RASCAL FLATTS 12" Vinyl standard jacket & printed innersleeve Even with songs as spare

Even with songs as spare and haunting as "If She Called" -- nothing more than an electric guitar and voice there -- Croz is too dedicated to tasty

portraying their own brand of the "Trife Life

" Some interesting arcana hides at the end in "Jamaica" (which strongly resembles Rick Springfield's "Kristina")

When those six-strings do get plugged in and their Marshalls properly cranked for songs like misleadingly heavy opener "Take My Bones Away

so this album doesn't amount to a shift in aesthetic as much as it is a consolidation -- a consolidation that just so happens to leave a few frayed edges dangling

RASCAL FLATTS 12" Vinyl standard jacket & printed innersleeve Even with songs as spareRascal Flatts: Gary Levox, Jay Demarcus, Joe Don Rooney. Additional personnel: Larry Beaird (acoustic guitar); Brent Mason, Dann Huff, George Marinelli, Jr. (electric guitar); Paul Franklin (steel guitar); Jonathan Yudkin (mandolin, violin, fiddle, viola, cello); Tim Akers, Brian Siewert (keyboards); Jay DeMarcus, Joey Chemay (bass); Lonnie Wilson (drums). Engineers: Marty Williams, Christopher Rowe. Personnel: Paul Franklin (guitar); Larry Beaird