On January 11, 2011, Steel Magnolia released their debut album. The album had it's share of hits and misses, but through all of the misses it still shows promise for the duo. Both singers have excellent voices for their style, and they have pretty good vocal control. They have a creative songwriting style, but the ballads on this album are lacking.
The collection opens with the catchy and creative song "Ooh La La". This shows off a good sample of what this duo can do. Joshua Scott Jones and Meghan Linsey both have powerful voices, and they have an interesting but great blend when put together.
The next song on this collection is the successful debut single "Keep On Lovin' You", which is a little deeper than Ooh La La, but the theme is the same that you'll hear in nearly every country love song.
Next is the single "Just by being you", which, when released as a single, wasn't received well by the critics and only peaked at 25. This song does not in any way hide their vocal talents, it compliments their voices nicely! But the song itself is boring and its sure to put a few listeners to sleep. "Edge of Goodbye", the next song, is a mess. In the verse, the lyrics and the tune don't sync up at all; of course the songwriter was going for this, but they didn't do a good job. The song overall is lifeless and doesn't help the album at all.
"Bulletproof" is almost a hit. The words are great, the tune is almost perfect. It keeps you interested, it's relate able. But the chorus leaves something to be desired; it barely builds at all, so all through the song you're wishing it would get bigger. "Not Tonight" is best song on this album. It has just the perfect amount of emotion, the lyrics are amazing and original, and it shows off both of the singers' ability. This is the song most likely to rank up on your playlist.
"Last Night Again" is an interesting song, with interesting melodic themes. But the lyrics sound questionable, but are vague enough that you can't know for sure. "Without You" is a complete bore, and hasn't got the smallest measure of originality. The Chorus and the Verse don't seem to connect at all, and the tune is very uncreative.
"Rainbow" is the last notable piece of good material on this album. You'll fall in love with the chord progressions immediately, the lyrics are just what you need to cheer you up when you're having a bad day. (not dissimilar to Shania Twain's song "UP!") The tune is very cool, and very well connected. This song makes the rest of the album worth you're time. "Homespun Love" is in no way bad, but it's not all that great either. And the album ends off with "Glass Houses", another song that isn't interesting at all and would have been best left off of the album.
Again, this album has it's share of hits and misses; and it shows that if these 2 singers play their cards right, they'll go places. I would recommend that in the future they take longer to pick their songs, and avoid recording anymore uninteresting pieces. Do that, and they're sure to have a large future in music!
