Melissa Etheridge
Breakdown
Label: Def Jam/Island
Genre: Rock, Pop
File Under: Brave, crazy, and finding
herself
Rating: 77
After taking a break to
spend time with her
partner and two
children, singer-
songwriter-guitarist
Melissa Etheridge
comes back with her sixth CD. It's an
angst-filled, all-original set that hints at the
darkness and lyricism of Tom Petty's lyrics, but
you must get past the opening overwrought
tunes to find Etheridge's substance. The first cut
is about somebody else's breakdown rather than
her own, and Etheridge pours emotion into the
vocals but never relates exactly what she feels.
And the melody of the first single, "Angels
Would Fall," sounds so close to "One of Us"
that it's easy to find yourself humming Joan
Osborne's anthem rather than Etheridge's tale
about her fear of falling from grace.
Finally, about mid-album, Etheridge gets in
touch with herself on "Mama I'm Strange."
Against layers of ringing rock guitars she sings
of being crazed as a child because she didn't fit
the Barbie doll mold. An obvious reference to her
being a lesbian, the song is personal but doesn't
get mired down in cliched emotions. The most
captivating cut is also about the price one pays
for being gay in America. "Scarecrow," with its
hint at hip-hop rhythms and a psychedelic
refrain, is a burningly beautiful response to the
murder of Matthew Shepard, who was tortured
and killed in Wyoming last year for being a
homosexual. The final two tunes, "My Lover" and
"Sleep," are intimate, sensual stories of love that
lean toward an acoustic sound.
Breakdown obviously represents Etheridge's
search for a fresh identity, one that is less angry
but still alert to feelings. She finds it on about
half of the tunes, which more than makes up for
what remains of her tortured rock star past. 霊Roberta Penn
--
gender is just an excuse, relationship shouldn't just be an excuse,
love is often an excuse, although sometimes these excuses are all
we have to hold onto,
death is the reason and living is the celebration
- Beth Orton
--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.twbbs.org)
◆ From: h40.s101.ts.hin