Joe Nichols' Real Things Review

Real Things: Joe Nichols

Coquet-Shack.com

- Aug 15, 2007


Joe Nichols new album, "Real Things" places this hugely talented singer at the very top of the tree, beyond George Strait, Alan Jackson and a long list of other Nashville luminaries.

He out Country's Strait, outsings Jackson and if there's any justice this album will spawn at least six top ten hits for Nichols.

The best track - and a surefire number one - is his take of Red Foley's "If I Could Only Fly".

Nichols vocals are breathtaking: how he gets that break into his voice in the second line is beyond me, but it's absolutely brilliant.

Lee Ann Womack duets this one with Nichols, and her brilliant harmonies are as good as anyone could produce.

The lyrics, written years ago, are better than almost everything Nashville can produce these days.


Nichols' has the ability to make you believe he really lived the experiences he sings about. "Ain't Nobody Gonna Take That From Me" is life's memories wrapped up with a memorable chorus.

And the lyrics of the last verse.....

"Like this morning, I woke up,
"To a little voice that spoke up:
"Sayin': 'Daddy, please, fix a bowl of Rice Krisperies."
"You're the bestest friend that I ever had."
"You know I love you Dad.'"

are absolutely brilliant.

The lead off single - "Another Side Of You" is one of the best Country songs of 2007 and will make the top ten, if not the top slot.

Just when this album gets to the stage (as every Country album does) where the next track sounds much like the last, Nichols spins the wheel a little harder and comes up with "It Ain't No Crime".

Musically, it steps outside the box for intro, back into the box for a chorus so catchy, you'll be humming it in your sleep, and in and out of the box on the choruses.

This has a unique feel and I'd say it has every chance of being a top ten single.

"She's All Lady" first showed up sung by Jamey Johnson last year. He co wrote the track and we thought Johnson's version was superb. Nichols takes it and makes it his own.

The lyrics include one of the best put-down's we've heard in years.


When a female fan approaches the singer at a show and makes "romantic advances", the singer (who has a partner) turns her down with the words:

"You're all woman, but she's all lady."

Brilliant and ANOTHER chart chance.

Country music has a split personality when it comes to alcohol. Some songs sing it's praises as a "way of getting over".

The rest, in the main, warn of the dangers alcohol represents.

This one does neither. There's no question Nichols is using alcohol to hide his pain, but he also acknowledges that things won't go better until he's got through his "Whiskey Years". Superb.

"Let's Get Drunk And Fight" on the other hand, is in the first category.

Here, the struggling couple (he's been stone cold sober, she's been cold as ice), decide to get drunk so they can fight., keep the neighbours awake.

We don't have the credits for this track, but whoever that lady is singing the chorus harmonies, she deserves a medal.

The song ends with a bar-room chorus singing along. This has every chance of making the top of the charts if Nichols' label decides to put it out as a single.

The close mic work proves how good Joe Nichols' vocals are. On "Real Things" the vocals are sung so softly that if Nichols did it in a large room, those at the back would barely hear him.

The lyrics are pure down-home Country - and the whole song is probably too Country for Nashpop radio.

While Nichols is the master of the slow, close mic song, he can turn it up too. "Comin' Back In A Cadillac" is a high speed romp about a backwoods boy with high ambitions and plans to come home in a Cadillac having "a pile".

"All Good Things" is a beautiful heartbreaker. The music is gentle, Nichols vocals are captivating and the lyrics are clever without being trite.

The lyrics on "Who Are You When I'm Not Looking?" are brilliant. This is a love song but it's way off romantic and it's far from mushy.

It's the words, above everything else, that show how much this singer is in love with the subject. Superb.

"The Difference is Night and Day" is another old-style Country heartbreaker and Nichols is at his close mic sensitive best for "All I Need Is A Heart".

Coquet-Shack's view: Simply the best album of 2007!!