Beautiful CD. It's worth it just for the recording of Hallelujah, but all of the songs sound really special with a whole orchestra behind Brandi's amazing voice.
I've been lucky enough to hear all of these songs - With most of them I've heard the album version, but with all of them I've heard them played live or acoustic. The music is phenomenal. It's not like any other album that's out right now - Hanson was heavily influenced by the music of people like Chuck Berry and Otis Redding, and it shows on this album.
One thing I've always admired about Hanson is their lyrics, and there is no shortage of good lyrics on Shout It Out. "These Walls" is one of my all-time favorite songs, and "Me Myself and I" is powerful enough to bring anyone to tears. On the other hand, upbeat pop songs like "Give a Little" and "Thinking 'Bout Somethin'" are powerful and fun.
Buy this album when it comes out. I don't care if you haven't heard anything since MMMBop and you didn't even know that Hanson was still around. They never left (this is their fifth studio album) and they aren't leaving any time soon. Everyone needs to hear this!
What's great about it: Songs are really well-written, wide variety of different "sounds"