Jack Ingram
This Is It (Big Machine)
Reviewed by Jim Caligiuri, Fri., May 4, 2007
Jack Ingram
This Is It (Big Machine)
What's with the steely look Jack Ingram offers on the cover of This Is It? If This Is It, what he's been aspiring to after 15 years of hard work, wouldn't there be a glimmer of a smile? After all, Ingram's on a big label, with songs that reach No. 1 on the country-music charts, and he's playing arenas with Brad Paisley. Then you get to the music and realize he's been absorbed by the Nashville Borg. Songs are overproduced, especially "Easy as 1,2,3 (Part II)," a co-write with Todd Snider that would sound great on an acoustic guitar, and he covers tunes like third-rate stoners Hinder's "Lips of an Angel." The second half of the disc is an improvement, because they're his songs. Anyone who's been following Ingram's career knows that's really what it's all about.
