Clay Walker Live, Laugh, Love CD

Clay Walker is a good journeyman singer. He has a strong voice, knows how to twist clichés to his advantage, and knows that straying too far from the clichés will lose his wide audience. In turn, that means that he's enjoyable, but a little predictable, which is an accurate assessment of Live, Laugh, Love, his fifth album. The album never really distinguishes itself from its predecessors. Like those records, it's a safe blend of pop ballads, mild rockers, and polished honky tonk, all delivered in Walker's twangy tenor. Even if the ballads occasionally touch on adult contemporary (witness "Once in a Lifetime Love"), it's considerably more country than, say, Tim McGraw, but the music doesn't show enough imagination and isn't organic enough to stand apart from the neo-traditionalist pack. That said, it's hardly bad -- the material may be uneven, but "She's Always Right" has a good sense of humor and "Lose Some Sleep Tonight" is quite good, while the title track is an amusing twist on Faron Young's "Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young," a calypso-ish number that is designed for yuppies into hat music. Ultimately, Live, Laugh, Love drags a bit too much to rank among Walker's best, but it has its moments. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
The ladies sure love Clay Walker, and LIVE, LAUGH, LOVE, his fifth album, shows why. In songs like "She's Always Right" and "Woman Thing," Walker portrays himself as a sensitive guy who's alternately baffled and amused by his girlfriend's "womanly" qualities (liking chocolate, crying at movies, shopping, talking on the phone), but who's utterly powerless to resist them. In the rockin' "Cold Hearted," Walker is again powerless, this time in the face of a girl's sexuality.
But amidst all this female-friendly material, LIVE, LAUGH, LOVE finds Walker reaching new heights as a vocalist. He gives the performance of his life on the passionate ballad "Once in a Lifetime," and wrings the emotion out of every word in his version of Earl Thomas Conley's hit "Holding Her and Loving You." Other highlights include "Chain of Love," with a payoff that's sure to give a listener goose bumps, and the joyous stomp "It Ain't Called the Heartland (For Nothin')." On the Mexican-flavored title track, Walker sounds like he's having a ball singing about living life to its fullest. But as Walker, who has multiple sclerosis, yells out "carpe diem" over the fadeout, the message of this deceptively simple song really hits home.

Live Recording