Carnival Ride; Carrie Underwood

After the immense success of Carrie Underwood’s debut album Some Hearts, her sophomore album Carnival Ride was destined to be a huge success. Carrie Underwood stuck to her country roots even more so in this album and that proved to be a bold move on her part. The album sold 527,000 copies in its first week and highlighted Underwood as one of the most promising artists in the future.

The record compromised of thirteen tracks, of which two are cover songs. The song-writing talent behind her second album was more or less the same as the one behind her first album. Hillary Lindsay did a pretty good job with her pieces making sure that they have the touch of Country to the last word. Other writers include Gordie Sampson, Kelly Lovelace, Brett James all of whom have been identified as major country song writers contributed to the album.

The first track off the album is Flat On The Floor was originally on the Country singer Katrina Elam’s sophomore album. The song is fast and super catchy, starting off with a guitar solo and then slowly building up with drum beats. The track’s essence is captured well by Underwood’s vocal. There is a slightly resemblance to the Country legend Patty Loveless but nevertheless this track is the perfect start to the album.

The second track off the album is the extremely pop number All American Girl. This is the second single off the album. The song partly reflects Underwood’s own personal experience which is pretty much believable since she had been tagged as one ever since her first appearance on American Idol.

So Small is complete and perfect country track. It happens to be my personal favorite track of the whole album and also the first single off the album. This track deals with the fact that how much time and energy people waste in truly meaningless things, their quest often leads us to being frustrated and bothered. It talks about faith. This song is a marvel on its own, the whole album is amazing but this song has a league of it’s own. And it’s my sincere request to people reading this review to listen to it from the heart. It seriously does work magic!

Just A Dream is the fourth single of this album. Once again Underwood sticks fast to her country style and displays the heart striking emotions in her voice. She made the song her signature piece. It tells the story of a young woman who lost her love in battle. The song written by Hillary Lindsay described this song as one that many people across the world could relate too. And no doubt this was a major reason that it jumped from #98 to #29 at the Billboard Charts in just a week. Underwood’s fan had been waiting for a very long time for this song to sprout a single and when it did there was an immense sigh of relief. And the video is a must-see, Underwood looks her best here.

Get Out Of This Town is the fifth track and highly reminiscent of the track I Ain’t In Checotah Anymore from her first album. It’s catchy! It’s good but not great! It makes you tap your feet but not the best! Underwood has loads better track to display than this one.

The sixth track Crazy Dreams gave me the biggest smile when I first heard it. It has got the most clever lyrics possibly I’ve ever heard and nearly everyone can relate to it. Well anybody who has crazy dreams can! I was hoping that this track could go ahead as a single as well but sadly it didn’t. Have no worries, I’ve attached a video of lyrics to go along with song. To all hairbrush singers, dashboard drummers, air guitar players and difference makers, take a break from your frenzied activity and listen to it. Oh yeah and then get back to it!

I Know You Won’t is the seventh track. It’s a slow tempo country ballad where Underwood displays her sadness of the absence of her partner from her life. Around the chorus of this song, Underwood goes loud in just the perfect way. It’s heart breaking but its good stuff. Really good stuff! It slightly reminds me of Dolly Parton’s Grammy winning track Here You Come Again but that’s just my imagination. A track that’s worth listening to no doubt!

Last Name!!! This track puts a big naughty smile on your face.All the reckless drinkers often go through this ordeal when they make a rash decision under the influence of alcohol. And even those who don’t indulge in it, this track gets the naughtiness going. This track goes into a fusion of rock and country. It’s the third single off the album. It seems like the producers were hoping to have another success like Before He Cheats from Underwood’s debut album. Sadly it didn’t. But it rendered Underwood’s third Grammy award as the Best Female Country Vocal Performance and has become a favorite among her fans as it’s often requested during her LIVE! performances. And also guaranteed her the award of Favorite Country Entertainer. Not bad, huh?!

You Won’t Find This is the eighth track is a slow ballad where Underwood tells her lover that he won’t find anyone better than her. Honestly speaking who in his right mind would leave Underwood for another woman deserves a private room in asylum with all expenses paid! Coming back to the track, this track gets three out of five stars. It’s good but it isn’t much different from the I Know You Won’t. And I prefer the former over the later.

The ninth track is another cover version. I remember when I saw the song list for the first time I was surprised to find another song under the title I Told You So after Randy Travis having a billboard success under the same name in 1988. And after lending an ear to it I discovered that it’s the same song. And it’s amazing! She was inducted as the youngest member of the Country Music Honor Club The Grand Ole Opry right after performing this song on March 15^th 2008. It’s the second most country song from her album after So Small. The track is very different from the original version but Underwood has made it appealing in a totally different way. It’s no carbon copy of the original, take my word on that!

The More Boys I Meet is a funny track. After two slow ballads it’s the perfect remedy to liven the mood up. This song was pinned as a favorite amongst the fan of Grey’s Anatomy as they cited a common resemblance of Dr. Meredith Grey’s relation with her dog. It takes a slight different track from the rest of the album as being a complete pop song without a single hint of country in it.

The second last track off the album is Twisted. Underwood goes on about how crazy, wrong and messed up her lover is and how he mistreats her. It’s up tempo and once again a bit too much pop to be classified as country. The song slows down in the bridge portion which lets in a bit of breathing room and then picks up again later. It’s a good strategy placement since the last track of the album; Wheel Of The World. This track sums up the concept behind the title of the album really nicely.

Underwood was questioned many times behind the title of her album to which she responded as follow;

“You step onto this ride called life, and it’s a crazy thing you don’t know anything about, but you get on it anyway. You do what you can to lean different directions to try and get it to go where you want it to go, but you can’t stop it – it just keeps moving. That’s why Carnival Ride works as my album title, because it describes the wonderful craziness that I’ve been through over the past couple years.”

This track get this concept going smoothly. It’s not my favorite track off the album but it made a statement. Underwood as an artist made it extremely clear and concise. Kudos to her for that!

At the end all I have got to say is "Go Underwood"

Copyright © Saad Khan 2009 (Karachi, Pakistan; saadkhalidkhan@gmail.com)