Going out of my mind these days, like I'm walking 'round in a haze...

There’s a rare occasion where one song can almost sink an album like the Titanic. To have it happen with a greatest hits set is even more scarce. But so it is with Diamond Rio’s Greatest Hits II set. Culled from mostly three albums, DRGH2 already is skimpy compared to their first collection. Four of these are previously unreleased, and only one is worth listening to – “Over You”, a soft-country heartbreak number, while well-executed, does seem a little like “adult contemporary” radio fodder, and definitely proof that Rascal Flatts totally stole their act. Of the others, opener and single “God Only Cries” is a cliché-ridden load posing as a “message song”, and “Redneck Love Gone Bad” is a not-horrible but unmemorable attempt to capture the “hick” market. But the coup de grace is the closer “In God We Still Trust”. Filled with every incendiary rote talking point you can find, from the victimization crap they try to pull about “everyone taking their rights away” to the “America is only a Christian nation” bullshit. With specific jabs about the Alabama courthouse ruling to remove the Ten commandments to the school prayer fiasco, these mullet-headed pussies apparently feel the need to tweak whatever dullwitted neurons if what dwindling audience they have left. Look at these lyrics...

You place your hand on His Bible, when you swear to tell the Truth
His name is on our greatest Monuments, and all our money too,
And when we Pledge allegiance, there's no doubt where we stand,
There is no separation, we're one Nation under Him.

I mean, first off, America is not a Christian nation. If one thing separates us from the supposed “bad guy” countries of the world, it’s supposedly the freedom to worship (and especially to not worship) as one pleases. It’s the whole evangelical “plan”: first say its innocuous and tradition to have phrases like “under God” and “In God We Trust” seep into the allegiance and money, and then use that as some sort of proof of what you have to be to be an American. Fuck that, Diamond Rio. Fuck you and your pussy-ass mullets.

Now there are those among us, who want to push Him out,
And erase His name from everything, this country's all about,
From the Schoolhouse to the Courthouse, they're Silencing His Word,
Now it's time for all Believers, to make our Voices heard

Fuck you for trying to play up the stereotype that I’m less of an American because like my food in a Swanson dinner, I like my church and state separated. They crow in the liner notes that they get a great response to this song in concert; I guess their doing the rounds at gun shows and Hannity extravaganzas. Stop trying to equivalate having a moral compass to faith. Faith is believing in something without proof. Having values is about setting standards on how to rule your life. They’re not exclusive. Atheists (which by the way I’m not) can definitely have as much of a moral and ethical standard as any religious person. And more than once in the Bible does it condemn those who feel the need to outwardly praise their Lord. ‘Nuff said.

(climbs down from soapbox)

The rest of the album spatters some hits they’ve had recently, which they’ve been most successful with chick-lite ballads, like “One More Day”, “You’re Gone”, and “I Believe”, which while all good, come very close to sounding like the same song. “Unbelievable” is the best of the faster numbers, and comes the closest to showing them at their finest, with a rapid-fire delivery and cuteness that’s not overdone. Notsomuch with the overnostaglic “Sweet Summer” (complete with clichéd kid-sung intro) and “Wrinkles”, which almost veers into preachiness. A couple old songs, “Meet In The Middle” (which was already on the first GH set) and “That’s What I Get For Loving You” are welcome additions, though there are about four or five other songs that were hits that could've been added.

My advice? If you get this, use your program button wisely. Or even better, get the three albums on the cheap and avoid this altogether, since nothing close to the drivel of “In God We Trust” appears there.

Grade: B- (as long as you skip the last song, otherwise C-)
Best Cuts: “Unbelievable”, “You’re Gone”, “One More Day”
Weakest Links: “In God We Trust”, “God Only Cries”, “Redneck Love Gone Bad”

Greatest Hits II hit #12 country albums and #62 Billboard 200 albums.
"God Only Cries" hit #30 country singles.
"Beautiful Mess" made #1 country and #28 pop singles.
"One More Day" made #1 country, #29 pop, and #6 adult contemporary.
"Sweet Summer" hit #18 country and #104 pop singles.
"Unbelievable" hit #2 country and #36 pop singles.
"You're Gone" made #4 country singles.
"That's What I Get For Loving You" made #4 country singles.
"Wrinkles" hit #16 country and #107 pop singles.
"I Believe" hit #1 country and #31 pop singles.
"Meet In The Middle" made #1 country singles.

To pick up a copy of Greatest Hits II, you can go to websites like here

ht-click to bring up another window).

And here's the video of the #1 hit "I Believe"...