I was pleasantly surprised with Joe Nichols first album and I rushed out to get his new album as soon as it hit the shelves. Overall Revelation is a quality album, with "Dont ruin it for the rest of us" being my favorite song in a long time. While none of the songs were under par, I would have like to have seen more upbeat songs. If he could have kept his quality slow songs and added another few great upbeat songs I would have definetly given the album 5 stars. Overall a good cd and a must buy to any classic country fan or anyone who enjoyed his first album.

Prime Cuts: Don't Ruin It for the Rest of Us, Things Like That (These Days), What's A Guy to Do

Pride of place needs to be given to Nichols' sophomore album "Revelation." While many of today's country music CDs are imbued with bombastic rockers and syrupy ballads with that occasional fiddling thinly disguised as country, Nichols' palette is country to the core-heavy on the fiddles, acoustic guitars, banjo and all the good rustic stuff. Helmsman Brent Rowan, Nashville ace's session guitarist turned producer, is to be congratulated for keeping the production country yet contemporary, enhancing Nichols' vocals rather than intrude, giving the whole CD a languid, understated Don-Williams laidback feel.

Hands down, Georgia Middleman's (who has also just released an excellent new CD "Unchanged") co-write "Don't Ruin It For the Rest of Us," is easily the cream of the crop. Lyrically situated in a barroom, "Don't Ruin" tells the wry tale of a guy gloating about his new love in the faces of his heartbroken barstool friends. Humorous, poignant and noteworthy; Further, Nichols' has a way with story songs that draws the listener in a compelling way. "Things Like That (These Days)"also finds Nichols putting his best foot forward. A celebratory tale of the importance of a strong moral pedigree, co-writers Mike Dekle and Bryon Hills certainly pull on the heartstrings as Nichols prayerfully sings, "have mercy on all of the kids out there who haven't been raised to even care about things like that these days." Equally thought provoking is the Harley Allen-penned vanguard single "If Nobody Believed in You." Backed by some wailing steel and persistent fiddling, "If Nobody Believed in You" pays homage to the power of endearing love cumulating to a hortatory final verse referencing God's care during tough times.

Though "Revelations" is heavily hued with ballads, showcasing a sensitive, introspective, deep thinking Nichols, "What's a Guy to Do" finds Nichols letting loose, doe ce doeing to this Cajun influenced scorcher. Not since Mary Chapin Carpenter's scintillating "Down at the Twist and Shout," has a song's been packed with so much exhilaration and energy. Somehow one wishes Nichols would cut more upbeat numbers like that. It's not that the ballads are not welcomed, but some of them are just mediocre. Case in point is Nichols' cover of Iris DeMent's plangent "No Time to Cry." Whilst DeMent exudes an inert pain in her Emmylou Harris-like weather tainted vocals in the original version, Nichols on the other hand sounds too polish and hence sounding emotionally deficient. Sounding too much like the veteran, Nichols must have learnt "Farewell Party" by listening to Gene Watson's hit version a tad too much. Similarly, Nichols brings nothing particularly stimulating to Waylon Jennings' loquacious 1972 cut "Revelation."

Overall, "Revelation" is a sturdy effort with lots of reflective moments, philosophical musings and gentle moral pronouncements. Though such seriousness is appreciated, but overindulgence can lead to a yawn fest at times. A little variation in the tempo and less covers may do the trick.

I knew from his debut cd Man with a memory that Joe Nichols had a great Country voice and delivered both up beat songs and ballads with a traditional feel.

But on his 2nd album he uses his voice almost as a sheer instument of poignancy.

Songs like "The Shade", "Singer in a Band", "I wish that Wasn't all" "If Nobody Believed in You" "Things like That These Days" and especially "Farewell Party" "Revelation" and Most of All "No Time to Cry", Joe takes me in like very few singers could ever hope to do.

His voice sounds poetic on these tracks.

And of course he delivers great uptempo modern country with "Don't ruin it for the rest of us" and "What's a Guy Gotta Do".

Great follow up.

I fell in love with Joe Nichols' music following his debut album, "Man With A Memory." Well, I bought his second major label release today, "Revelation", and it is even better than the first. Nichols seemed to matured as an artist, singer and so much more. He pays tribute to his heroes (Gene Watson, Keith Whitely, Waylon and Merle) while putting forth some great, all new material.

There aren't enough words in my vocabulary to describe how great I feel Joe Nichols is. How very fortunate we are to have him in our world.

Dwight Jones

Joe Nichols burst on to the national scene with 2002's Man with A Memory, and although I liked the singles released from that CD ("Brokenheartsville", "She Only Smokes When She Drinks"), I didn't buy it. Even the first single from this album was not impressive enough ("If Nobody Believed In You") to make me buy it.

The next song to come out was "Whats A Guy Gotta Do". That is the third best song on the album, but what spurred me to buy it in the first place was the realization that the title tune "Revelation" was indeed a cover of one of my all-time favorite Waylon Jennings gospel songs. (although theeditorial review by amazon.com calls it "obscure", I've been listening to it all my life) Nichols gives an impressive voice tyo the lyrics and proves to make the song as haunting as Jennings version.

Nichols also does a very good version of the Gene Watson tune "Farewell Party". Being a classic country fan, I like cover songs when they are done well as (or sometimes better than) the well-known versions.

Also good on this album is "Don't Ruin It For The Rest Of Us", a great honky-tonk style song. About the only song I didn't like at all was "I Wish That Wasn't All". Overall I like Nichols as a singer, but a little less melancholy and more upbeat songs would have earned a 5 star rating.