I Liked It Better When You Had No Heart

Like Sycamore Meadows, this album finds the 40-year-old Walker in a contemplative, autobiographical mood, referencing everything from his hair metal past to his Los Angeles home. It's ostensibly a breakup record, too, with a rather despondent title and another sad, Southern-styled ballad, Don't You Think Someone Should Take You Home. If Butch Walker is heartbroken, though, he doesn't show it during some of the albums best songs, from the roots rocker Trash Day to the shuffling Temporary Title. Bad feelings also don't prevent him from ornamenting the album with some of his best production to date. A sweeping, Phil Spector-styled string section opens Pretty Melody, swells of vocal harmony pop up throughout Stripped Down Version, and violins dart around the melody in House of Cards. Michael Trent receives co-writing credits for roughly half of these tracks, but I Liked It Better When You Had No Heart is a Butch Walker album through and through. It's also one of his best, proof that Walker sti.