MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: BRETT KISSEL - WE WERE THAT SONG

Big league album #3 for the now-confirmed Canadian country star (don't forget he also recorded as a young teen back in Alberta starting out). He's already grabbed gold records, a #1 single, top ten albums, a Juno, a bunch of CCMA's, pals around with the likes of Garth Brooks, Brad Paisley, Charley Pride and Dave Mustaine(!), so it feels like at some point soon, all this adulation will spill over into the U.S. as well.

It's pretty much a wall-to-wall party on We Were That Song, almost everything high on the BPM meter. Damn!, with Mustaine cranking out on guitar, has that big pounding drum beat and wild banjo groove, almost a frenzy really. The title cut, already a hit, has the same big sound, impossible to ignore. Kissel's writing some more on this release, Cecilia a good one, a bit more on the melodic side, but still another potential hit. The main body of the album, the first 10 cuts, are all aimed at the modern country world.

The last three cuts, called Encores, are old-school country, something Kissel grew up with and recorded lots of when he first started. That's where Pride shows up, doing a duet on his old 1978 hit Burgers and Fries, kind of a last waltz for the album. Drink, Cuss or Fish is one of those old "make mine country" numbers, another that would've sounded right at home in the '70's, and God Made Daughters is Kissel's own sentimental number for his two baby girls. So you have all this heavily produced stuff up front, and then the throwback songs from simpler times at the very end. Guess which I like more?