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Fearless Love, Melissa Etheridge's feistiest disc since her 1988 debut, blurs the difference between hard-earned personal experience and social commentary.
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Mostly, though, she’s tough, and this album, ambitiously produced by John Shanks, matches up, with broad, bruising rock arrangements. (The second half of the album softens musically and the lyrics veer toward inspirational blandness.)
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Produced with plenty of rock-radio muscle by her original guitarist, John Shanks, the 12-song set comes packed with the kind of room-rousing choruses Etheridge specialized in during her early-'90s commercial heyday
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Most of the moments of quiet introspection sag, though. It’s only in those heavier numbers where Etheridge’s best asset, her scarred, emotive croon works its visceral voodoo.
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Q MagazineAt its worst Etheridge is a sub-Springsteen mistress of the lyrically obvious. But when she hitches a poetic directness to a thumping tune on The Wanting Of You and Company, she's in a league of her impassioned own. [Aug 200, p.119]
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As far as a full-on comeback album, Fearless Love‘s songs as a whole aren’t strong enough to make for a great rock album, due to a lack of indelible hooks, yes, but also because nothing here really boogies.
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Perhaps if this production were scaled back a notch or two, Fearless Love wouldn’t feel quite so oppressive, but its oversized sound fits Etheridge’s sense of self: she’s boxed herself into a corner where she only makes music that sounds important…whether it actually is important winds up being beside the point.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 6 out of 7
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Mixed: 0 out of 7
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Negative: 1 out of 7
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Feb 27, 2011This review contains spoilers, click full review link to view.