Aaron Tippin
Call Of The Wild

Music City News

He's still the hard-core traditionalist he's always been, but with Tippin's latest release, listeners will discover an even more grittier and confident performance.  In Working Man Ph.D, Honky Tonk Superman, My Kind Of Town and When Country Took The Throne, the instrumental licks are heavy and hard-hitting, with lyrics that soar in spirit and common-man reality.  Tippin not only answers the call of the wild here, he also answers the call of deep emotion and sincerity as in the more gentle numbers like Nothin' In The World and I Promised You The World.  Ultimately, this disc promises listeners the finest in traditional country music.

(RCA 66251-2)

Wix
Music City News
August 1993


Country Song Roundup

Aaron Tippin solidifies his place as the newest, and one of the best, purveyors of common-man themes in this new collection.  It's an energy packed bunch of self-penned tunes which includes nine uptempo songs to one ballad.

Without waving the flag, Aaron manages to pay honest tribute to the American worker in the first single,"Working Man's PhD."  If you've every spent time in a honky-tonk, you'll recognize the main character in "Honky-Tonk Superman."  And men and women who have ever gotten the urge to party will recognize a bit of themselves in "Call Of The Wild."

"Whole Lotta Love On The Line" warns that there's a lot to consider if you're thinking about leaving your lover.  And nobody has spoken more eloquently about the recent surge in country music's popularity than Aaron has in "When Country Took The Throne."  The lone ballad on the record, "I Promised You The World," is about a man who never delivered on the romance-inspired, grandiose promises he made; yet he collects the greatest gift of all from his wife -- unconditional love.

Aaron delivers his stongest piece of common-sense advice since "You've Got To Stand For Something" with "Trim Yourself To Fit The World."  It counsels that whittling away at your true self to conform will leave you just a "pile of shavings" when you're laid to rest.  Not surprising advice from a man whose success is due as much to his individuality, as to his talent as performer and poet.  If Call Of The Wild calls to you from the record shelf, I advise you to answer and pick it up.

(RCA 66251-2)

Neil Haislop
Country Song Roundup
1993


CountryBeat Magazine

He howls the country blues with an anguished torment that will break your heart; he snarls a working man's anthem with such defiance and tough conviction, it scatters chills up and down the spine.  He's Aaron Tippin, and the name of his third and latest album is Call Of The Wild.  Aaron Tippin fans, prepare yourself for a feast!

The album kicks off to a rollicking start with the title track, a driving honky-tonker that drives home the message of the worth and dignity of the common laborer with that same forceful tempo as "Trim Yourself To Fit The World" and, of course, "Working Man's Ph.D."

The barroom jangle of the keyboard lends a devil-may-care sort of feel to "Honky-Tonk Superman," and some infectious, swingin' guitar work keeps things in a party mood with "Let's Talk About You."

On the heartachin' side in "Nothin' In The World," a rolling, driving tune made somber by the scattered echoes of Tippin's anguished howl and the searing saw of a backwoods fiddle.  Coursing through that same vein of emotion is Tippin's wailing vocal in "Whole Lotta Love On The Line" and the feeling of desperation he emotes that builds to a satisfying fever pitch by song's end.

But the real heartbreaker on this album is "I Promised You The World," a poignant ballad that aches with the despair of broken dreams while clinging to the tremulous hope of yet fulfilling them.  No one can moan the country blues quite like Aaron, and this one reaches right down to clutch at the gut.

For kick-up-your-booted-heels hillbilly fun and frolic, there's "When Country Took The Throne," Tippin's unabashedly exuburant ode to the rise and glory of today's country music.  And for a rip-roarin' number to bring down the roof, you gotta love "My Kind Of Town."

Produced by Scott Hendricks (who was a major force behind launching Restless Heart, Alan Jackson, and Brooks and Dunn), this tasty collection of Tippin-penned tunes is deliciously satisfying.  Call Of The Wild is Aaron Tippin at his hard-workin,' hard-partyin,' tough-minded, emotionally intense best.

(RCA 66251-2)

Marianne Horner
CountryBeat Magazine
Winter 1993


Country Music

There's sure nothing subtle about Aaron Tippin's music.  It's unadulterated twang and good-natured, iron-pumping musical agression in extremis.  Most people tend to either love it a lot or hate it, because "The Tipper" doesn't pull punches or hedge his bets.  An Aaron Tippin blue yodel is like a full-tilt musical karate chop or a Tarzan love call; it's Jimmie Rodgers and Hank Williams revisited with a rap attitude.  It's either exquisite hillbilly poetry to your ears or strident annoyance.

On Call Of The Wild, his third album, Tippin, with the assistance of producer Scott Hendricks (Alan Jackson, Brooks and Dunn, etc) jacks up the juice even further on what he likes to call his "four-wheel-drive bottom end" country sound.  So much so that you kind of wonder what's next for "The Tipper."  Is he gonna start bench-pressing 300 pounds as part of his stage show?  Do a high-intensity honky-tonk aerobics video?  Maybe start coming out on stage in a Tarzan suit?

"Call Of The Wild," the title tune and lead-off cut (which so-wrote with the assistance of various name-brand Nashville tunesmiths -- as he did all nine tracks here), features the South Carolina-born singer at his torrid, chest-pounding, "Me-Tarzan-You-Jane, let's boogie" best.  "Honky-Tonk Superman" (written by Tippin and Buddy Brock) is another celebration of raving, good-natured hedonism in which Tippin comes across like some Bud-swilling redneck Popeye, or merely the obnoxious drunk who always seems to end up sitting at the next table.

"Trim Yourself To Fit The World" (Tippin-Douglas-Williams) is a defiant, rabble-rousing, stand-up-and-wave-the-flag testimonial much in the spirit of "You've Got To Stand For Something."  "Working Man's Ph.D." is a similarly muscle-rippling, self-righteous ode to the blue collar work ethic.

Often -- as in the above-mentioned songs -- Tippin's unabashed propensity for musical overkill borders on comefy, and I'm never quite sure if it's intentional or not.  I don't know how much of a real "message" there is here, or how much of this is just "Tip" playing the shrewd musical politician who, in the course of three albums, has learned to cater to the fierce working-class pride of his record-buying constituency.

Fortunately, Tippin's raging, glandular extroversion is counterbalanced on Call Of The Wild with some lovely ballads and tender confessionals -- just the sort of songs that made his 1991 debut album, You've Got To Stand For Something, so persuasive.  You can really feel the tearful urgency of the anguished man on the phone to his estranged sweetheart in "Whole Lotta Love On The Line."  And the grim weight of broken dreams in "I Promised You The World" rips at your heart.

And that, really, is the true beauty of Call Of The Wild.  As Tippin bounces wildly between two extremes -- the penultimate honky-tonk flag-waving party animal and the anguished, soul-searching balladeer -- he serves up an album that's bold, resolute and satisfying far more often than not.

(RCA 66251-2)

Bob Allen
Country Music
November/December 1993


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