Taylor Alison Swift was born on December 13, 1989 in
Reading, Pennsylvania. She is right up
there with Britney Spears as my favourite female artist of all time. She has won 7 Grammys, 11 American Music
Awards, 7 Country Music Association Awards, and 6 Academy of Country Music
Awards. Her first three studio albums
were TAYLOR SWIFT (2006), FEARLESS (2008), AND SPEAK NOW (2010). I would cite the latter as my favourite. It contains such great songs as ‘Mine’, ‘Back
to December’, and ‘Mean’. It served as the
soundtrack for my trips to and from counselling when I lived in
Flesherton. Taylor’s latest album is RED
(2012, Big Machine Records). Here I will
be reviewing the two disc deluxe edition.
Disc One consists of sixteen new songs and runs 65 minutes
and 16 seconds! A nice pop song, ‘State
of Grace’, starts things off and is one of nine tracks Taylor wrote alone. It contains these lyrics of great depth:
“Love is a ruthless game/Unless you play it good and right/These are the hands
of fate/You’re my achilles heel/This is the golden age of something good and
right and real/And I never saw you coming/And I’ll never be the same.” The title track, ‘Red’, is a colorful song:
“Losing him was blue, like I’d never known/Missing him was dark gray, all
alone/Forgetting him was like trying to know somebody you never met/But loving
him was red.” It should be noted that
several men who have worked in the Contemporary Christian Music industry appear
on this track: Nathan Chapman (acoustic guitar and percussion), Dan Huff
(bouzouki, electric guitar), Jimmie Sloas (bass), and David Huff (digital
editing).
I’ve got a feeling that many young gals will be able to
relate to ‘Treacherous’, the next song: “I’d be smart to walk away/But you’re
quicksand/This slope is treacherous/This path is reckless/This slope is
treacherous/And I, I, I like it/I can’t decide if it’s a choice getting swept
away/I hear the sound of my own voice/Asking you to stay.” A terrific pop/rock song, ‘I Knew You Were
Trouble’, is next. Written by Swift, Max
Martin, and Shellback, it speaks of how insensitive a guy can be: “No
apologies, he’ll never see you cry/Pretends he doesn’t know that he’s the
reason why/You’re drowning (3X).../And I heard you moved on from whispers on
the street/A new notch in your belt is all I’ll ever be/And now I see, now I
see, now I see/He was long gone when he met me/And I realize the joke is on
me/Hey!”
‘All Too Well’ is a co-write with Liz Rose. It is a delightful song that talks about
heartbreak: “There we are again in the middle of the night/We’re dancing round
the kitchen in the refrigerator light/Down the stairs, I was there/I remember
it all too well/Well maybe we got lost in translation/Maybe I asked for too
much/But maybe this thing was a masterpiece/Till you tore it all up/Running
scared, I was there/I remember it all too well/And you call me up again/Just to
break me like a promise/So casually cruel in the name of being honest/I’m a
crumpled up piece of paper lying here.”
‘22’ has a party sound to it. It
reminds me vocally and musically of Ke$ha and offers a glimpse into the mindset
of many a young lady: “Yeah, we’re happy, free, confused and lonely at the same
time/It’s miserable and magical, oh yeah.”
Next up is a wonderful ballad, ‘I Almost Do’, that shows a
vulnerable side of Taylor: “I bet you think I either moved on or hate you/Cause
each time you reach out, there’s no reply/I bet it never ever occurred to
you/That I can’t say hello to you and risk another goodbye.” ‘We are Never Ever Getting Back Together’,
co-written with Max Martin and Shellback, has to be tied with Carly Rae’s ‘Call
me Maybe’ as the catchiest song ever!
Taylor sings the following sweetly: “I used to think that we were
forever, ever, and I used to say ‘Never say never’.” Then in her sexy speaking voice she says: “So
he calls me up, and he’s like/’I still love you’ and I’m like, ‘I mean this is
exhausting/You know, like we are never getting back together, like ever.’”
‘Stay Stay Stay’ is an upbeat country song that would have
fit nicely on Taylor’s first album.
Nathan Chapman plays mandolin and Eric Darken plays percussion. This song reveals that Taylor is looking for
much more than a one night fling: “You took the time to memorize me/My fears,
my hopes, and dreams/I just like hanging out with you/All the time/All those
times that you didn’t leave/It’s been occurring to me/I’d like to hang out with
you/For my whole life.” ‘The Last Time’
features vocals by Gary LIghtbody of Snow Patrol and makes use of an
orchestra. This song is about seeking a
permanent reconciliation: “I find myself at your door/Just like all those times
before/I’m not sure how I got there/ All roads, they lead me here/ I imagine
you are home/In your room all alone/And you open your eyes into mine and
everything feels better/And right before your eyes/I’m breaking/No past, no
reasons why/Just you and me.”
Despite its title ‘Holy Ground’ is not a gospel song: “I
left a note on the door with a joke we’d made/And that was the first day/And
darling it was good/Never looking down/And right there where we stood/Was holy
ground.” ‘Sad Beautiful Tragic’ finds
Nathan Chapman on ukulele and is on the quiet side. It is, as the title suggests, about the end
of a human love relationship: “We had/A beautiful, magic love there/What a
sad/Beautiful, tragic love affair/In dreams, I meet you in warm conversation/We
both wake in lonely beds, different cities/And time is taking its sweet time
erasing you/And you’ve got your demons and darling/They all look like me.”
‘The Lucky One’ reflects on the downside of fame: “Now it’s
big black cars and Riviera views/And your lover in the foyer doesn’t even know
you/And your secrets end up splashed on the news front page/And they tell you
that you’re lucky, but you’re so confused/Cause you don’t feel pretty, you just
feel used/And all the young things line up to take your place.” An adult contemporary duet co-written with,
and featuring Ed Sheeran, is next.
‘Everything Has Changed’ is about infatuation: “Cause all I know is we
said hello/And your eyes look like coming home/All I know is a simple
name/Everything has changed/All I know is you held the door/You’ll be mine and
I’ll be yours.../And all I feel in my stomach is butterflies, the beautiful
kind.”
‘Starlight’ finds Taylor hopelessly daydreaming to a
danceable beat: “I met Bobby on the boardwalk/Summer of ‘45/Picked me up late
one night/Out the window, we were seventeen.../The night we snuck into a/Yacht
club party, pretending to/Be a duchess and a prince.../Oooh, oooh, he’s talking
crazy/Oooh, oooh, dancing with me/Oooh, ooh, we could get married/Have ten kids
and teach them how to dream.” ‘Begin
Again’ is a moving ballad that makes use of steel guitar, mandolin, accordion,
and B-3 organ, to name a few instruments.
It ends the standard sixteen track edition of the album on a hope-filled
note: “And you throw your head back laughing/Like a little kid/I think it’s
strange that you think I’m funny cause/He never did/And I’ve been spending the
past 8 months/Thinking all love ever does/Is break and burn and end/But on a
Wednesday in a cafe/I watched it begin again/You said you never met one girl
who/Had as many James Taylor records as you/But I do.”
Disc Two contains the bonus tracks and runs 25 minutes and
21 seconds. Swift and Liz Huett perform
backing vocals on ‘The Moment I Knew’.
It is a sorrowful song: “What do you say/When tears are streaming down
your face/In front of everyone you know?/And what do you do when the one/Who
means the most to you/Is the one who didn’t show?” ‘Come Back...Be Here’ is one of my
favourites. It is a co-write with Dan
Wilson and uses strings. It is another
great sad song: “Taxi cabs and busy streets/That never bring you back to me/I can’t
help but wish you took me with you/And this is when the feeling sinks in/I
don’t wanna miss you like this/Come back...be here, come back...be here” ‘Girl at Home’ is a fine song that serves as
a warning to a two-timing fellow: “Don’t look at me/You’ve got a girl at
home/And everybody knows that/Everybody knows that/Don’t look at me/You’ve got
a girl at home/And everybody knows that/I don’t even know her/But I feel a
responsibility/To do what’s upstanding and right.” Original demo recordings of ‘Treacherous’ and
‘Red’ and an acoustic version of ‘State of Grace’complete the second disc with
a more intimate feeling.
I recommend RED to fans of well executed contemporary pop
and country music. I do wish Taylor
would have included a couple of rock songs to add even more flavour. The photos of Taylor reveal a beautiful
fashion model. Taylor is maturing into
an elite group of singer-songwriters whose music will far outlive
themselves. She is a true talent with
substance and poise! I’m rating this
deluxe edition of RED 93%. For more info
visit www.taylorswift.com and www.bigmachinerecords.com.