Melissa delivers a sucker punch!
Artiste: Melissa Etheridge
Nationality: American
Album: Breakdown
Year: 1999
Label: Island
Genre: Rock/Folk
Tracks
Breakdown
Stronger than me
Angels would fall
Into the dark
Enough of me
Truth of the heart
Mama I'm strange
Scarecrow
How would I know
My lover
Sleep
Chronological position: Sixth album
Familiarity: “Your little secret”
Interesting Factoid: The song
Scarecrow was based on true events, written about a student who was abducted and murdered in 1998.
Impression: Holy ****! This is brilliant!
Best track(s): Angels would fall, Enough of me, How would I know
Worst track(s): None
Intention: Listen to a lot more of this lady's work, post-haste!
Comments: I wasn't to be fair expecting all that much when I decided to give this a spin, but from the very first track it grabbed me and it's not showing any signs of letting go! Every single track so far has been top-notch, so much so that I'm having a really hard time choosing favourites, though I doubt I'll have the same problem with selecting bad tracks, as I really doubt there are any. Punchy, rocky, with a lot of cool country-style class and some really polished production, these songs come across as being written and sung from the heart, all very personal and definitely not just written to climb the charts. They're
real, man!
Etheridge has the perfect kind of voice for these songs: deep and honest with a real rasp and drawl that speaks of a woman who has seen much of life, but never lost her faith in herself. She lets loose the beast within when she rages against the killing of student Matthew Shepard in
Scarecrow, then pays homage to Tracy Chapman with “My lover”, showing the breadth of her range. I can't really say anything bad about this album, and I was expecting to be underwhelmed. I need to hear more of her music. Like, now!