Music
By Katie Dodd
Brad Paisley
Time Well Wasted (Arista)On his 1999 debut, Who Needs Pictures, Brad Paisley courted country audiences with an adorably aw-shucks shtick, best personified by the hapless bachelor in the sly come-on "Me Neither." But on Time Well Wasted, Paisley's fourth and latest album, that persona is gone, too often replaced by a smug husband who has a way with the backhanded compliment. (Now 32, Paisley married actress Kimberly Williams in 2003.)
Take "Waitin' on a Woman," which finds two men, one young and one old, commiserating on a shopping mall bench. The old man eventually declares that he hopes he dies first so his wife can enjoy a longer life, a sentiment apparently meant to mollify after he's spent three-quarters of the song making fun of her.
There's certainly nothing wrong with gently poking fun, or the message of unconditional love in a song like "She's Everything," which tenderly lays out a beloved's quirks, good and bad, including the fact that she's occasionally moody, possibly because she "can't find a thing to wear." But more often than not, rather than conjure a real, complex woman, the love songs on Time Well Wasted tend to call to mind a ditzy chick who's more than a little superficial. It lends an uncomfortably sexist undercurrent to the otherwise outstanding effort we've come to expect from Paisley.
A few years ago, Paisley was deemed a delightful throwback to old-school country—he even includes two gorgeous gospel tunes on Time Well Wasted. So a little "ain't-she-sweet" now and then might be forgiven. But the opening cut, "The World," sets a tone that surpasses irritating jokes and borders on being offensive. The narrator begins by offering a laundry list of the ways his woman is insignificant: "To the teller down at the bank, you're just another checking account." But not to worry, he assures her: "To the world, you may be just another girl / But to me, baby, you are the world." Um, thanks?
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It may seem like a lovely sentiment, but no woman wants to be told how unimportant a "girl" she is to the world at large, especially as we struggle to teach young women not to tether their self-worth to men, to establish their own lives and identities and contributions. Not to mention that they should avoid the kind of insecure boyfriend who dishes out compliments that, like Splenda, seem sweet at first but leave an icky aftertaste.
Country songs often sacrifice deeper meaning to clever wordplay, and that may well be the case on Time Well Wasted. Still, the album seems stubbornly attached to the most banal stereotypes about women—that they love chocolate and clothes, but are genetically incapable of smashing bugs or being on time. These generalizations are not only simplistic and dismissive, but not particularly original or funny, either. We tend to expect better from someone often compared to Roger Miller, someone who elsewhere on the album quips that an unsupportive ex-girlfriend can "kiss my backstage pass."
Time Well Wasted makes it clear that Paisley's considerable talents are maturing—it's in the dizzying finger-picking on the instrumental "Time Warp," the delicate falsetto and elegantly restrained lyrics on "Rainin' You." But the Mr. Nice Guy routine that has also contributed to Paisley's popularity is demonstrably absent in moments like "Take You Back," as the narrator tells a no-good ex: "You know I like it when you come crawling / It's like music to hear you bawling / Waa, waa, waa." On an album that's a step forward in every other way, that once-down-on-his-luck bachelor is sorely missed.