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Keith Urban: Be Here

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Capitol Records
Released: 2004.09.21
Time:
 55:41
Category: Country
Producer(s): Dann Huff, Keith Urban
Rating: ******.... (6/10)
Media type: CD
Web address: www.keithurban.net
Appears with:
Purchase date: 2009.12.22
Price in €: 2,00





 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Days Go By (k.Urban/M.Powell) – 3:44
[2] Better Life (Urban/R.Marx) – 4:43
[3] Making Memories of Us (R.Crowell) – 4:11
[4] God's Been Good to Me (K.Urban) – 3:38
[5] The Hard Way (R.Rutherford/G.Sampson) – 4:37
[6] You're My Better Half (K.Urban/J.Shanks) – 4:12
[7] I Could Fly (K.Urban/J.Shanks) – 5:19
[8] Tonight I Wanna Cry (K.Urban/M.Powell) – 5:12
[9] She's Gotta Be (K.Urban/M.Powell) – 4:52
[10] Nobody Drinks Alone (M.Berg/J.Collins) – 5:21
[11] Country Comfort (E.John/B.Taupin) – 4:23
[12] Live to Love Another Day (K.Urban/D.Brown) – 3:29
[13] These Are the Days (K.Urban/M.Powell) – 2:49
[14] You (Or Somebody Like You) (G.Sampson/B.Daly/T.Verges) – 4:51

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


Keith Urban - Acoustic Guitar, Banjo, Mandolin, Electric Guitar, Background Vocals, Hand Clapping, Slide Guitar, E-bow, Soloist, Guitar (12 String Acoustic), Vocal Harmony, Producer

Bruce Dukov - Violin
Eric Darken - Percussion
Charlie Bisharat - Violin
Bruce Bouton - Dobro, Steel Guitar
Paul Buckmaster - Conductor
Denyse Buffum - Viola
Paul Bushnell - Bass
Matt Chamberlain - Percussion, Drums
Larry Corbett - Cello
Armen Garabedian - Violin
Berj Garabedian - Violin
Endre Granat - Violin
Paula Hochhalter - Cello
Dann Huff - Mandolin, Electric Guitar, 12 String Acoustic Guitar, Producer
Roland Kato - Viola
Peter Kent - Violin
Steven King - Accordion
Chris McHugh - Percussion, Drums
Steve Nathan - Piano
Jimmie Lee Sloas - Bass
Josephina Vergara - Violin
Evan Wilson - Viola
Jonathan Yudkin - Fiddle, Cello
Matt Funes - Viola
Jimmy Nichols - Piano, Keyboards, Synthesizer Strings
Russell Terrell - Background Vocals
Suzie Katayama - Cello
Tim Akers - Organ, Piano, Accordion, Keyboards, Hammond Organ
Bob Peterson - Violin
Chris Thile - Mandolin
Natalie Leggett - Violin
Rudy Stein - Cello
Sara Parkins - Violin
Tom Bukovac - Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Slide Guitar, Wah Wah guitar
Dan Huff - Mandolin
Dan Smith - Cello
Robert Matsuda - Violin
Steve Richards - Cello
Charles Stegeman - Violin
Rachel Stegeman - Violin
Daniel Smith - Cello

Steve Churchyard - Engineer
Mark Hagen - Engineer
Justin Niebank - Engineer
Brady Barnett - Engineer
Paul Buckmaster - Arranger, String Arrangements
Chris Rowe - Digital Editing
Andy Ackland - Digital Editing
Adam Ayan - Mastering
Suzie Katayama - Orchestral Coordinator
Darin Murphy - Booking
Gary Borman - Management
Betsy Cook - Management
Joanna Carter - Art Direction

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


2004 CD Capitol Records 77489
2005 CD Capitol Records 3333522
2009 CD Capitol Records 35096

With his US debut album, GOLDEN ROAD, Keith Urban confounded critics' expectations of what a New Zealand-born country singer could do, delivering a record that not only contained four Number One hits and remained on the charts for more than 100 weeks, but was an undeniably substantial artistic achievement. Urban cites legendary songwriter Jimmy Webb (author of Glen Campbell's "Wichita Lineman" and "Galveston"), as an influence, and Urban's music often recalls not only Nashville mavericks Rodney Crowell, Vince Gill, and Radney Foster, but the introspective stylings of 1970s singer/songwriters Jackson Browne and Dan Fogelberg. That said, BE HERE's smooth California folk-rock feel doesn't obscure the album's firm country roots. "God's Been Good to Me" lays down a tough, Waylon Jennings-worthy beat bolstered by hot banjo picking, while "Live to Love Another Day" is all backwoods twang and rural imagery. Urban's true forte, however, is the weepy ballad, and "Making Memories of Us" (penned by Crowell) and " Nobody Drinks Alone" are among the most poignant he's recorded.



Be Here is the fourth solo album by New Zealand-born Australian country singer Keith Urban. The album produced three #1 singles on the Hot Country Songs charts: "Days Go By", "Making Memories of Us" and "Better Life", as well as the #2 hits "You're My Better Half" and "Tonight I Wanna Cry"; "Live to Love Another Day" also peaked at #48 on the country charts without being released to radio. "Making Memories of Us", written by Rodney Crowell, was originally recorded by Tracy Byrd on his 2003 album The Truth About Men. It was also recorded by Crowell himself, along with his backing band The Notorious Cherry Bombs, on their 2004 self-titled album. Nine of the album's songs were penned by Urban. The album was certified 3x Platinum by RIAA, and remains as Urban's best-selling album to date, with sales of 3,639,000 copies in the United States, as of July, 2009; it also reached #8 on the Canadian album chart, #1 on the Billboard Hot Country Albums chart and #3 on the Billboard 200. The album's first edition shipped with a monochrome cover art featuring Urban behind the steering wheel of a car. Later issues of the album feature a color cover art with a photograph of Urban leaning on a table.

Wikipedia



Australian-born Keith Urban, hot off the double-platinum success of his 2002 sophomore album, Golden Road, is kind of like contemporary country's Tom Cruise. The kid is just so unjustly talented, likeable, and good-looking that it's hard not to hate him. But such jealousy is apt to melt into begrudging admiration and affection after a quick listen to this third album. True, some of Urban's self-penned adolescent love laments and bright-eyed paeans to life in the slow lane do sound a bit callow and derivative. But, with his resolute tenor and his dazzling lead guitar work, he breathes real pain and passion into moving confessionals like Matraca Berg's "Nobody Drinks Alone," "Tonight I Wanna Cry" (a heart-rending ballad co-written by Urban), and a gentle Rodney Crowell gem called "Memories of Us."

Bob Allen - Amazon.com



Respekt kann man da nur sagen. Nach seiner zwar erfolgreichen, aber auch etwas zu glatt gekehrten Mainstream-Highway Golden Road macht Keith Urban mit Be Here einen künstlerisch gewaltigen Satz. Der seit den frühen 90er Jahren in Nashville lebende Australier hat seine Musik, sagen wir, entrümpelt: weg die vielen Geigen, runter vom synthetischen Keyboard-Teppich. Der eiserne Studio-Besen hat transparente Arrangements frei gelegt, die einen ausgiebigen Blick auf einen hervorragenden Sänger und Songschreiber gestatten. Endlich, möchte man sagen ...

Denn dass der blonde, unverschämt gut aussehende Keith Urban eine gewaltige Portion Talent mit bringt, klang auch schon auf den beiden Vorgänger-CDs in etlichen Songs durch. Oft aber blieben Stimme und Anliegen unter einer berechnend klingenden, stets radiotauglichen Produktion versteckt. Nur nicht anecken war die Formel, die rein wirtschaftlich allerdings voll aufging. Immerhin avancierte Keith Urban zum Millionenseller - mit Songs, die penetrant gute Laune und easy livin‘ propagierten. Von diesem super-smarten Keep-Smiling-, Sunnyboy-Image hat er sich mit dieser CD verabschiedet. Ein mutiger Schritt. Ein ehrlicher dazu. Denn wie die Biografie des Sängers verrät, lachte auch für Keith Urban in seinem 37-järhigen Leben nicht immer die Sonne. Im Gegenteil. Der Mann war, nachdem es in den ersten Jahren in Nashville mit der Karriere partout nicht klappen wollte, sogar ganz unten: Drogen, Suff, Frust - die volle Bandbreite.

Einige Kapitel aus diesen dunklen Zeiten erzählt er uns auf dieser neuen CD. In Eigenkompositionen und in Songs aus Fremder Feder wie Rodney Crowells "Making Memories" oder Matraca Bergs "Nobody Drinks Alone" schildert er, wie ein talentierter 25-Jähriger um Haaresbreite seine Zukunft verspielt hätte. Er hat wohl Glück gehabt, vermutlich noch einiges mehr. Und auch davon berichtet er. Deshalb ist Be Here" natürlich nicht die Country-Antwort auf Bruce Springsteens Nebraska. Weit gefehlt. Dafür ist Keith Urban trotz, vermutlich sogar wegen seiner Vergangenheit, heute ein viel zu überzeugter Optimist. Diese Mut machende Einstellung serviert er in Songs wie "Live To Love Another Day" und "These Are The Days". Es sind wahre Hymnen an die Liebe, an das Leben, und sie wirken in diesem facettenreichen Umfeld endlich auch glaubwürdig. Eine deutlich traditionellere, erfreulich unaufdringliche Produktion (Dann Huff, Keith Urban) unterstreicht dies und macht aus Be Here endgültig Keith Urbans Meisterstück.

Gunther Matejka - Amazon.de



Coming off the double-platinum success of 2002's Golden Road, Aussie country rocker Keith Urban builds on a winning formula with Be Here, one of the year's strongest mainstream offerings. Well-turned original songs, a couple of impressive covers, tight band work, expressive singing, and, of course, some exemplary guitar pickin' on Urban's part are the essential components here, and when they all mesh it's a beautiful thing. They do just that on "You're My Better Half," a sizzling, country-tinged rocker that finds Urban not only singing the praises of his beloved but stepping out with a joyous, soaring guitar solo. In a buoyant arrangement suited to a song titled "I Could Fly," Urban exults in the strengthening power of true love, backed by a funky little herky-jerky groove and a wailing slide guitar solo that jets toward the stratosphere. He conjures a seductive atmosphere, via twangy guitar playing and a heartfelt vocal, on a cover of Rodney Crowell's brilliant love song "Making Memories of Us" (hear the original version on the Notorious Cherry Bombs' debut). Heartbreak gets more than a fair hearing too, on Urban's wrenching, intimate piano ballad "Tonight I Wanna Cry," on which he touches some still-raw nerves in his account of a relationship's demise, his tear-stained vocal sounding close to the bone. He more than does justice to Elton John and Bernie Taupin's "Country Comfort" - one of the strongest songs in EJ's early canon - on which his boisterous vocal is set against swirling pedal steel lines and snarling guitar punctuations. Platinum shortage in America? Blame Keith Urban. He's gonna be stockpiling it soon.

David McGee - Barnes & Noble



Keith Urban has been a consistent presence in the Top Ten of the country singles charts since 2000, scoring eight consecutive entries as of the release of his third U.S. solo album, Be Here, the eighth being the disc's leadoff track, "Days Go By." And there's plenty more where that came from. Unlike most other country artists, Urban doesn't restrict himself to ten selections from the Nashville songwriting establishment for his albums. This one contains 13 songs at a generous 55-minute running time, and Urban's name is on nine of them as a co-writer. Thus, the collection can be viewed as more of a singer/songwriter effort than the usual Music City product. From that point of view, the album has a distinct storytelling arc, beginning with the carpe diem sentiments of "Days Go By" and continuing into a series of songs that celebrate life and love, notably Rodney Crowell's unabashedly romantic "Making Memories of Us," which finds Urban doing his best Crowell imitation. Suggestions of struggle begin to intrude as of "God's Been Good to Me," however, and eight songs in Urban abruptly changes the sound and the mood with the piano-and-strings weeper "Tonight I Wanna Cry," a song this reformed drinker confesses in his press materials that his sponsor might not approve of. "She's Gotta Be" picks up the pace, if not the mood, and Matraca Berg and Jim Collins' "Nobody Drinks Alone" brings the singer to a sodden rock bottom before he changes the subject by covering Elton John's "Country Comfort" and finally overcomes adversity in "Live to Love Another Day," then rewrites the album's opening song to look forward again on the album-closing "These Are the Days." The album-length story of optimism and perseverance in the face of romantic turmoil and alcoholic temptation is told musically with Urban's usual collection of fast-picked string instruments, including electric and acoustic guitars, banjo, mandolin, and Dobro (the last played by Bruce Bouton). It's a muscular sound indebted at least as much to rock and bluegrass as to traditional country, but it supports his light, flexible tenor and his essentially upbeat message.

William Ruhlmann - All Music Guide



Urban's "You'll Think of Me" was the best breakup song of the year in any genre, a carefully detailed evisceration of a petulant ex. He turns the cruel lens on himself with "The Hard Way," the starkest track on Be Here. His fifth album's main fault: Most of it is saddled by stubbornly traditional country-rock arrangements ("Days Go By," "Better Life") that worked for, say, John Mellencamp, but that Urban doesn't quite have the gravel pipes to roughen up.

JON CARAMANICA - Nov 25, 2004
RollingStone.com
 

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