Collin Raye - Tracks (CD)

All Music Guide

Collin Raye's sixth conventional album continued his mainstream country-pop approach. "I Couldn't Last a Moment," which was on its way to the country Top Ten as the album was released, was a song of romantic regret that was typical of the album as a whole. The music sounded about as country as the Eagles, no more, no less, and Raye himself could have been mistaken for Don Henley in one of his smoother moments. "A Long Way to Go" was another song in which a man confessed his unhappiness at a romantic breakup, while several others expressed romantic devotion; "Landing in Love" concerned new love; "She's All That" was a romantic fantasy full of exaggerated praise of a woman. Taken together, you'd have to say that this was an album of songs aimed at pleasing Raye's female constituency, especially when you added in "Harder Cards," a story song about a patrolman who aids a victim of domestic violence by making her murder of her husband look like suicide, and "She's Gonna Fly," about an aging... mother. Raye included the usual number of ballads, varying the formula now and then with an uptempo change of pace such as "A Long Way to Go." "Loving This Way," a breakup duet with Bobbie Eakes, also added diversity. Raye sang earnestly, as usual, but the material, while consistent, never rose above typical Nashville fodder, which kept the album from being anything more than another Collin Raye record, much like his others. Fortunately, that was all anybody expected from him. - William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide Read more Less