CORPORATE LINE: Kelley decided to title the album Almost Honest because, he says, “a lot of these songs are about what people don’t say to each other.” The chorus of the captivating title song goes to the bruised heart of the matter, culminating in the lines, “In the evenings raise a glass and tell some lies / Make a pass, impress another girl, she’s easy on the eyes / She was easy, and so was I.” Josh elaborates: “So it’s basically this guy—could be me—who’s living a lifestyle where he gets lonely, and he lives to impress women. So you tell lies, and most of the time you’re almost honest, sometimes to get what you want and sometimes to not hurt somebody’s feelings. You temper the truth a bit because sometimes things are better left unsaid. But I’m not gonna hold a filter in front of my mouth for the rest of my life. You can’t do that—you’ll drive yourself mad. I’m just gettin’ back to the gospel; gettin’ back to the truth…or maybe it’s almost the truth.”
THE GREAT:
Nothing.
THE AVERAGE:
“Only You” – Kelley wrote this with The Matrix and its obvious. The full-on pop song is made for radio the problem is that it doesn’t show Kelley’s roots.
“Almost Honest” – Much closer to Kelley than the previous ballad which sounds like an overblown pop ballad; “Love Is Breaking My Heart.”
“Walk Fast” – Kelley has always had the knack for writing pretty songs—this is no different.
“Lydia” – A sleepy, smoky lounge song that would appear to fit Kelley better than most of these songs.
THE BAD:
“Shameless Heart” – This isn’t a bad song but in poor taste. Kelley is doing nothing more than a Coldplay song and it just looks bad for an artist to be so shameless.
FRANKLY: Josh Kelley knows how to write nice pop songs but Almost Honest doesn’t sound so honest. It sounds made, not created. For some reason Almost Honest doesn’t feel organic. Some of the songs sound like they come from the soul while other feel created specifically for radio.
+ Rae Gun
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