The title track of
Young Love & Saturday Nights
, the ninth album from
Chris Young
, is built upon the riff from
David Bowie
's "Rebel Rebel" -- the result of a conscious effort from Warner Chappell Music Nashville to exploit the
Bowie
catalog in country music, a style the art-rocker never liked. The results are awkward: the tune is pleasant enough, as is the celebration of carefree weekends, but the "Rebel Rebel" hooks are distracting, pulling the listener away from the essential mellowness of the tune. That problem isn't replicated elsewhere on
, a record that exists firmly in the middle of the road. Any lingering twang in either
Young
's voice or his accompanying guitars have been so smoothed out that they're not readily apparent on a purported party anthem like "Party Down." Instead,
hums along at a relaxed pace, never working up a head of steam -- not even when the arena country moves are ratcheted up on "Drink to Remember" -- but never succumbing to sleepiness, either. The biggest flaw on the album is its length: at 18 songs lasting nearly an hour, it's generous to a fault, offering too many variations on soft-focused love songs, barely bittersweet nostalgia, and friendly drinking tunes. Whittle this down to half its length and
's amiable charm would be as potent as ever. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine