George Strait - Lead On

Strait has long been an expert at Texas swing and Texas honky-tonk, but on this album he stretches out to prove he's just as good with dance music from Louisiana and California. "Adalida" is a surprisingly authentic Cajun two-step with lively fiddle fills by Stuart Duncan, while "I'll Always Be Loving You" sounds like classic Bakersfield with Brent Mason adding the bright electric guitar fills. Two Jim Lauderdale songs combine funny lyrics and twitchy dancehall rhythms, and an old Max Barnes number, "No One but You," is given a seductive swing arrangement. Coproduced by Strait and Tony Brown, "Lead On" proves that country music doesn't have to sacrifice great singing to keep the dancers happy. --Geoffrey Himes Amazon.com

george strait lead on

I dont think george strait would know how to put a bad cd out July 18, 2005

A very good album for the most part

Whilst George Strait hasn't had the same level of success of other 1980s and 1990s Country singers, he has indeed had as much consistency as the best of them, to date he has topped the US Country Chart with 50 different songs.

Whilst he was not a revolutionist (ala Garth Brooks, who draw some of his inspiration from Strait) he most certainly brought the tradition instruments such as Fiddle and Steel Guitar back to the forefront of Country music.

This album, recorded more 13 years after his debut, opens with the track "You can't make a heart love somebody", a track about a man proposing to the love of his life, who has to break the news she doesn't feel the same (it features the heart choking line "My Heart's the only part of me that's not in love with you"). Steel Guitar a-plenty, this is a true Country "tear in my beer" love song.

"Adalida" the next selection on "Lead On" is more upbeat, with a Cajun feel. It's a good song but by no means the best.
"I met a friend of yours today", however, is one of those great story telling songs, that was a big airplay success on Country Radio in both Britain and America in the 90's.
This is the type of song that would go down very well at the end of a small Nashville concert (although The Stadiums George plays today probably would want to end on a more upbeat number).

Other standout cuts on this selection include "The Big One." This was indeed a big Strait hit and another transalantic success on Country Radio (In the 1990s, (then) DJ of London's Country 1035AM, Randy Lee Rose, once played the track back to back on his show). Cleverly written with lines such as "S.O.S in this situation means She's Outta Site".

The already mentioned songs along with "Nobody Has To Get Hurt", "What Am I Waiting For" and the ballad "Lead On" represent the best of the album.

The 3 remaining tracks "Noone But You", "I'll Always be loving you" and "Down Louisiana Way" are all ok, but you'll probably find yourselfs skipping these tracks after a few listens to get to the better ones.

Overall, a nice album by one of the (many) good singers in the country genre. February 5, 2005

Great George Strait CD

This is one of my favorite George Strait CDs. I can listen to this CD over and over again and never get tired of it. This is one of a few CDs where I like each of the songs on the CD. Most of the songs on this CD are upbeat and fun like "Adalida", "The Big One", "Down Louisiana Way", and "What Am I Waiting For." There are also a few classic George Strait love songs and sad songs like "You Can't Make a Heart Love Somebody", "Lead On", and "I Met a Friend of Yours Today."

I would definitely recommend this CD to any George Strait or country music fan. September 28, 2004

markk

this is one of his best one of his most upbeat cds The song "what am I waiting for" alone is worth the price of the cd. "I met a friend of yours today", "andalina", "down louisanna way" are also great songs which makes this one of straits best I highly recommend this cd if your in the mood for some upbeat country music July 11, 2004

Different-sounding songs from George; another winning album

George Strait went in a couple of different directions on Lead On. His first hit off the record was his upbeat song "The Big One", about a guy falling "big" for a girl. As well as I can remember, George hadn't released an uptempo song as the first single off an album since his very first hit, "Unwound", from his Strait Country album, hit the charts in '81. However, George hit it "big" with "The Big One", which is one of the many #1 hits he's had in his career. George also scored a chart-topper with his Cajun rocker "Adalida", which besides the usual strong pedal steel guitar and fiddle that George's songs usually feature, has an accordion-sounding synthesizer. The memorable line in "Adalida": "To stand beside you, Sweet Adalida, I'd swim the Pontchartrain." For those of you music fans who need a geography lesson, "Pontchartrain" is Louisiana's Lake Pontchartrain, which forms New Orleans' northern shoreline. Two other great upbeat songs are George's honky-tonker "What Am I Waiting For", where a guy talks about being stood up by his girlfriend while waiting for her to phone him, and "Nobody Has To Get Hurt", dealing with the possibility of a rekindled relationship.

As usual, though, ballads are George's strong point. "You Can't Make A Heart Love Somebody" has the woman gently turning away her boyfriend's marriage proposal("You can't make a heart love somebody/You can lead a heart to love, but you can't make it fall"). "I'll Always Be Loving You" and the title track "Lead On" are well-done romantic songs. The closing tune "No One But You" is a classic George Strait lost-love song. "Down Louisiana Way" is a solid going-home song("I'm goin' down Louisiana Way"). If there's a weak link on Lead On, I think it's the breakup song "I Met A Friend Of Yours Today". The man goes home and tells his wife about meeting her old flame at the bar on his way home from work("I met a friend of yours today") and, after introducing himself, realizing that her "old flame" still is attracted to her and that he himself probably won't have any place in her life. This song in my opinion is overly sentimental for George. Although he makes you laugh and cry in his songs, I think George really hit a low point here. "I Met A Friend" is emotion without the words to back it up. Still, for all you fellow George Strait fans who don't yet have this record, I think Lead On is a must-have for your collection. It's another winning album from a guy who always comes out with winning music. September 21, 2002

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