therecordkrate

Reviews:

It will be interesting to see what the mainstream music biz makes of countrysinger Elizabeth Cook, a gal with Faith Hill's good looks and pop instincts,Dolly Parton's songwriting smarts and a production style that tries tobalance current country/pop instincts with traditional touches. When the formulaworks, on tunes like "Stupid Things," a rocker that should be perfectfor today's country radio, "Blue Shades" which sounds like itcould have been recorded by Owen Bradley sometime in the late '60s, thesprightly spiritual "God's Got a Plan for Me" and "Dolly"a tribute to Parton that sends up the sexism of the music industry with a folky,fiddle-drenched backing track, Cook sounds like she'll be able to makethis balancing act work. On tracks like "Everyday Sunshine," "YouMove Too Fast" and "Rainbows at Midnight" she falls victim toNashville's current reliance on formulaic songwriting, lack of melody andthe tendency to replace real sentiment with sentimentality, a void that cleverarrangements and false over-emoting can't ever cover up. The good newsis that Cook's got a powerful voice and a straightforward delivery thatdoesn't rely on pop flourishes to put across its message. She's alsoa strong writer, and while she co-wrote all the tracks, the tunes she wrotealone-"Demon," "Mama You Wanted to Be a Singer Too"and "Dolly"-are the album's strongest. Maybe the next timeout Warner will cut her some slack and let her do her own music her own way.