To be consistent is not necessarily to be predictable. And while this CD bears the earmarks of Travis's earlier work, which has earned him 19 No. 1 singles from his previous 12 albums, it is warm, ingratiating and always melodious.
It also, however, comes closer to rocking than most Travis albums do. And while the guest artists include Nashville standbys Vince Gill and Alison Krauss (doing background vocals on "You and You Alone" and "I'm Still Here, You're Still Gone"), actor Patrick Swayze is also present, making a token background singing appearance on "I Did My Part" without embarrassing himself. (Travis, a better actor than Swayze is a singer, appears in Swayze's new film, Black Dog.)
All 12 tracks on this album reward repeated listening, but Kent Robbins and John Jarrard's "Only Worse" ("It's kinda like a heartache...") is a radio-worthy highlight, as is the lively "The Hole" by Skip Ewing and James Dean Hicks.
Bottom Line: Get set to hit the replay button
Davina (Loud)
Album of the week
They stopped calling Stevie Wonder "Little" and anointed him a pop music genius when the native Detroiter was about 20 and had written, arranged, produced and played all the instruments on his 1970 album Signed, Sealed & Delivered. In recent years, performers ranging from Paul McCartney to Prince have also picked up kudos for their do-it-yourself recording feats. Now the artist currently known as Davina (last name: Bussey), a 28-year-old former dance-track producer who also hails from the Motor City, arrives with this powerful debut album. Davina wrote, arranged and produced all but one of the 13 tunes she sings (the exception being a cover of Michael Jackson's 1979 song "I Can't Help It"). She also plays all the instruments and even engineered the tracks, working at home in her bedroom. Far from an exercise in show-off virtuosity, Best of Both Worlds is a collection of soulful and sensual mid-tempo love songs in the Sade vein, and they introduce a talent in full flower.
Bottom Line: Simply Davine
Phoebe Snow (House of Blues)
After another of many seasons without Snow, it's a pleasure to welcome the return of Phoebe's bluesy elegance. In the two decades since her "Poetry Man" enlivened Top 40 radio and a string of successful solo albums seduced critics and fans in the noisy '70s, Snow (née Phoebe Laub) has been heard from only intermittently since she pulled back from performing in the 1990s to care for a disabled child. Now 45, she is launching a comeback with this album of chestnuts by songwriters Jerry Butler ("Brand New Me"), Jackie Wilson ("Baby, Work Out"), Joni Mitchell ("A Case of You") and Van Morrison ("Madame George"). Besides rocking R&B arrangements by guitarist Jimmy Vivino and assists by Al Kooper, who reprises the surging organ riffs he devised for Bob Dylan's original 1965 version of "It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry," Snow also enlists as a duet partner on two tracks another disappearado, ex-Doobie Brother Michael McDonald, who sounds a lot like Michael Bolton, minus the histrionics.
Bottom Line: A welcome return
>Sisqo of Dru Hill
Three years ago the members of the Baltimore-based R&B group Dru Hill were singing and dancing in the Fudgery, a candy store where employees perform for customers. Now Sisqo (Mark Andrews, 20), Woody (James Green, 21), Nokio (Tamir Ruffin, 20) and Jazz (Larry Anthony Jr., 21) have four singles on Billboard's R&B charts and a debut album (via Island Records) that has topped 1 million in sales.
How does success feel?
None of us know 'cause we ain't had a chance to sit back and say, "Hey, we made it." We ain't had a break yet.
Are you intimidated by competing with your former idols?
Fortunately we're good friends with a lot of the big groups. Boyz II Men kind of took us under their wings. We were trying to keep our composure because it's like we grew up listening to them.
You were up for two American Music Awards in January but didn't win.
I look at it as, "That's my wake-up call." Maybe we got to push to be the group that we think we are.
Do you see a long career ahead?
We're going to retire when we're at the peak of our success...like Michael Jordan.
- Contributors:
- Ralph Novak,
- Steve Dougherty,
- Bill Carpenter.
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
