Defying Gravity

全世界セールス1000万枚を誇るスーパーロッカー。全米の心を掴んだグラミー賞アーティスト、キース・アーバン！オーストラリアからアメリカへ渡り、アメリカン・ドリームを実現した人気シンガー＆ソングライター。妻はニコール・キッドマン。グラミー賞2部門に輝き、アーシーなギター・ロック・サウンドとバラードで全米チャートも制覇。全米No.1ヒット7曲、TOP5ヒット8曲の記録に続く、通算5枚目のアルバム。

Keith Urbans fourth album, Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing, was released days after he entered a treatment center to treat his alcoholism. The album debuted in the top spot in the Billboard country charts, scored four hit singles, and eventually went double platinum. Whats so remarkable about this is that Urbans rehabilitation regimen didnt allow him to tour for months after the discs release, a move that couldve hurt sales. It didnt happen. Urbans now trademark meld of country, pop, and rock & roll connects deeply with fans, and they are nothing if not loyal. Defying Gravity is his fifth studio release, and in many ways it simultaneously builds on its predecessor while standing apart from it completely. Certainly, there are similarities in sound and approach: Urban once again worked with Dann Huff to co-produce the set, and his signature manner of layering everything from strings and drum machines to banjos, pedal steel, crisp drums, and taut, sheeny electric guitars is a sound that belongs to him alone. The other similarity is that this album is unapologetically one of redemption tomes colored as love songs in various shades and tempos -- though none of them are heartbreak songs. He co-wrote eight of Defying Gravitys 11 tracks, and arranged all of them. That said, Capitol throws everything into the ring this time out by issuing a pair of leadoff singles in the tight little rocker Kiss a Girl and the shimmering, reverb-laden guitar workout Sweet Thing, which is disguised as a midtempo power ballad. Both are 21st century equivalents of rock & roll love songs that echo everyone from Tom Petty to Greg Kihn, and even a bit of Dwight Twilley -- though this is clearly not conscious. As radio tracks, they are smart picks, especially with the clever guitar and banjo interplay -- Urban has transformed the role of the backwoods and in-the-hills instrument into a respectable part of the rock & roll toolbox. There are some proper ballads on the disc as well, such as the haunting, nocturnal, and dreamily textured The Summer Comes Around, his nakedly emotional paean to wife Nicole Kidman (Thank You) that closes the set, and the shuffling Only You Can Love Me This Way. The skittering drum loop that undergirds the guitar and Rolling Stones-esque doo-doo chorus in Im In makes it an excellent choice for a fourth single, and the clipped pedal steel, distorted electric guitars that careen in the bridge, and shuffling percussion make the finger-popping Why It Feels So Long feel like a contemporary country take on of one of Bruce Springsteens boulevard songs, or John Mellencamps Cherry Bomb. In sum, Defying Gravity builds on the skill set that gave listeners Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing and takes it further, seamlessly combining hook-laden crafty songwriting with a pop sensibility in the modern country vernacular that blazes a new trail, underscoring Duke Ellingtons dictum that there are only two kinds of music: good and bad. This is a shining case in point for the former. ~ Thom Jurek

奥様があのニコール・キッドマンということでも有名なキース・アーバンの5作目!　ヒットメイカーのダン・ハフによるプロデュースのもと、澄み渡った青空のような“Kiss A Girl”でゴキゲンに幕を開け、以降もバンジョーとロッキンなギターの絡みが格好良い“Sweet Thing”、古き良きカントリー・フレイヴァーたっぷりの“Why's It Feel So Long”、泣きのバラード“Thank You”など佳曲が続く。充実の一枚だ。
bounce (C)野崎知道