I've been a casual fan of Kenny Loggins (myspace) through the years, but have been feasting on his catalogue recently thanks to LaLa. In most instances, I've been pleasantly surprised ("High Adventure," "Leap of Faith," and "Nightlife" stand out as being particularly good). In some cases, I've been left scratching my head, laughing out loud ("The Unimagineable Life"), or falling asleep ("Vox Humana"). In short, his material during most of the 90s is "the dangerzone". That is why I was very hesitant to even bother with this new release. Additionally, it is only available at Target, which made me suspcious.
BUT, "How About Now" is - thankfully - one of those pleasant surprises. I've been spinning this disc a lot lately and it gets even better each time. It is way more upbeat and down to earth than his new-age 90s junk. There are also subtle overtones of his country-rock roots, which really works on this release. He collaborates with some other great songwriters, including Richard Marx, who steps in to ... guess! ... slow things down. Fortunately it isn't too boring.
A quick look at the lyrics and you can see that this release is clearly inspired by his recent divorce. This divorce (his second) evidently didn't go down as nicely as the first...compare "The Real Thing" from "Leap of Faith" to some of the angry tones on this record. Still, the experience did wonders for Kenny's creativity, and resulted in one of his best releases.
iPOD-worthy: all tracks made it!
BUT, "How About Now" is - thankfully - one of those pleasant surprises. I've been spinning this disc a lot lately and it gets even better each time. It is way more upbeat and down to earth than his new-age 90s junk. There are also subtle overtones of his country-rock roots, which really works on this release. He collaborates with some other great songwriters, including Richard Marx, who steps in to ... guess! ... slow things down. Fortunately it isn't too boring.
A quick look at the lyrics and you can see that this release is clearly inspired by his recent divorce. This divorce (his second) evidently didn't go down as nicely as the first...compare "The Real Thing" from "Leap of Faith" to some of the angry tones on this record. Still, the experience did wonders for Kenny's creativity, and resulted in one of his best releases.
iPOD-worthy: all tracks made it!
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