McBride wasn't broke, but somebody tried to fix her anyway. Perhaps inspired by the runaway success of "I Love You," her hit song (also included on this CD) from the Runaway Bride soundtrack, she seems commercial and contrived here, as if she had contracted Shania Twain's please-the-public-at-all-costs syndrome.
McBride, all of a sudden, sounds pouty and looks tacky. Formerly one of Nashville's most tasteful, restrained female singers, she is now all tarted up in her picture on the CD insert.
This album, McBride's fifth, can't be blamed on a new producer: McBride herself, with pal Paul Worley, coproduced. Still, she only sounds like her old self on "Any-thing's Better than Feelin' the Blues," a tangy tune written by Matraca Berg and Randy Scruggs. "I Ain't Goin' Nowhere," though, is not only subliterate, it positions McBride as a strutty diva-in-waiting rather than the dignified country talent she has traditionally been. Unfortunately, not all change results in improvement.
Bottom Line: This isn't the Martina we love
Garth Brooks (Capitol)
Album of the week
Ever wonder what Garth has been hiding under that 10-gallon chapeau? Well, country's Midas man doffs it for this image-shattering soundtrack album for a film Brooks is developing in which he will star as a long-locked, mod-dressing rock star named Chris Gaines. While seemingly a risky career move by Brooks, who has long flirted with rock and pop styles without turning off the enormous mainstream country audience that brung him to the dance, this outing isn't really that much of a stretch. That's because Brooks's vision of a rock star is more Kenny Loggins than David Bowie. A sure sign that he prefers rock's less clangorous pathways comes when his alter ego sings a snippet of a tune ("Get Together") by '70s troubadour Jesse Colin Young of the Young-bloods. The songs here are tuneful and mellow, but for pyrotechnics, catch one of Garth's geetar-smashing country shows.
Bottom Line: Country star tips his hat to rock
Marc Anthony (Columbia)
While his Roman namesake was beset by tragedy, this Latin singing sensation has adroitly avoided it, even managing to walk away from the wreckage of Paul Simon's Broadway fiasco Capeman (closed after a two-month run) with glowing reviews. While Anthony (real name: Marco Antonio Muñiz), a 30-year-old native of New York City's Spanish Harlem, continues to nurture his acting career (Big Night; Martin Scorsese's forthcoming Bringing Out the Dead), his real challenge is to fashion a fitting vehicle for one of the most dazzling voices in pop music. This English-language album from the former Menudo vocal coach turned salsa star doesn't do the trick. Here he applies his gilded pipes to schlocky love songs set to anemic string orchestrations. Still, a few tunes ("I Need to Know," "You Sang to Me," "That's Okay") display his spectacular voice in appropriate settings.
Bottom Line: Lifeless arrangements dull vocal splendor
>Sting
"I've had a very good life," says ex-Police front man Gordon Sumner (Sting), explaining the sunny vibes that permeate his new album, Brand New Day (Interscope). Now 48 and living la dolce vita in Italy's Tuscany region with his wife, actress Trudie Styler, 43, and their four children, Sting lined up A-list talent for his first solo CD since 1996.
Why ail these guest stars?
It seemed appropriate for certain songs. I thought, "Wouldn't it be great if there was some Stevie Wonder harmonica right here?" I played on James Taylor's last record, so I told him, "Tit for tat."
Was it your idea to have Branford Marsalis play clarinet?
Branford hasn't played the clarinet since he was 12. He vowed he never would again, but I made him. He hated playing it because it wasn't until he played the sax that he got girls. But he played it beautifully, despite his complaining.
Would you ever do a reunion tour with the Police?
I'm very proud of our legacy, but I don't think so. We haven't tried anything like that, which is why our legend is intact; we haven't tried to cash in on it. The last time we played together was my wedding [in 1992].
- Contributors:
- Ralph Novak,
- Steve Dougherty,
- Joseph V. Tirella.
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!
