Seventy Two & Sunny

Performer: Uncle Kracker
Artist: Kenny Chesney; Bret Michaels
Producer: Michael Bradford; Uncle Kracker
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files. Personnel: Uncle Kracker (vocals); Annie Ree Bradford, Bret Michaels (vocals); Mike Bradford (guitar, pedal steel guitar, dobro, keyboards, bass guitar, drums, background vocals); Frank Myers (acoustic guitar, background vocals); Brent Mason (electric guitar); Dan Dugmore (pedal steel guitar); Eric Gorfain (violin); John Catchings (cello); Phil Vassar (piano); Kenny Chesney (bass guitar); Russ Kunkel, Jerome Day (drums). Few folks are on the fence about Kid Rock prot�g� Uncle Kracker. People either love him or hate him. With Seventy Two & Sunny, his third solo disc, the latter rule most often applies, as Kracker blatantly pilfers from the likes of Bob Seger, the Eagles, and others on tracks like "Further Down the Road." Largely absent of originality, Kracker brews up airwave-ripe albeit sugary lovelorn dreck like "Rescue" and the doo wop novelty "Please Come Home." That's not to say Seventy Two & Sunny is all annoyingly tepid, as the alluringly sunny "This Time" fuses country and classic rock with inexplicably pleasant results. Elsewhere, Uncle Kracker delivers "Writing It Down," an uplifting piano ballad that is too good to dismiss. He also teams up with hit country musician Kenny Chesney to reprise the, ahem, magic of that artist's "When the Sun Goes Down." ~ John D. Luerssen Few folks are on the fence about Kid Rock prot�g� Uncle Kracker. People either love him or hate him. With Seventy Two & Sunny, his third solo disc, the latter rule most often applies, as Kracker blatantly pilfers from the likes of Bob Seger, the Eagles, and others on tracks like "Further Down the Road." Largely absent of originality, Kracker brews up airwave-ripe albeit sugary lovelorn dreck like "Rescue" and the doo wop novelty "Please Come Home." That's not to say Seventy Two & Sunny is all annoyingly tepid, as the alluringly sunny "This Time" fuses country and classic rock with inexplicably pleasant results. Elsewhere, Uncle Kracker delivers "Writing It Down," an uplifting piano ballad that is too good to dismiss. But then he goes and teams up with hit country musician Kenny Chesney to reprise the, ahem, magic of that artist's "When the Sun Goes Down." Simply put, their second pairing, for "Last Night Again," is just another disposable, drunken bar romp. And like the bulk of Uncle Kracker's second musical helping, it's dang hard to swallow. ~ John D. Luerssen Uncle Kracker (AKA Matt Shafer) and his buddy Kid Rock have always been proud of their brand of hick-hop, which somehow straddles the worlds of country and urban nuance. For his third solo album, 72 & SUNNY, Shafer eliminates much of the heavy rock and rap aspects that initially brought him to the fore, and instead heads in a direction more in line with classic rock and contemporary country. Working with his touring band, the Michigan native also adds an odd assortment of guest talent, including Poison's Bret Michaels, session vet Russ Kunkel, and country stalwarts Brent Mason and Phil Vassar. Here Uncle Kracker whips up a number of songs that wouldn't sound out of place on a mainstream country station. Kracker easily moves from the yearning "Don't Know How (Not to Love You)," with its mention of one-eyed jacks and Biloxi, to the fiddle-and-harp-driven stomper "A Place at My Table," where Patsy Cline and George Jones get name-checked. Capping the album off is "Last Night Again," a tear-in-your-beer weeper featuring country star Kenny Chesney, who previously teamed with Kracker on the hit duet "When the Sun Goes Down."

Spin (p.106) - "The stunning artistic merits almost go without saying, but the collection is also a fine document of Sonic Youth's ability to sniff out budding hipsterati..." - Grade: A

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