Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
City Of Black & White Solid From Start To Finish, May 19, 2009
While there are a lot of similarities AND differences between Mat Kearney's City Of Black & White and his 2006 hit album Nothing Left To Lose, Mat has managed to produce a record that is sure to please a good majority of fans even though there really isn't anything ground-breaking or 'shockingly' cutting-edge here. Kearney ditched the 'rapping' that was interspersed throughout many of the songs on NLTL and polishes up the rough-around-the-edges nature of that album in favor of straightforward, mainly mid-tempo, radio-ready tunes as well as plenty of ballads or slower songs on the back half of the line-up.
He lets his captivating voice do the 'talking' this time around, keeping a similar slower-phrased singing style from that previous effort, and showcasing even more of his melodic, mellow, intimate nature. However, you won't find the 'extremes' of NLTL on City Of Black & White...no "Girl America"-type songs, and nothing quite as powerfully passionate as "What's A Boy To Do", "All I Need", or "Won't Back Down".
As soon as the first song ("All I Have") starts playing, you'll hear familiar melodies that will remind you of certain tracks from NLTL, and yet these songs seem to have great structure overall and solid backup instrumentation...a tighter, polished sound that's likely to yield several hits, including the first single, "Closer To Love". That song as well as "Fire And Rain" and "Lifeline", for example, have enough 'energy' to them to hit the Adult Contemporary rock crowd right between the ears...these songs are so strong from top to bottom its difficult for me to pick favorites. You still get passionate balladry with songs like the piano-based "New York To California" and the acoustic-guitar based "On And On", and I can't name one 'bad' song on the album. Overall, a very pleasing effort from Mat.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Here We Go on a Runaway Car from New York To California, June 4, 2009
Rewind to Christian Radio circa 2004 and you'd hear the Oregon boys, which consisted of Shawn McDonald, Paul Wright, and Mat Kearney, all of which hit the radio at the same time, all had strong debuts, and all happened to hail from Oregon. Kearney was probably the most original of the bunch, providing a great mix of acoustic hip-hop, mixed with pop and rock. He soon got noticed and he released an album which was noticeably poppier, but contained some of his old track. Some of the new stuff wasn't that great, but Grey's Anatomy loved it, and he took off. Some three years later, five if you're counting his last fully-original album, and Mat is back to show us what he's got. The result is Coldplay + The Fray.
Highlights Include:
All I Have
Closer To Love
Here We go
Runaway Car
Straight Away
The album is a solid listen, especially on the first half of the album, combining the usual singer-songwriter pop, mixed with more atmospheric elements, giving the album a complete sound. And while it's different stylistically from his debut, it's still a great sound. The only problem is it starts faltering towards the back-half. "New York to California" is pretty cheesy with lyrics like, "I'd build a bridge through the fire. For you I'd crawl from New York to California." Wow, that's pretty standard 80s-type cheese there. In fact, the album has a 80s pop feel to it, which I find kind of strange.
Overall, "City of Black & White" is pretty black and white in terms of originality, but Mat does a great job with the music and lyrics. The first half is excellent, and some of the songs on the back-half fall off the wagon. If anything, this album will increase Kearney's profile in the music world, which is evident when I see signs for Mat Kearney playing with Keane at Radio City Music Hall. So I'd say Kearney's done pretty well for himself, and deservedly so.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
a little something lost, June 9, 2009
City of Black and White is a solid album. Wonderful vocals, which are distinct and easy to listen to. Musically I felt there was something lost on this album. Don't get me wrong Mat Kearney is still an amazing talent both in word and music. However I felt that some of this album was a little "popped up". Some of that uniqueness is lacking. Some people didn't like Mat's "beat poetry/rap" in his other albums, but it added a part of Mat that really highlighted his diversity and creativity. There doesn't seem to be a great deal of difference between the songs on this album, they all have the same feel to it. Maybe it was due to the success of "nothing to left to lose" from the album that shares it's name, because these songs all had that feel to them. I was really hoping for the catchy hook or something to really want me to sing along. I can't, with a clear conscience give Mat anything less than 3 stars, due to his incredible talent, and this album is worth many listens, I particularly enjoy his lyrical phrasing, he has such an amazing way with his works. Point in case his song "New York to California" combines wonderful lyric and a beautiful melody. Annie is one of those songs that sound very heartfelt. Sounds more like an actual studio band and not "fake" instruments, beautiful song. This album is definitely worth picking up and listening to. He's a fantastic artist among soda pop artists, who are all computer vocaled and beats. I'll be listening to Mat for a long time!
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