Welcome back to Thrak Attack, what's your adventure? Today's adventure takes us to the backyard of Keb' Mo' with all of his friends and family finally back together again for a long pandemic. In his 19th studio album, it's all about making the best of life and celebrating the little things. It's a great album that I found extremely important for the time that we are in.
The theme of this album is perfection. It starts off with the title track "Good to Be..." which is a song about being happy and content with being back with the people and places you love. It's a fitting album for 2022 after so many of us were unable to see a lot of our friends and family. The album continues to send warm vibes with "So Easy" and "Sunny and Warm" but it's the "Medicine Man" that reminds why we are celebrating being together and a reminder to stay healthy and safe. It sort of feels a little too on the head but still makes an impression on the album and features the Old Crow Medicine Show.
The album then features a cover of "Lean on Me" (after one of my favorite tracks called "Marvelous to Me") which makes sense in terms of the theme of the album but I feel like was just a way to fill up the album. My other least favorite song on the album is "Louder" which is way too preachy about the "young people" and that they want a better world. Which makes sense because is Keb' Mo' is 70 years old! But the song doesn't do much other than that the young people are ready to lead and have good intentions.
Overall the album does a fantastic job at painting a picture of the cultural landscape we live in. The ups and downs of life and a gentle reminder to be grateful for being healthy in this time of great strife. That theme coupled with fantastic guitar work and production this album had me take a step back and reflect on how grateful I am to still be healthy and with my family.
When reviewing albums I use a 5 star average rating coupled with stars for production, aesthetic, concept, musicianship, and overall feeling. This album gets a 4 star rating along with stars for production, musicianship, aesthetic, concept, and overall feeling.
"Good to Be..." by Keb' Mo' receives 9 out of 10 stars.
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