Be Here
Australian-born Keith Urban, hot off the double-platinum success of his 2002 sophomore album,Golden Road, is kind of like contemporary country's Tom Cruise. The kid is just so unjustly talented, likeable, and good-looking that it's hard not tohatehim. But such jealousy is apt to melt into begrudging admiration and affection after a quick listen to this third album. True, some of Urban's self-penned adolescent love laments and bright-eyed paeans to life in the slow lane do sound a bit callow and derivative. But, with his resolute tenor and his dazzling lead guitar work, he breathes real pain and passion into moving confessionals likeMatraca Berg's "Nobody Drinks Alone," "Tonight I Wanna Cry" (a heart-rending ballad co-written by Urban), and a gentleRodney Crowellgem called "Memories of Us."--Bob Allen