Well, I only got through BTIKM before technical difficulties hindered, which is a shame, as I suspect I’d gravitate more towards the later ballads.

I agree with everyone who said that Shady is the highlight on the first half.  It may be JT, but JT isn’t really busy being JT right now so Lambert may as well be the one to do it.  Very very fun.

Naked Love is still breezy.  And I still think NCOE is the easiest sell at radio and at the clubs.

As for the rest, Trespassing comes off better than the initial extended snippets; the funk seems slighly less strident.  Still not entirely enamored with the lyrics.

I really want to like Kickin In but whatever they did to the harmonies in the chorus…no me gusta.  Maybe they’ll try some different arrangements live and I’ll be able to appreciate it more.

Pop that Lock is one of those songs where someone came in with a great idea for the first verse and then the rest of the song just falls off in comparison.

And Cuckoo is just not for me at all.  The guy is a hippie burner underneath it all, so this paean to going out and getting crazy with friends shouldn’t feel so sterile, but it does.

Still, three strong tracks and two with redeeming features out of 8 in the first half is pretty solid especially since I’m pretty some of the ballads will do it for me.  Worth a few downloaded tracks, if nothing else.

“Shady – fun funky best – the opening riff reminds me of “Superstition.”  My least favorite part of the song is the “Sha-ady, Late-ly” part.”

OMG! That’s my favorite part of the song…. :)

It’s so awesome that Rolling Stone gives #Trespassing album a rare 4 star. Exciting!!! 

I keep going back to Runnin too. This song was the biggest surprise from the snippets. It is utterly unique and the vocals only Adam could pull off. It is catchy but intense. The lyrics are personal but almost as if sung by two different people, I don’t know. I will say it finally dawned on me what this song feels like. It feels like a Queen song. The multi-layered varied vocals, the vocal range, the tempo and melody changes, the drama and theatricality. I love this song but I don’t know what to make of it at the same time.

I am so in love with TSP.  Runnin…brilliant.
However, the more I hear, the more I am blown away with Take Back…it is so amazing.
I actually think if Adam’s name were removed, that Runnin would go far on country–which is weird, but it is almost a genre-free song.  Wow.  This entire album is simply amazing.  Amazing.

I think it is so great, the really wide variety of ‘faves’.
 This is a testiment to the quality of all the tracks.  I haven’t heard any single song being consistenly disliked or called filler!