Everyone has bad things associated with high school that they really don't want to relive. Whether it be an awful yearbook picture, a public embarrassment, or a tragic loss of your best friend, high school tends to have negative stigma attached to it. No matter if you're the captain of the football team or the 3rd string member of the chess team, you will have a few cringe inducing stories to tell later on when reminiscing about the time with your friends, loved ones, or fellow classmates.
Granted, Little Big Town wasn't in high school in 2002, but their debut album will undoubtedly be a low point on their musical résumé by the time their career has finished. Signed to Monument Records (former home of the Dixie Chicks), the group had pretty mediocre success thanks to this indistinctive, sheen-y collection of pop-friendly material. Stay, a song that was re-recorded for the group's second album, isn't perfect but it looks like Imagine compared to most of the material here. There are production/mix issues here that were worked out on version number two, but here they are distracting. When it is supposed to soar, it just kind of flattens out, the production taking center stage instead of the complex harmonies. The melody is beautifully composed and their songs are typically well arranged, though, so there are little nuggets to enjoy here. Tryin' may be trite and maudlin, but I'll be darned if it's not the ear candy of the album. You won't remember it 10 minutes later but it's a very pleasant account of running away from home to be a big star and struggling to find yourself. I think this type of song is usually pandering for an established group, but I like hearing a new group connect with their journey to the record studio, so it feels personal and a little chunk of self-reflection on an otherwise bland disc. A Thousand Years sticks out pretty obviously on Little Big Town. It's by far the highlight of the disc, though it doesn't come close to their later material and doesn't really stick to your ribs. Nonetheless, it's a well composed, balanced effort worthy of a foot tap and a few repeat listens. Vocally focused with a fairly flexible melody, it's not quite as romantic as it thinks, but it still has some heart and a noticeable sincerity.
Pontiac falls short in every area; on the initial listen, it sounds like a fairly decent anthem of moving on after dealing with a lying loved one, but every element of the song is just anemic and fails to distinguish this from the other seven thousand songs of its ilk. With an obvious metaphor (guess how big the lies are?), inconsistent at best production (it seemingly fades in and out while almost literally straddling the line between pop and country), and a truly faceless overall sound, it's not the proper track to introduce the album. From This Dream may have some of the strongest vocals on the album and deviate a little from the expected, but this odd Ireland-meets-the-southwestern-United-States (trust me) ballad never really gels. The peaceful atmosphere is a definite positive, drawing more attention to the group's sterling vocals, but the song just sounds like it's overdone. Strip a few of the elements away (too many fiddles/guitars), make it more simple, and you really have something here. Somewhere Far Away is just a tired listen. Honestly, you can just preview the first ten to fifteen seconds and you have the entire song in a nutshell. There's nothing fresh, innovative, original, or particularly moving about yet another song concerning being cooped up in your current area and needing to be free. I understand that it's a relatable topic, but Little Big Town makes every expected choice you can imagine here.
While Little Big Town's debut album isn't all that great, the seeds for what they would become are planted. The harmonies and cohesion that they have been known for are present in spades; it just took the material a little bit before catching up. It seems that the production choices and lyrical content were more about trying to fit into the musical landscape of 2002 than expressing any sort of personality, as evidenced by the complete shift in sound for the proceeding three albums. I'm appreciative of this album, not for its quality, but due to the fact that it let the group get its foot in the door and showed the country music scene that they were better than they were showing. While Little Big Town gives a clearer picture of who the group was, is, and will be, it's not an essential buy and should be looked at as more of an embarrassing relic from their youth and not as a statement of their artistic capabilities.
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