1 Year Later: Heart & Soul Re-Ranked

One of my favorite things about music is how music your opinion changes over time. Whether an event in your life triggers a connection with a song lyric or after some time, you just begin to like a song more after your initial listen, it’s super interesting to me.

When I originally wrote the rankings for Heart & Soul. it was with having only a week with the 24 songs. I may have been able to listen to those songs multiple times over the course of 7 days, but I wasn’t able to build up much connection with most of the tracks. So I thought, now that it’s been one year later…how much have my thoughts on the project changed? In the year since it’s released, “Hell of a View” reached #1 at radio, “Heart on Fire” was released to radio (and is a top 10 hit), and I’ve been to three of his live shows. First in Columbus, OH (which was night 2 of his opening weekend for The Gather Again Tour), Cleveland, OH (my hometown show), and finally Pittsburgh, PA (which was night 1 of Church playing mostly acoustic and with guests). Going to those shows and seeing some of these songs completely changed my opinion of them.

So with that being said, these rankings are probably going to be a little less in depth than the original list, but here we go!

24. Bright Side Girl (previous rank: 21)

There are absolutely no redeeming qualities in this track. It’s slow, lyrically boring, and honestly, there’s just no reason for me to come back to it. It’s a love song that doesn’t really do much of anything. It’s “Love Your Love the Most”-lite, just without the random ass reference to eating fries with mustards (which WHO does that??). The only time I listen to it is when I play the Soul vinyl and there’s a reason why it' hasn’t been performed on The Gather Again Tour (at least not yet).

23. Bad Mother Trucker (previous rank: 24)

As before, I still have my feelings about the song, but this time around it narrowly beats “Bright Side Girl” and the second-worst track on this project. Sonically, it’s still awesome and it had tremendous potential but the lyrics are so corny and there’s just nothing that interests me about being a son of a female trucker. There’s nothing wrong with being the son of a female trucker, but it just seems like Church, Casey Beathard, Luke Dick, and Jeremy Spillman got in a room, heard the term that this song is a play off words, and thought “How can we make this into a song?”.

22. Love Shine Down (previous rank: 22)

Not much to say, it’s in the same spot and honestly, my feelings on it haven’t really changed. Only redeeming part of the song is the SOB line, and yeah…that’s about it. Another one he hasn’t played live, and that doesn’t surprise me in the slightest.

21. Where I Wanna Be (previous rank: 23)

This one has gone up two spots, just for the fact that I can stand the whistling in the song now. It still sonically sounds like it’s all over the place and it’s one of the more uninteresting songs lyrically, but hey, I don’t skip over it as much!

20. Stick That In Your Country Song (previous rank: 19)

This is one that really got hurt with “lead single fatigue”, as I call it (like most Church lead singles). Played it a bunch when it was first released because we were hungry for new tracks from Church, but after the whole project was released I haven’t gone back to it much. It’s still really solid live and brings a TON of energy to it.

19. Doing Life With Me (previous ranking: 16)

This is the first track that has fallen a bit (that of course isn’t the boring “Bright Side Girl”, and I’ll say this…it’s not because it’s bad. There are just other songs that have risen and this track has to fall somewhere. It’s the track off & I listen to and come back the least. I just feel like there’s other tracks in Church’s catalog that cover this topic better (like “Holdin’ My Own”) and are more personal.

18. Do Side (previous rank: 11)

Dropping 7 spots makes “Do Side” the biggest slider in today’s re-rankings, which I attribute to it just it just not hitting that vibe that “That’s Damn Rock n Roll” can every time I listen. Originally, I really, really enjoyed this one but other songs just eclipsed it and the shine on it wore off pretty fast. Billy Dukes (of Taste of Country) was right, other tracks in the Chief’s catalog cover it better. I’d still love to see this live one day! I think that might help my opinion of it.

17. Lynard Skynard Jones (previous rank: 20)

I learned to appreciate this song a little more but as far as a story song goes, it’s lacking details that make so many others so good. It’s still a solid listen, but I don’t see this making making setlists after The Gather Again Tour is over. Also, side note: when I saw the Columbus show, he closed out the first set with this song and riiiiiiiight in the middle of it, a fight between 2 women broke out in the front of the pit. Who does that in the middle of a song like this?? Like c’mon!

16. Bunch of Nothing (previous rank: 13)

This is still a jam and I still kinda like that it’s a track quite literally about almost nothing. Haven’t seen it in concert (yet), but the energy live might have swayed me to knock it up a couple spots if I did.

15. People Break (previous rank: 17)

This is one that I WANT to like so much more. It’s the opposite of my feelings towards “Bad Mother Trucker”…LOVE the lyricism, HATE the production. Honestly, this might be a top 5 to top 10 if the pop-ish production was just…different. I’m usually not one to harp on production standards on songs, but I just feel like this could have been done so differently and better. With that being said, it STILL goes up a couple notches on the rankings because lyrically, it’s pretty damn good.

14. Through My Raybans (previous ranking: 15)

This one hasn’t changed much. Still wish the song was more dynamic and anthemic. It doesn’t feel like it went far enough to really dig into the content (and context, especially after touring stopped for 2 years). Still, being at 3 shows where Church played this…it’s an experience that you have to be there to understand. Especially the Columbus show, which was early on in the tour. Lots of tears in the Church Choir because we were all able to gather again.

13. Hell of a View (previous rank: 9)

This one hurts to knock down a few spots, because it’s truly a great song and honestly, one of the better singles released by the Chief. The “single-fatigue” might not helped, because I've heard it so many times already outside of my normal listening habits, but it just lost in the crossfires of other songs growing on me over the past year.

12. Jenny (previous rank: 7)

I’m sure this isn’t a shocker that this one has tumbled 5 spots down the Heart & Soul rankings, but I’ll be honest. I still love the track. People gave me a hard time because I put “Jenny” that high AND as my favorite song off the Soul collection. It’s divisive in the fan group because of it’s repetitive nature, but honestly, that part doesn’t bother me. It just lost a little steam. Although I will say, this is a GREAT track live. I’m not sure what it is about it, but there’s something about the vibe of the song, but it engulfs the entire arena and the 3x I heard this live, it was fantastic, plus I think it’s one of Church’s favorites (since it’s been on almost every single tour stop setlist). So get ready Church Choir, this might be a staple in the setlist going forward on tours!

11. Break It Kinda Guy (previous rank: 14)

This one is STILL a jam and a half and it’s funkier and more different than anything Church has done since The Outsiders. Still stand by saying this is somehow Johnny Cash mixed with the BeeGees and it SHOULDN’T work, but it does. The song slaps live as well. I also don’t think this song would have worked out nearly as well without Church’s trusty ace-in-the-hole Joanna Cotten. My God, that woman can sing her ass off.

10. Never Break Heart (previous rank: 4)

The first of a few songs dropping out of my top 5, “Never Break Heart” is still just as awesome as it was in 2021 when I released it. At the time, I thought it was a perfect time for Church to drop it as a single, in the midst of the pandemic, a la a more timely “Kill a Word”. But it never happened (again, at least not yet), even though I STILL think it would do solid on radio. The outro of the song is still ridiculously too long and does nothing to really add to “Never Break Heart” or intro “Crazyland”, the next song in sequence.

9. Look Good and You Know It (previous rank: 18)

The highest riser on this list, “Look Good and You Know It” is just….SO. MUCH. FUN. Even despite it not necessarily being a “fun” topic. I guess I also have a soft spot for this track, considering I was at it’s live debut in Columbus and MAN, it was awesome. Before it started, Church said “I need a drink for this one, oh crap” with a smile and then nailed the high falsetto cold open. Afterwards, he joked that he wasn’t doing it again (because it’s a super challenging one to sign), but after the crowd reaction that first time he makes sure to put it in the setlist here and there. I hope we get some live tracks from The Gather Again Tour and if we do, this is gonna be the first one I look for.

8. Kiss Her Goodbye (previous rank: 8)

Not much to say, as this one didn’t move at all. It’s a rock solid broken up love song and I still hope that Church releases & to the general public, that way this one can go to radio.

7. Mad Man (previous rank:5)

This is the 1st of 3 songs that fell out of my top 5 from last year. I still absolutely love it and the wide ranging dynamic of the song really makes me come back to it over and over again. This is one of the songs that I would LOVE to see live. That build up would be really awesome to see in the crowd.

6. Heart on Fire (previous rank: 3)

“Heart on Fire” is the biggest song on the list that’s dropped and that’s for no other reason besides a couple other songs on Heart that came up the ranks. It’s still a fantastic jam and has the best nostalgic vibes of a classic Bob Seger song. It being on radio brings out a bit of single fatigue, but not enough to knock it any further. This is one of the better songs from this set live as well. Brings out a combination of great energy and connection into the crowd.

5. Rock N Roll Found Me (previous rank: 12)

“Rock N Roll Found Me” is another of the huge risers off Soul and it’s by far my favorite track from that record, which is my least favorite of the 3. It’s partially because of the live performances (it was played at all three shows I attended) and seeing how much fun Church had with this track gave me extra appreciation for it. Joanna Cotten kills this track and when CAM filled in for her during the Pittsburgh show, she didn’t quite hit the “Tallahatchie Bridge” part and Eric jokingly asked her to do it and she obliged. It was a funny and cool moment that did what so many songs do, connecting that melody with a memory thing that “Springsteen” talks about. Makes sense as this song is also about finding that connection with a song.

4. Lone Wolf (previous rank: 2)

"Lone Wolf” is just a classic Eric Church track and that’s why it’s still my favorite song off of &. It’s also a song that’s done nothing wrong to lose two spots as I play it just as much as any other song off of Heart & Soul. Not in the shows I went to, but he’s been playing this one live. Which can only mean (and I hope!) that & will be released to the public soon enough. This is one of those songs that every country music fan should be able to hear.

3. Heart of the Night (previous rank: 10)

The first of 2 major Heart risers to break top 3, I never thought a Meatloaf-style songs would shoot up my ranking this much, but here we are. The song gets the blood pumping and it’s probably the most dynamic song on the project, besides “Break It Kinda Guy” or “Look Good and You Know It”. Unfortunately, it didn’t go as well live as I would have liked, but it was still fun to sing along with the tempo changes in the crowd.

2. Russian Roulette (previous rank: 6)

The second of the two major Heart risers, “Russian Roulette” is the #1 song off this project that I want to see become a single. I know there’s a few things going against it (the word “Russian” being in the title, the original meaning of “Russian Roulette”, the fact there’s already been 2 Heart singles, etc) but this would be a great, great antithesis to “Springsteen” and cement this as one of the staples in Church’s catalog. He’s said this is his favorite song in the entirety of the project, and it makes sense why. Seeing this song live gives me a lot of the same vibes as seeing Church sing “Springsteen” live.

1. Crazyland (previous rank: 1)

Some things don’t change, and this one won’t. My number one track from Heart & Soul in 2021 is the same has the one now in 2022. Everything I said about this song from day 1 is still true and honestly, I might love it even more. I put this as my #4 Eric Church song of all time (you can read that article done with my good buddy Zack here), and I don’t take that lightly. Storytelling, heartfelt vocals, and an awesome backstory of him literally dreaming this song combined together to make a damn great song and potentially a song of the decade contender when it’s all said and done. I was very sad that he hadn’t performed “Crazyland” until later on tour, but hopefully I get to see it live one day!

So happy one year anniversary to Heart & Soul! It’s crazy how quickly a year can pass. In this re-rankings, some of the changes in the rankings genuinely surprised me. I didn’t expect two songs from Soul to jump so high (“RnRFM” and “Look Good”) and two more songs from Heart to get into the top 3. This was an interesting exercise to see the difference in opinion on songs after hearing them for a week versus playing them constantly for a year and seeing a lot of the songs live.

So, now the question is what is YOUR favorite song from Heart & Soul, even after listening to it for a year? Leave a comment or hit me up on social media. It's @marty_kurtz on Twitter.