Life at Best
2011 studio album by Eli Young Band
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Life at Best is the third studio album by American country music group Eli Young Band. It was released on August 16, 2011 via Republic Nashville. The album includes the number one singles "Crazy Girl" and "Even If It Breaks Your Heart" as well as "Say Goodnight", which peaked at number 22 on the Country Airplay Chart. According to HITS Daily Double, the album sold 348,000 copies as of February 2014.
Wrucke's House (Nashville, TN)
| Life at Best | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | August 16, 2011 | |||
| Studio | Dark Horse Recording (Franklin, TN) Wrucke's House (Nashville, TN) | |||
| Genre | Country | |||
| Length | 50:19 | |||
| Label | Republic Nashville | |||
| Producer |
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| Eli Young Band chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Life at Best | ||||
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| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |    [2] |
| Country Weekly | [3] |
Reception
Critical
Giving it four stars out of five, Steve Morley of Country Weekly said that the album "rings with roots-rock guitars and meaty, often melancholy themes".[3] A less favorable review came from Andrew Leahey of AllMusic, who thought that it was a "step backwards" because he did not consider its songs as memorable as those on Jet Black & Jealous.[2]
Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Even If It Breaks Your Heart" | 3:40 | |
| 2. | "Crazy Girl" | 3:20 | |
| 3. | "Every Other Memory" | 4:44 | |
| 4. | "On My Way" |
| 3:26 |
| 5. | "Skeletons" |
| 3:21 |
| 6. | "I Love You" |
| 3:20 |
| 7. | "The Fight" |
| 4:25 |
| 8. | "My Old Man's Son" |
| 3:42 |
| 9. | "Recover" |
| 2:58 |
| 10. | "The Falling" |
| 3:38 |
| 11. | "War on a Desperate Man" |
| 4:06 |
| 12. | "Say Goodnight" | 3:08 | |
| 13. | "How Quickly You Forget" |
| 3:40 |
| 14. | "Life at Best" |
| 2:51 |
| Total length: | 50:19 | ||
Personnel
Adapted from the Life at Best liner notes.[4]
- Eli Young Band
- Mike Eli – guitar, lead vocals
- Jon Jones – bass guitar, background vocals
- Chris Thompson – drums, percussion
- James Young – lead guitar, harmonica, background vocals
- Production
- Eric Tonkin – assistant engineer
- Nick Kallstrom – assistant engineer
- Mark Dobson – digital editing
- Mike Wrucke – mixing
- Richard Dodd – mastering
- Additional musicians
- Eric Darken – percussion
- Fred Eltringham – percussion
- Kree Harrison – background vocals
- Natalie Hemby – background vocals
- Greg Leisz – steel guitar
- Tony Obrohta – guitar
- Russ Pahl – steel guitar
- Oran Thornton – guitar
- Michael Webb – Hammond B-3 organ, keyboards
- Mike Wrucke – guitar, steel guitar, harmonica, mandolin, background vocals
Chart performance
Weekly charts
|
Year-end charts
|
Singles
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Certifications (sales threshold) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Country [10] |
US Country Airplay [11] |
US [12] |
CAN [13] | |||
| 2011 | "Crazy Girl" | 1 | — | 30 | 66 | |
| 2012 | "Even If It Breaks Your Heart" | 1 | — | 29 | 56 |
|
| "Say Goodnight" | 31 | 22 | 110 | — | ||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | ||||||
Certifications
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United States (RIAA)[17] | Platinum | 1,000,000‡ |
|
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. | ||