Doesn't quite match
George Strait's Carrying Your Love With Me is a winning record. My favorite songs on here are the two initial singles, the romantic ballad "One Night At A Time" and the bouncy, optimistic title song "Carrying Your Love With Me". Another huge hit off this album was George's remake of Vern Gosdin's classic breakup song "Today My World Slipped Away". George stuck pretty close to Vern's original arrangement here and made his version of "Today My World Slipped Away" as good as Vern's, if not better. Bobby Braddock's song "The Nerve" starts out as a pretty straightforward song about a rekindled romance and goes deeper, dealing with the speaker's past and his ancestry. "A Real Good Place To Start" is a song about starting over with an old romantic flame after a breakup with someone else. "She'll Leave You With A Smile" has the same title as a song on George's current record The Road Less Traveled, but is a completely different song. On this record's version, the man is begging his friend not to get involved with the woman he(the speaker) just broke up with("Friend, you know she once was mine"), because the friend will be treated the same way he was. When the new relationship is over, says the speaker, "she'll leave you with a smile".George does his usual country swing on the opening lost-love song "Round About Way", the romantic toe-tapper "That's Me Every Chance I Get", and the driving song "I've Got A Funny Feeling". All these songs are well-written and well-done. The song that prevents this album from getting five stars, in my opinion, is the honky-tonk song "Won't You Come Home And Talk To A Stranger". In the aforementioned song, these are the words the woman uses when she calls her husband at the bar, where he's having a good time with friends, and begs him to come home("Won't you come home and talk to a stranger/It's the only place in days you haven't been"). George is good at choosing songs for his records, but he occasionally lapses, picking songs with "hokey", uncharacteristically bad words or themes. "Won't You Come Home And Talk To A Stranger" is one of only a few George Strait songs that I can honestly say is really bad. However, I think it's the only "miss" on a record where practically every song could be a hit. Carrying Your Love With Me doesn't quite match its predecessor, Blue Clear Sky. However, it comes close. I think George made a winning, high-quality record here.
This is a great cd in every way. Some of the songs are classic George Strait hits like the title track, but unlike some of his other albums, this one has a lot more meaning to it with its songs. "The Nerve" and "Real Good Place To Start" might not have been major hits but they really hit home with me when i heard them with their slow but meaningful melodies. "Today My World Slipped Away" is probably the best remake i've ever heard of a good song. George takes a classic song and makes it even better. Along with the major hits "One Night At A Time" and the title track, this makes for a GREAT CD and George Strait's best in my opinion.
Blue Clear Sky
first george strait cd i ever owned, first country cd i ever owned, and it was enough to make me a huge country fan. love this one! beautiful songs, a must have
In the past ten years, "new country" music sprouted it's head. Most of it that I've actually listened to is more "pop" than "country". This album is totally country, and it doesn't seem to ever fall into a pop stance. It is "Pure Country"(which is the one movie G.S. was in!) to me.
George Strait's "Carrying your love with me" is a truly genuine country album. This is the only album I have of the Country singer, but it is one I listen to. Whereas Shania's "Come on over" is collecting a lot of dust. If you love the old classic country, like Kenny Rogers & Johnny Cash, you will appreciate this honkeytonk record.
It's a great addition to a country music fan's collection.
Highly recommended!
, but it comes close
Great music from George strait himself. Music that only He can produce. A+++++
It's easy to take George Strait for granted. After all, every year he comes out with another album of Texas dance tunes and honky-tonk ballads, both delivered with that smooth baritone purr and a rhythm as seductive as it is slippery. The quality is always incredibly high--as high as it gets in American music--but the level of surprise is always very low. Typically, Carrying Your Love with Me is as good as country music gets these days. It's different from his previous albums in only the most subtle ways: his vocal tone has a little more butter on it, and his phrasing coils and uncoils with a little more spring. But, those nuances are the key to his art. --Geoffrey Himes
