David Cook: This Loud Morning

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David Cook
This Loud Morning
(RCA Records)

Buy it at Amazon!

Random.

That’s what David Cook is—absolutely random. Not so much in his music—on that front he’s very mainstream, very commercial…he’s a pop star.

No, Cook’s random in the way that he’s consistently good, once again delivering a solid album filled with heartbreak, motivation, frustration, and lots and lots of power chords.

This Loud Morning has a much more artsy feel than his last eponymously named album, which makes sense, seeing as how his first release arrived on the curtails of his American Idol win, and was targeted for a very select audience—the same people who watched the show.  After successfully catering to them, Cook is now allowing us to see a more mature, artistic side to him than what we’re used to.

Cook has grown as an artist since his sudden launch into stardom. His lyrics are much more profound than his earlier stuff (“We were almost beautiful/A broken piece of art put on display” on “The Last Goodbye”), and in each song, he really delves into his personality, giving us more raw emotion, evident in the grit with which he sings.

The album’s only single so far is “The Last Goodbye,” –a heartbreaking dedication to the one who got away. When Cook sings “I didn’t wanna lose you/Leave you with a broken heart,” he sings it with conviction. Musically, the verses are pretty bland, but the chorus has that I-need-to-belt-this-at-the-top-of-my-lungs kind of feel to it, which makes it successful.

Arguably, the best track on the album is Cook’s opening experimental number, “Circadian.” Cook has stated that the song is about falling asleep and using sleep as a reprieve from the day. I don’t really get that, but it’s still an excellent piece of rock material, much like the album itself.

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7 COMMENTS

  1. Great review, Matt. You have gotten the essence of David’s development and his goals, as he has stated, in making This Loud Morning. I consider the album a wonderful artistic achievement, especially given the commercial trends in pop music today. I find,and many many of his fans also find, the album as a whole compelling and involving, too. I hope that reviews like yours will bring new ears to David’s work as he strives to keep growing and maturing in his art.

  2. Your review popped up on my twitter TL this morning. I just picked up this cd last week and already a couple of the songs will not leave my head; Paper Heart and Goodbye To The Girl. Not one skip worthy track either.

  3. Thanks, Matt for your review. I also feel it is a solid rock album filled with so much raw emotion. I have to agree that Circadian is one of the best, although, the bookend R.E.M. comes close.

  4. Great review of a solid album. My favorite lyric is the one you quoted above, and I also love that it is in the second verse, which is often a throw-away verse. Not so with Cook. Some of my favorite tracks are Goodbye to the Girl and Right Here With You. There is not a track on the album that I skip over, and that is rarely the case.

  5. Thank you very much for a very nice review. David Cook’s latest work is really worth the wait. You can listen to the whole album over and over again. Skip button is not needed. Thank you again and more power to you.

  6. It gives me hope, by reading this, that there are still reviewers out there willing to give real, honest music a chance. Thank you for your very good review of This Loud Morning. This is the first album I have bought in years that I HAVE to listen to from the first note to the last, never pressing the skip button. I find each song flows perfectly from one to the next to the next. Even the 2 bonus tracks on the deluxe edition fit, and that is unusual. Thanks again!

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