Search - Exile :: Kentucky Hearts / Shelter From the Night

Rocking pop country from the eighties

Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 04/27/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This twofer pairs Exile's second and fourth country albums - the first and third can be found on another twofer that I've already reviewed. As I explained in that review, their first two country albums were their strongest and most successful, so the record company wisely kept them apart when pairing up the twofers. Not that there's anything wrong with their third and fourth albums, but those first two were magical.



So the main reason for buying this album is their second country album, Kentucky hearts. It contains five country number one hits including one (Just in case) that they wrote but allowed the Foresters sisters to have the hit with. The other four are Give me one more chance, She's a miracle, Crazy for your love and Super love. All five are hard-driving, rocking pop-country music at its best. The other five tracks are in similar vein and it must have been hard deciding what to release as singles. No wonder they let the Forester sisters have Just in case. Some of the others could also have been huge hits.



The second half of the twofer is also enjoyable and includes another country number one (I can't get close enough) but, understandably, this excellent (by normal standards) album is overshadowed by its incredible predecessor.



If you enjoy the music of Alabama and Sawyer Brown, you'll love Exile. At their best (their first two country albums), they were the best of the lot. After that, they were still excellent, but no more so than their rivals."