Audio CD review:
Vince Gill - These Days

Vince Gill - These Days

Band: Vince Gill Title: These Days Rating: Release Date: 17 October, 2006 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Workin’ On A Big Chill 2: Love’s Standin’ 3: Cowboy Up (featuring Gretchen Wilson) 4: Sweet Thing 5: Bet It All On You 6: Nothin’ For A Broken Heart (Duet w/Rodney Crowell) 7: Son Of A Ramblin’ Man (featuring Del McCoury) 8: Smilin’ Song (featuring Michael McDonald) 9: The Rhythm Of The Pourin’ Rain (featuring Bekka Bramlett) 10: Nothin’ Left To Say 11: All Prayed Up 12: Cold Gray Light Of Gone (featuring The Del McCoury Band) 13: A River Like You (featuring Jenny Gill) 14: Ace Up Your Pretty Sleeve 15: Molly Brown 16: Girl (Guest Vocalist: Rebecca Lynn Howard) 17: Give Me The Highway (featuring The Del McCoury Band) 18: Sweet Augusta Darlin’ 19: Little Brother 20: Almost Home (Duet w/Guy Clark) 21: This New Heartache 22: The Only Love 23: Out Of My Mind (featuring Patty Loveless) 24: The Sight Of Me Without You 25: I Can’t Let Go (featuring Alison Krauss & Dan Tyminski) 26: Don’t Pretend With Me 27: Some Things Never Get Old (featuring Emmylou Harris) 28: Sweet Little Corrina (featuring Phil Everly) 29: If I Can Make Mississippi (featuring Lee Ann Womack) 30: Take This Country Back (Duet w/John Anderson) 31: What You Don't Say (featuring LeAnn Rimes) 32: The Reason Why (featuring Alison Krauss) 33: The Rock Of Your Love (featuring Bonnie Raitt) 34: What You Give Away (featuring Sheryl Crow) 35: Faint Of Heart (Duet w/Diana Krall) 36: Time To Carry On (featuring Jenny Gill) 37: No Easy Way 38: This Memory Of You (featuring Trisha Yearwood) 39: How Lonely Looks 40: Tell Me One More Time About Jesus (featuring Amy Grant) 41: Everything And Nothing (featuring Katrina Elam) 42: Which Way Will You Go 43: These Days

Editoral Review The Rockin' Record, virtually perfect from start to finish, begins with "Workin' on a Big Chill," its swampy groove straight out of John Fogerty and a showcase for Gill's guitar virtuosity--a groove he resumes on "Cowboy Up," with cameo harmonies from Gretchen Wilson. These new recordings of mostly recent Gill compositions are the culmination of a project aimed at recording four distinct albums: rock, romance, vintage honky-tonk, and acoustic. "Sweet Thing" and a duet with Rodney Crowell on "Nothin' for a Broken Heart" pulsate with Chuck Berry intensity that contrasts with the solid, '60s Memphis groove of "Bet It All on You. " The Reason Why showcases Gill's legendary ease with ballads, several of them enhanced by creative string arrangements by David Campbell (Beck's father), including "What You Don't Say" with LeAnn Rimes and "The Memory of You" with Trisha Yearwood. The stunning "Faint of Heart," a remarkably sultry jazz duet with Diana Krall, could become a standard. Some Things Never Get Old revisits classic fiddle-steel honky-tonk, music Gill has long reverenced and referenced. "This New Heartache" is straight out of Ray Price. Gill and Patty Loveless tear up "Out of My Mind" and Allison Krauss and Dan Tyminski join in for the waltz "I Can't Let Go. " "Don't Pretend with Me" honors Ernest Tubb's honky-tonk primitivism. Little Brother, all-acoustic and often bluegrass-flavored, shines from beginning to end. Along with "Molly Brown," a stark cautionary about racial violence, Gill sings both "Cold Gray Light of Dawn" and "Give Me the Highway" with the Del McCoury Band. He and Guy Clark close it out with "Almost Home. " Despite outstanding past efforts, Gill--one of the top hitmakers of the '90s--hasn't had a Top Ten single since 2000. No matter. His talents and the heart he puts into his writing, singing, and picking remain at their peak. This stellar collection proves it--four times over. --Rich Kienzle .. You can see a complete list of all Vince Gill discography, or go back to the Vince Gill tabs