Customer Reviews

Let the Road Pave Itself

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Phillip LaRue is new to me, so my review is from that perspective. I think it's also important for a music reviewer to include age (55) and favorite genre (classic rock) so that others can get a better idea of the reviewer's perspective.

I like to listen to mild rock and other forms of music, too, but I detest rap and other melody-less noise being perpetrated as music. This CD certainly meets my minimum requirements.

Based on the melodies and lyrics of Phillip's tunes, I'd give this collection 5-stars. Unfortunately I didn't find much variety in the tracks and was a little disappointed that much of his music imitates other modern christian rock. That's not bad, but it's not very unique or exciting. For those who enjoy this genre, I'd guess they'd like it more than I do. For instance, my teenage daughter likes it... not a lot, but she likes it. Her friend gives it 2 stars, and she gives it 4.

Phillip is certainly a talented musician with a pleasant enough voice. If you're a fan of modern christian tunes, you'll probably enjoy more of the same.

Music is a tough thing to rate since taste is involved. I'm hoping that by giving the reader some idea of where I'm coming from, it will have more value. I would not run out an buy this CD, but it certainly deserves a place on the shelf.

This is an album that is very easy to listen to. The songs have positive lyrics and a positive attitude. Some of the songs could easily be country songs if Phillip LaRue had the accent for it. On the other hand, I don't think that he is an outstanding artist. After listening to the album for a couple of times, none of the songs were stuck with me.

This album is a mix of sacred and secular themes. The music is U2-style rock, but with a touch of Tom Petty 'earthiness' and Southern feel. The lyrics are truly wonderful -- I found myself wanting to save several lines as stand-alone quotes. My favorite song is "Sleeping Beauty."

I was impressed that LaRue wrote all the songs himself. And not only did he sing, he also played several instruments on the tracks as well. I expect to see LaRue be a rising star!

P.S. Speaking as a graphic designer, I hope they hire a different company for the his next album's cover layout; there were a TON of typos, spelling and grammar errors!

I didn't expect to like this album as much as I do. Expected a couple of good songs on it. This album is good from start to finish.

The music is modern, uplifting, refreshing. You can hear the influence of James/Tim Booth on some of the tracks.

An album you can put on and just let play in the background.

Worth the listen!

Young but uniquely experienced, Phillip LaRue has an admirable grip on how to live, and the proof is written all over his debut solo album, "Let the Road Pave Itself". The album is catchy without trying to sound commercial, Phillip writes stay-in-your-head songs from the heart; real life musical stories about open-book faith, his closest loved ones, and struggling friends who don't always believe as he does. Phillip and his sister Natalie released 3 albums as LaRue, and charted several pop hits including "Reason", "Waiting Room" and "OK To Cry" and called it a day after Natalie wed. Phillip moved to Florida and produced notable indie acts like Over the Rhine and Dave Barnes for a worship project based on the Psalms. Now back in Nashville, he has recently written hit songs "Love Is Here" and "By Your Side" and produced rising band Tenth Avenue North.

"Let the Road Pave Itself" starts off with the first single "Chasing The Daylight", a great song which includes the lyric "I want to chase the daylight like it's the last day of my life". "It's in the unraveling of life that we find God even more", Phillip says of the song. The next song "Home" is one of my favorite songs on the album and has a catchy chorus and his emotional vocal style reminded me of Shaun Groves and the entire album resembled the introspective style of Shaun's debut Dove Award nominated album "Invitation To Eavesdrop". Vocally, Phillip sings with raw vulnerability and is comparable to Adam Duritz of Counting Crows and Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol, both in vocal tone and style of songs. The song "Erase And Rewind" is for a friend with suicidal thoughts and encourages him to know he's loved by God. The other love songs on the album, "Don't Be Deceived", "All I Want" and "Sleeping Beauty" are love songs to Phillip's wife. There are great parallels of God's love for us with the love of a husband and wife. "All I Want" vocally reminded me of "Crack The Shutters" by Snow Patrol.

The last 2 songs, "Black and Blue" and "Mountains High Valleys Low" are stripped down and personal songs. In "Black and Blue", Phillip's sister Natalie wrote a poem about their younger sister Brianna who has cerebral palsy and an inoperable brain tumor. The song includes the lyrics "you deserve to walk to run to fly - all the things I wanted for you in this life". Phillip's personal and relevant lyrics and vulnerable singing style made this a memorable and enjoyable album for me.

I like the Indie-feel of this album. Phillip Larue is a true talent with a fabulous voice and all of the songs are very beautiful. I especially love "Mountains High Valleys Low" Love this artist!!

My favorite genres of music are Praise/Worship, Contemporary Christian, and Country.

This album is a mix of theistic (not explicitly Christian) and secular songs. Recurring themes throughout are that people are hurting emotionally and that God (or a friend/lover) can make a difference but that it is sometimes hard to see or feel what is offered. Some of the songs suggest that the reason hurting people are hard to help is their own reluctance to accept what is offered.

I have to admit that the songs did little to evoke my empathy, despite their intimate topics. Perhaps this is due to the vagueness with which the hurt or struggles people were facing was described. The music, style, and beat of the songs are pretty similar, with little variety. If you like the soft, kind of slow and wanting style then you will like many if not most of the songs. At least one song starts rather abruptly and may be a recording issue or a stylistic approach that is beyond me.

One song that stood out to me was "Home," which is about "learning to fly" and moving out of our comfort zone. The style appealed to more than the others and had more of an effect. I also liked "Why," which wonders how on one hand people say they can't see God, but the evidence of His presence is all around us. Finally, "Deeper Side" is a song of encouragement, communicating that being in a hurting place is a finite place and that the person can move through it. If just these three songs had been presented to me, the artist would have appealed to me more. However, the rest of the songs on the album seem to be variations on these themes and didn't offer enough variety for me.

These songs are okay but Larue's lyrics are not particularly well-defined. If one attempts to isolate precisely what Phillip Larue is crooning about it might just take awhile. As I listened, I never could ascertain a strong link with Christianity in his music -- the themes of these tunes are really just a bit nebulous.

That brings me to my chief point, the most unfortunate and prevalent of any that I make in my brief review: the instrumentation pretty much obliterates the vocals. Whomever engineered the master of this particular CD must either lack experience or (surely not!) they didn't care much for Larue's vocals and cut them back way too far.

Larue has a somewhat groaning, Dylan-ish approach to singing... a folksy ambiance. And the actuality of that combination makes it especially imperative that the songs present the listener with a robust message which can be clearly heard, hopefully above the volume of the instruments. That did not happen in this instance.

These twelve Christian/rock/folk cuts aren't actually hateful --I just found them to be generally uninspired in character, a caveat which is clearly essential to this musical genre.

I like the sound of Phillip Larue, but I would've preferred more gospel music and fewer love songs. I think it might've even been preferable for him to do two CD's: one with just gospel music for people who prefer that, and one with just love songs for people who prefer those.

I originally purchased the CD because I had heard the song Chasing the Daylight on the radio and absolutely loved it. For a while I tended to ignore the rest of the CD. One day I let it play and I fell in love! I can't believe the emotion on this CD, easy to get swept away in his joy and pain. LOVE it!