Sunday, September 28, 2014

Trouble By Bonnie McKee Album Review

 Today will mark the 10th anniversary of the release of Bonnie McKee's debut album, Trouble. It was released on September 28th 2004 which like most CD release dates was a Tuesday. You might not have heard of Bonnie McKee before, but you've probably have heard some of her work as a songwriter, co-writing hit songs with Katy Perry and many other major pop artists of today.
Album artwork for Trouble

  All of the songs on Trouble were written by Bonnie McKee herself when she was still in high school. All of the songs are great for someone who wrote them all by herself. However after putting out two singles, Trouble, and Somebody, the songs failed to chart and the album became a flop. The single Somebody was even featured on the Soundtrack for Win A Date With Ted Hamilton. Bonnie McKee was later dropped from Reprise Records after the album flopped.
  However since the album was a flop, doesn't mean its a bad album, it's not. The album is pretty amazing and it is on my top 10 favorite albums list. It's constantly has a place in my 5 disc CD changer, my USB drive in the car and on my phone. That just goes to show you that I can't get enough of it.
  The tracklisting for Trouble is as follows,
  1. Trouble
  2. When It All Comes Down
  3. Open Your Eyes
  4. Somebody
  5. A Voice That Carries
  6. Honey
  7. Green Grass
  8. January
  9. Marble Steps
  10. Sensitive Subject Manner
  11. I Hold Her
  12. Confessions Of A Teenage Girl
 Even though Trouble flopped, Bonnie McKee has stated in interviews that she practically disowned the album. She even has stated that she can't even listen to it anymore because it is too painful. Many bands and artists have disowned earlier albums such as Styx with their first 4 albums on Wooden Nickel Records.
   This album is pretty hard to find on CD. Just how hard to find is it? Well just go into your local record store and look for this album and see if they have one. You probably won't find it. I went to several F.Y.E.'s and even the local independent record store looking for this CD and they didn't have it. I was lucky enough to get a brand new copy from a third party seller on Amazon for $20 back in February this year. I wouldn't normally spend $20 on a CD unless its a limited edition film score from La La Land Records. However on an interesting note when I bought the CD on Amazon at the time there was a ton of used copies of Trouble on Amazon and they since have been all sold. People are getting into her music thanks to her new single American Girl.
  On the other hand you can still buy the MP3 version of this album from iTunes or AmazonMP3 for around $9.99 which is the cost of the monthly subscription rate for the WWE Network.
  Now my favorite songs from Trouble are Trouble, When It All Comes Down, Somebody, A Voice That Carries, January, and I Hold Her. I believe that all of the songs on Trouble had the potential to become hit singles. Overall I give Trouble five out of five stars because it's an album that doesn't get the credit that It deserves. It's an underdog of an album. I think that the album could have gone far if the label would have promoted it properly but they didn't.
  Trouble will always be one of my favorite albums. There's no doubt about that.

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