I'm a Gary Allan fan. So when I got Gary's new album, Set You Free, I went in with a fan's bias.
When I popped the CD (yes, I said CD.) into my car, I was impressed by the start of the album. Tough Goodbye, the first song is about a relationship getting too serious. Every Storm (Runs Out of Rain) is something different from Gary...it's an uplifting song. I'm used to Gary's depressing stuff. This was a nice change...Bones is a great, angry, muddy sounding track. Followed by 3 standard Gary Allan depressing songs, It Ain't The Whiskey, The Warren Brothers penned Sand In My Soul and You Without Me are the sad (putting it lightly) Gary Allan songs we've come to expect from Gary. The next track is One More Time. A song about standing at the Pearly Gates and wanting more time to enjoy life. It's a sneaky good song and could be a single. Gary goes back to the depressing with Hungover Heart.
Then the album takes a more upbeat feeling with the island sounding No Worries, the bluesy Drop and the ode to friends and family Pieces. The last track is Good As New reminds me of when my daughter was born. I didn't cry when I heard it, but it did remind me of how you look at life differently when something special, when something great comes into your life.
I heard an interview with Gary on SiriusXM's The Highway channel and Gary described this as the closest thing to a concept album that he's done and he would be right. The albums starts with the heartache, the anger, the sadness of a relationship ending. The album ends with finding a new love and all the joys that go with that.
Overall, Set You Free is worth the download...or a buy it at your local music store...if those still exist. I personally could have done with out No Worries...other than that...the album is great. Go get it!
