Album Review: Lady Antebellum’s “Own the Night”
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Love doesn’t come easily in Lady Antebellum’s world, at least not on the country trio’s third album, arriving today with high expectations on the heels of its massive breakthrough “Need You Now.”
That award-laden song was a masterstroke that captured the desperation of the lonely, and this time out the group has amplified and expanded on related conundrums: how to find love, and how to make it stay.
Although the album title is rendered in the present tense, the song it grows out of, “We Owned the Night,” is rooted in the past, as are several others in which Lady A shines its light on moments when love seemed perfect. These are taken as solace during times when it’s broken down, or nowhere in sight.
Musically speaking, the group’s secret is the symbiotic blend of the voices of Hillary Scott and Charles Kelley that brings out the longing in songs they’ve written with a variety of collaborators.
Not surprisingly, everything sounds bigger, brighter and shinier than on Lady A’s first two albums. That’ll probably go over well with fans of grandiose country pop, but the all-stops-out production gradually loses impact. There’s also a sameness of tempo and tone to a lot of the material, which makes the sweet and upbeat two-step “Love I’ve Found in You” an especially welcome addition to the mix.
Lady Antebellum
“Own the Night”
(Capitol Nashville)
Two and a half stars (out of four)
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--Randy Lewis
