Still Feels Good is the fifth studio album by American country music group Rascal Flatts. It was released September 25, 2007 as their fifth album for Lyric Street Records. The album sold 2,192,000 copies in the United States up to May 2009 and was certified 2× Platinum by the RIAA.[1]

Still Feels Good
Studio album by
ReleasedSeptember 25, 2007
GenreCountry pop
Length54:13 (Main CD)
18:45 (Bonus CD)
LabelLyric Street
ProducerDann Huff
Rascal Flatts
Rascal Flatts chronology
Me and My Gang
(2006)
Still Feels Good
(2007)
Greatest Hits Volume 1
(2008)
Singles from Still Feels Good
  1. "Take Me There"
    Released: July 9, 2007
  2. "Winner at a Losing Game"
    Released: October 22, 2007
  3. "Every Day"
    Released: March 3, 2008
  4. "Bob That Head"
    Released: June 16, 2008
  5. "Here"
    Released: September 2, 2008

Target stores released a bonus five-track CD along with Still Feels Good which includes four songs written by the group as well as a remix of their 2006 single "My Wish".

The album produced five singles on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs charts. The first single, "Take Me There", was co-written by Kenny Chesney and reached No. 1 on the country charts in late 2007. The second and third singles, "Winner at a Losing Game" and "Every Day", both peaked at No. 2. "Bob That Head", the album's fourth single, made the Top 20 at No. 15. The fifth and final single, "Here", also reached No. 1.

Track listing

edit
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Take Me There"Kenny Chesney, Wendell Mobley, Neil Thrasher4:26
2."Here"Steve Robson, Jeffrey Steele3:55
3."Bob That Head"Michael Dulaney, Gary LeVox, Thrasher4:02
4."Help Me Remember"Ed Hill, Luke Laird, Hillary Lindsey4:12
5."Still Feels Good"LeVox, Thrasher, Mobley3:55
6."Winner at a Losing Game"LeVox, Jay DeMarcus, Joe Don Rooney4:48
7."No Reins"DeMarcus, Thrasher, Mobley3:21
8."Every Day"Alissa Moreno, Steele4:15
9."Secret Smile"Don Mescall, Robson3:49
10."Better Now"Gregory Becker, Darrell Brown, busbee3:08
11."She Goes All the Way" (featuring Jamie Foxx)DeMarcus, LeVox, Rooney, Monty Powell4:00
12."How Strong Are You Now"Mobley, Thrasher, Tony Martin3:51
13."It's Not Supposed to Go Like That"Bobby Pinson, Jimmy Yeary3:59
Total length:54:13
Japan bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
14."The Way"DeMarcus, LeVox, Rooney, Cledus T. Judd3:24
15."Revolution"John Lennon, Paul McCartney3:30
Target bonus disc
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."I Was Born To"DeMarcus, LeVox, Rooney, Powell3:39
2."The Way"DeMarcus, LeVox, Rooney, Cledus T. Judd3:24
3."Lonesome Road"DeMarcus, LeVox, Rooney3:08
4."I Can Almost"Roger Riley4:37
5."My Wish" (the hot mix)Robson, Steele3:58
Best Buy bonus disc
No.TitleLength
1."1 Hour Interview with Cledus T. Judd"60:00

Personnel

edit

As listed in liner notes.[2]

Rascal Flatts

Additional musicians

String section on "Every Day"
  • String arrangement written and conducted by David Campbell
  • Larry Corbett, Suzie Katayama and Timothy Landauer – cello
  • Oscar Hidalgo – double bass
  • Roland Kato – viola
  • Charlie Bisharat, Larry Greenfield, Alan Grunfeld, Julian Hallmark, Natalie Leggett, Alyssa Park, Vladimir Poliatidi, Michele Richards, Philip Vaiman, Josefina Vergara, John Wittenberg and Ken Yerke – violin

Production

edit
  • Kirk Boyer – A&R
  • Doug Howard – A&R
  • Dann Huff – producer
  • Rascal Flatts – producers
  • Mark Hagen – recording, overdub recording
  • Steve Marcantonio – recording
  • Justin Niebank – recording, mixing
  • Allen Sides – recording
  • Drew Bollman – recording assistant, mix assistant
  • John Netti – recording assistant
  • Charlie Paakkari – recording assistant, digital editing
  • Leslie Richter – recording assistant
  • Nathan Yarborough – recording assistant
  • Greg Lawrence – mix assistant
  • Christopher Rowe – digital editing
  • Adam Ayan – mastering at Gateway Mastering (Portland, Maine)
  • Darrell Franklin – A&R coordinator
  • Mike "Frog" Griffith – production coordinator
  • Sherri Halford – art direction
  • Ashley Heron – art direction
  • Glenn Sweitzer – art direction, package design
  • Chapman Baehler – photography
  • John Murphy – wardrobe
  • Melissa Schleicher – hair, makeup

Critical reception

edit
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic     [3]
Billboardfavorable[4]
Entertainment WeeklyC[5]
People    [6]
Rolling Stone     [7]

Critical response was mixed for the album. Giving the album three out of four stars, People magazine said "these boys know how to give today's country-pop fans what they want."[6] Rolling Stone said "These Buffett-style party boys know what makes them the biggest group alive: songs about trucks and songs about girls," and gave the album three out of five stars.[7] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic, who also gave the album a three-out-of-five rating, said "Everything on Still Feels Good sounds fine[…]but few songs stand out and grab attention".[3]

Entertainment Weekly critic Ken Tucker gave the album a C rating, saying "this is emo-country arena rock with a (slight) twang[…]the music of Still Feels Good presents not beautiful losers but manipulative wimps."[5] A positive review came from Ken Tucker of Billboard, who wrote that the band "takes some convincing new detours". His review highlighted "Winner at a Losing Game", "She Goes All the Way", "Bob That Head" and "It's Not Supposed to Go Like That" as sounding different from previous Rascal Flatts songs.[4]

Chart performance

edit

Album

edit

The album sold 547,000 copies in its first week of release, topping both the U.S. Country Album chart and the Billboard 200. It is their third consecutive album to hit number one in the U.S.[8] After one week at number one, it fell to number two with about 168,000 copies sold.[9] Still Feels Good sold 2,192,000 copies in the United States up to May 2009[10] was certified 2× Platinum by the RIAA.

Singles

edit

Still Feels Good produced five singles on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs charts. The first single, "Take Me There" (which was co-written by Kenny Chesney, who had originally planned to record it himself) spent three weeks at number one. Shortly after the album's release, the bonus track "Revolution" (a cover of a Beatles song) reached number 57 based on unsolicited airplay. Following "Take Me There" was "Winner at a Losing Game", the first single of Rascal Flatts' career to be written exclusively by the group's three members. Both it and the third single, "Every Day", reached number 2. "Bob That Head", the fourth single, was also the first group's first single to miss the Top 10 after peaking at number 15. "Here" followed in September 2008 and became their ninth number one hit in January 2009.

Year Single Peak chart positions
US Country US US
Pop
CAN
2007 "Take Me There" 1 19 33 49
"Winner at a Losing Game" 2 52 57
2008 "Every Day" 2 45 85 65
"Bob That Head" 15 102
"Here" 1 50 80
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

Certifications

edit
Region Certification
United States (RIAA)[19] 2× Platinum
edit

In August 2008, veteran New York, New York songwriter D.L. Byron sued Rascal Flatts, their producers, and the Disney Music Group for copyright infringement, arguing that "No Reins" took from his song "Shadows of the Night", written for Pat Benatar in 1982. Byron told The New York Post that "[i]t's just too much, too strikingly similar... They'd have to have a tremendous lapse of memory not to realize what they were doing. It's my contention there's willful infringement." Lawyers for band member Joe Don Rooney have responded, "To the extent that 'No Reins' shares any similarities with the plaintiff's alleged copyrighted work, any such similarities between the two works are the result of coincidence and/or the use of common or trite ideas". New York University Law School professor and intellectual property expert Rochelle Dreyfuss has remarked that "[t]hey certainly sound alike" and compared to situation to The Chiffons' famously successful case against George Harrison.[20][21]

References

edit
  1. ^ What Sold the Most
  2. ^ Still Feels Good (Media notes). Rascal Flatts. Lyric Street Records. 2007. 000038402.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  3. ^ a b Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Still Feels Good review". Allmusic. Retrieved March 27, 2008.
  4. ^ a b Tucker, Ken (October 6, 2007). "Reviews". Billboard. p. 47.
  5. ^ a b Tucker, Ken (October 5, 2007). "Still Feels Good review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved December 14, 2008.
  6. ^ a b Arnold, Chuck (October 15, 2007), "Still Feels Good". People. 68 (16):49
  7. ^ a b Sheffield, Rob (October 18, 2007), "Still Feels Good". Rolling Stone(1037):127
  8. ^ Hasty, Katie (October 3, 2007). "Rascal Flatts Races To No. 1 In Debut-Heavy Week". Billboard magazine. Retrieved October 3, 2007.
  9. ^ Katie Hasty, "Springsteen Is Boss Of Album Chart With 'Magic'", Billboard.com, October 10, 2007.
  10. ^ Trust, Gary (May 1, 2009). "What Sold The Most". Billboard. Archived from the original on August 29, 2014. Retrieved May 5, 2009.
  11. ^ "Rascal Flatts Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved December 9, 2020.
  12. ^ "Rascal Flatts Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved December 9, 2020.
  13. ^ "Rascal Flatts Chart History (Top Country Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved December 9, 2020.
  14. ^ "Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2007". Billboard. Retrieved December 9, 2020.
  15. ^ "Top Country Albums – Year-End 2007". Billboard. Retrieved December 9, 2020.
  16. ^ "Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2008". Billboard. Retrieved December 9, 2020.
  17. ^ "Top Country Albums – Year-End 2008". Billboard. Retrieved December 9, 2020.
  18. ^ "Top Country Albums – Year-End 2009". Billboard. Retrieved December 9, 2020.
  19. ^ "American album certifications – Rascal Flatts – Still Feels Good". Recording Industry Association of America.
  20. ^ Li, David K. (February 11, 2009). "NY SONGWRITER: RASCAL FLATTS STOLE MY TUNE". The New York Post. Retrieved January 17, 2010.
  21. ^ Marconette, Jaime (February 20, 2009). "Did Rascal Flatts Rip Off Pat Benatar?". Americansongwriter.com. Retrieved January 17, 2010.