Get Closer (Capitol Nashville, 2010)

In a conversation with John Fogerty on CMT's "Crossroads" show, Keith Urban commented that his goal as a young man growing up was to have songs that people heard on the radio, and they would turn them up and sing along. Following that line of thinking, and the influence of catchy songwriters such as Fogerty, Urban continues to hit his mark on "Get Closer."

The song quality is on par with past Urban releases; the musicianship, as is to be expected, is top notch. There are no surprising twists or game-changing moments on this new release, but what there is is good, mostly upbeat, songs that seem ready made to be sung along to.

Songs like the current single Put You In A Song, You're Gonna Fly and Long Hot Summer are custom made to be sang along with and if this album had been released in the beginning of summer you would have been sure to hear them blasting out of car windows everywhere.

As to be expected, there are also a couple of ballads placed within. Without You, although not written by Urban, speaks directly to the events of his life, highlighting the reasons he does what he does. Right Back To You, on the other hand, is a song of reconciliation and forgiveness.

The biggest downside to this album is its brevity. Coming in at eight songs, the standard release is a fairly short release. If you buy the album at Target, there is a choice of two versions - The Target Exclusive with 10 songs or the Target Exclusive Deluxe edition with 15 songs with 1 more studio song and 4 live versions of older songs. The Exclusive includes the mid-tempo, guit-jo-driven love songBig Promises and the contemplative Luxury of Knowing plus one other studio song and four live cuts. (The deluxe was not made available by the label for review).

Living up to that childhood dream, "Get Closer" follows Urban consistent pattern for providing catchy, fun and heartfelt music.