When was the last time you listened to a new album and you liked it…THE FIRST TIME THROUGH!

"Get Closer" is thirty three minutes long.  Just right.  Eight songs.  No filler.

When I saw this album on the release schedule, I figured it was a greatest hits package, after all, it’s the fourth quarter and Keith’s last album came out only EIGHTEEN MONTHS AGO!

This is how you do it.  Give your audience more.  Instead of trying to reach everybody who doesn’t care, satiate the core.

And I’m satiated.

I almost couldn’t make it all the way through, I needed to write and tell you how good "Georgia Woods" is.  If you’re the kind of person who loves rock music, who nodded his head to the Marshall Tucker Band, who likes to move his whole body with the groove of the track, this is for you!

And about halfway through, Keith starts to wail…and yes, he can wail.  This is not a case of studio fakery.  I’ve seen this guy live.  He can wring the notes out.  He hits every one.  And, unlike Brad Paisley, the material is not sophomoric, it doesn’t make you wince, it’s more than serviceable, it’s really good!

And the cut before "Georgia Woods", "Without You", is equally fine.  Quieter, but not wimpy.

Some people have just got it.  They can’t help but write catchy stuff, they know how to construct a song.  You get it the first time through.

I know, I know, some of your favorite albums you had to listen to multiple times to get.  But come on, so many of the greats infected you the very first time through.  Did you have to listen to Elton’s records multiple times to get them?

My point is not to convince you, I don’t give a shit if you like "Get Closer", I’m just saying a fan is fully satiated.  He breaks the shrinkwrap, downloads the tracks to his iPod and goes driving, walks in the neighborhood with a smile on his face.

Ignore the calculated single.  Listen to all of "Get Closer".

This is not second-rate rock music.  This is the real thing!

I like Zac Brown, and Lady Antebellum ain’t bad either, just a bit sophomoric, but Keith Urban is a cut above.  Country fans know.  But you may not.

I don’t need to rank this album relative to every other release, I don’t need to analyze where it fits in Urban’s canon, I just want to listen to it, over and over again.

Really.  "Georgia Woods" has got that makes you warm in your bedroom sound.  You know, the one where you’re the only one there but you don’t feel alone.  You find yourself airpicking along.  And when Keith starts to wail, you can’t help but stand up and genuflect.

This is how it should be.  Take notice.