Family

What is WRONG with these people? LeAnn Rimes did a great job with the songs on this album, which are all good or excellent. But the CD is recorded SO LOUD that it is distorted and sounds like connecting a 200-watt amplifier to a 4-inch speaker! In the last few years, I've encountered several new CD's recorded with quality comparable to a wind-up Victrola, and this is one of them! Stereo separation? Forget it. Understand the lyrics? Forget that, too. Distinguish a guitar from a saxophone? Difficult, at best. The music comes out as an amalgam of sounds with ZERO definition. What a waste of LeAnn's talent!

I can't believe it has been almost 12 years since Ms. Rimes come onto the music scene with BLUE. Now, at 25, she has a lot of powerful emotions experiences to showcase on this--her tenth album. On the title track, she wrote and sang about the true-story of what happened to her family during her time of raising stardom. NBTD answers us the "what-if" question of what would happen if she stayed in Mississippi. In other words, what if she never got out of that state. Other great tracks are; Fight, Good Friend And A Glass Of Wine (good one to sing with your friends) I Want You With You (an amazingly beautiful love song about her husband); Doesn't Everybody and the emotional, yet sentimential ballad "What I Can Not Change."

The bonus tracks are good too, but my favorite one is "When You Love Someone Like That." Reba McEntire and LeAnn's voice blend so perfectly together it's scarey.

All in all, this album brings out the best in LeAnn as a gifted singer and songwriter. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS ALBUM TO ANY LEANN FAN OR ANYONE WHO JUST LOVES GREAT MUSIC!! Basically, if this album doesn't go platinum by the end of 2008--it will surely be considered a crime in my eyes. I think that says it all about her new "best" album to date.

Being a huge fan of Leanne I was sorely disappointed in this CD. While her voice was strong and sounded amazing, the songs left a lot to be desired. To be frank, this CD is extremely boring.

Other than the three duets and the song "Nothing Better To Do," this CD is dull. I hate to give a review like this for her since I am such a big fan.

I borrowed this CD from a friend and I am extremely glad that I didn't buy it. I will just go to itunes and buy the four songs that I like.

I suggest you listen to samples to make your own decision. But if your are going to listen to me. Don't waste your money.

"Family" is LeAnn's best album. There isn't one bad song on the album. There is a song for everyone on this one. "Family," "Nothin' Better To Do," "Fight," "Upper Hand," and "What I Cannot Change" are my favorites. Her voice sounds better than ever. It doesnt get much better than this!!

LeAnn has one of those voices that really is amazing on some level. She used to wow me each time on TV. What I loved about her albums, besides her powerhouse voice, was that each song on the album was just great. There are only 2 songs on LeAnn's previous albums that I couldn't listen to (Insensitive and Big Deal) because I didn't like them.

I was so happy when I found out LeAnn was doing another CD. I actually preordered the CD without even hearing it... I'd heard LeAnn talk about writing her own songs and such. I heard that, and then I became a bit worried. Rarely is there a great vocalist who is also a great songwriter. LeAnn, who has had little to no music training, thinks she can create more "How Do I Live," "Can't fight the Moonlight," and "I Need You." type songs. These songs were not average; they were amazingly wonderful. To say the least.. yes I was worried.

I would love to say my worries were just the result of too much time on my hands to think about things. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. The songs on this album are demo quality at best. The lyrics just don't flow. Sometimes, I honestly don't think the songs are even beginning songwriter quality. It would be easy for me to say that the songs are complete crap, and then be done with this review. However, I cannot do that. The theme of the songs often is very interesting. "What I cannot change" and "nothing better to do" both have interesting themes, but the actual excution of the songs just doesn't work. In What I cannot change, she is singing about the profound up and downs of life. It is a great song overall, but why put in a line about what you like in your coffee? If your life is so 'bad' that what you like in your coffee is that important, then your life isn't bad at all. Yes I know wake and mistake rhymes in respect to that line, but it just sounds out of place. If the song was a light, playful song, the coffee line would fit.

It is like Diane Warren talking about what shelikes on her pizza in the middle of How Do I Live. It really kills the flow of the song. Furthermore, the high part she tries to do on the chorus really doesn't work with LeAnn's lower pitched voice. It just sounds odd. If she would have belted it out, I think it would have totally saved the song from crashing and burning to me.

Nothing Better to do was another track that could have been good. I have no problems with the verses except leann's slurring of the words, but to me, a good chorus is not repeating the same line like 10 times.

My favorite track on the album is the duet with Reba. It is true sad that the best track on your album is one that is from another artist's duet album. Leann's vocals sound more like the 'little girl with the big voice' that we all watched grow up. I love that song! Leann and reba both sound great.

Another bright spot on the album is "pretty things." It's a very pretty song, and LeAnn's vocals sound good on it.

I don't know what else I can say about the rest of the album, though. It just isn't very good. I've found bits of light in everything from Leanns early country to her pop stuff to her covers. However, on this album, the negatives far outweigh the positives as far as I'm concerned. The album is just bad for the most part.

I hope Ms. Rimes realizes that songwriters are professional for a reason just as she is a professonal vocalist for a reason. It's impossible to do everything we try on an elite level. LeAnn should stick to singing, and let the songwriters do their jobs. I feel LeAnn's voice is not the problem overall. I could deal with the slurred words if the songs were good. How anyone could compare this with Leann's biggest hits is beyond me. There is no comparison. This is far from LeAnn's best work as it can be since sounds to me like her worst album ever to me.