's talk about you/What do you think I should do?"); the churning pop groove of "Honky Tonk Mona Lisa," an ode to a dance floor beauty who captivates all the cowboys in the joint; and "Look Where She Is Today," a rousing country-rock romp in which a woman passes up a life of wealth to enjoy simple pleasures with her true love. |
