Riding the million-seller success of her 1993 debut album, Take Me as I Am, country singer Faith Hill played 150 concert dates last year, opening for folks like Reba McEntire and Alan Jackson and road-testing songs slated for a follow-up CD. That preparatory work pays off on It Matters to Me, a solid second effort that banishes any thought that Hill might be leveled by a sophomore jinx. "Let's Go to Vegas," the album's first single, comes complete with Hill's exuberant cries of "Viva Las Vegas!" and sounds as if it could happily skip all the way to Nevada. But more typical on this album is the sort of song that earned Hill a reputation for plainspoken independence, such as "Someone Else's Dream," with her vocals smartly snapping out a woman's declaration of self-reliance, and the regretful, too-proud-to-beg "I Can't Do That Anymore," written for Hill by Alan Jackson. This album confirms that when it comes to country music, this Mississippi native daughter is right at home. (Warner Bros.)
Evil Stig
From sad things, good things sometimes come. This tribute album is a perfect example. A little more than two years ago, Mia Zapata, the 27-year-old lead singer for the Seattle-based punk band the Gits, was raped and strangled after leaving a friend's Seattle apartment. Her killer was never found. Now, Joan Jett has joined forces with the Gits for a onetime-only gig as Evil Stig (Live Gits spelled backward) to help raise money for a private detective to assist the police with their investigation of Zapata's death.
The Gits' songs are classic punk. Very loud. Very harsh. Very feisty. Perfect material for Jett. Though she isn't exactly known for her delicate vocal touch, she has never sounded so raw on any of her own albums. Despite this aural assault, though, the music is charmingly hook-laden, and the ferocity of the songs is matched by the catchiness of the melodies. The only problem with Evil Stig is that its inspiration, Zapata, isn't around to hear it. (Warner Bros./Blackheart)
Heart
Think of it as Unplugged & Unsolicited. Heart, no longer possessing the cachet for a command performance on MTV, is jumping on the acoustic bandwagon with muted reworkings of their old stadium anthems. They take to this let-an-orchestra-bloom approach from the first song, as woodwinds and strings swell up around "Dreamboat Annie (Fantasy Child)." The problem is that singer Ann Wilson is unwilling or unable to tone down her penetrating voice to suit the quieter setting. As a result, she totally overpowers all these coffeehouse arrangements. It's like hearing Ethel Merman sing lullabies. Still the album, recorded live in a Seattle club in the summer of '94, has some beguiling moments—a poignant version of "Alone" and the wistful, Joni Mitchellesque mood the band brings to "Dog and Butterfly." But, come on, who needs subdued renditions of "Barracuda" and "Crazy on You"?
The whole idea of the Unplugged experiment was to provide listeners with an epiphany, or at least a tingle, by presenting screaming rock hits in an antipodal whisper. As time has gone by, the trend has become nothing but a trite novelty. (Capitol)
D'Angelo
D'Angelo has got some nerve. On the hit title tune, the singer-songwriter raves about "brown sugar"—that's up-to-the-second street slang for marijuana—like he just can't get enough of the stuff. The 21-year-old Richmond, Va., native even personifies it as a virtual super-woman who "love[s] me right down to my knees." The funky little number, with its woozy bass texture, even sounds a bit under the influence, and it immediately sets D'Angelo apart from R&B's connect-the-dots pack. So does the rest of this ambitious debut. Especially rhythmic, gospellaced cuts like "Alright" and "Higher," on which D'Angelo's tenor flutters as if he's possessed by Al Green's holy spirit and Marvin Gaye's sacred sensuality. (EMI)
Abbey Lincoln
Like her idol the late Billie Holiday, jazz singer Abbey Lincoln is a consummate storyteller. Laying back seductively on the beat, she wraps her warm contralto around a melody and entices listeners to hang on every word of a song. On the title track of this album, arguably her best effort since she made her recording debut nearly four decades ago, Lincoln adopts the persona of a turtle who dreams of soaring like an eagle but ultimately finds comfort in the realization that "I can swim the ocean/ And it's deep and wide/ And in the house above me abide."
Most of the 11 songs here, which include nine Lincoln originals, are ruminations about the freedom of the spirit. True, other jazz divas may be endowed with greater range or pitch than Lincoln, but there are few singers who can match her exquisite sense of timing and the emotional depth she brings to a song. At 65, she is in peak form and justifiably concludes, "There will always be a stage, a song for me/ Hold the curtain open, it's time to take a bow." (Verve)
>Faith Hill
SPIT POLISHED
Faith Hill, 27, has made a lot of noise on the country scene, but last winter she was left speechless after surgery to remove an enlarged blood vessel from a vocal cord. Hill, who is engaged to music producer Scott Hendricks, was sidelined at home in Nashville for three months, and for the first two weeks doctors ordered her to be completely silent. "For a big talker like me," says Hill, now fully recovered, "that was a huge problem."
You've sung at rodeos and in prisons. What's the oddest gig you ever had?
When I was about 16, I sang at the Raleigh, Miss., Tobacco Spit. They would have the competition before the entertainment, so they would set these spitoons at the end of the stage and the men and women, some with teeth, some without, would stand way back to see who could spit farthest into the spitoons. It was so gross. They had to clean the stage off with a towel before we played. But I was used to it. My grandmother used to dip snuff, so it didn't bother me too much then. But to think about it now makes me laugh.
How did you choose the songs on this album?
I've listened to thousands of unsolicited songs trying to find the right ones for this album. I love for songwriters to pitch me songs, but sometimes what I get is so comical. I got one song, called "Roadkill," about this possum that was dead on the side of the road. I thought about putting one of those songs in my live act just to see if my fans are really listening and paying attention.
- Contributors:
- Mark Lasswell,
- Peter Castro,
- Craig Tomashoff,
- David Hiltbrand,
- Jeremy Helligar,
- David Grogan.
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