Published on Jan 6, 2000
At one point in her career, Melissa Etheridge was the embodiment
of acoustic rock. She knew how to take her 12-string guitar and
make it sing louder and clearer than any Stratocaster ever could,
thanks to her combination of excellent songwriting and musical
prowess.
But something happened along the way. Etheridge finally tasted
the fruits of success on her fourth album,
Yes I Am, an album that, at least for me, marked the start
of a creative decline for Etheridge. Her music began to lose some
of the edge that it had (as well as some of the ambiguity of the
songs’ messages, thanks to Etheridge coming out in 1993). Where
Yes I Am was a step down from
Never Enough in my eyes,
Your Little Secret was a step down from
Yes I Am.
Now, after an extended break where Etheridge and her partner
have taken time to start a family, she returns to the bins with
Breakdown, a disc that dares to have Etheridge walk in a new
path – that of the middle-of-the-road songstress. Unfortunately, a
lot of her power is lost at the same time, and this album breaks no
new ground for her.
The first single, “Angels Would Fall,” is symbolic of the
musical change that Etheridge has gone through. Following the lines
of singles like “Nowhere To Go,” Etheridge keeps more of a mellow
profile on this song, daring only to put her vocals through a
workout in the choruses. It’s not a bad effort, but especially if
one has followed Etheridge since her recording career started in
1988, it smacks of what could have been.
In fact, rarely on
Breakdown does Etheridge dip into the vocal power that she
based her early career on. The title track has some hints of this,
and “Scarecrow” (whose story is pretty well-known by now) has the
most anger in it. Not surprisingly, this happens to be the best
track on the album, though its subject matter might preclude it
from making the cut as a single.
Unfortunately for Etheridge, the majority of
Breakdown is so mellow that it almost induces sleep in the
listener – especially the album’s closing track, “Sleep”. Other
tracks that don’t seem to live up to their initial potential
include “Enough Of Me,” “Truth Of The Heart” and “How Would I
Know”. And while I once complained that I preferred Etheridge being
ambiguous about the subject matter of her songs (only because they
didn’t seem preachy or self-indulgent), she does tone things down a
bit on tracks like “My Lover,” though the tracks don’t have the
same kind of power as when Etheridge was a lonesome soul. (One
track, “Mama I’m Strange,” isn’t exactly what you’d think it would
be before listening to the album, but it also suffers from weaker
songwriting.)
For the diehard Etheridge fans, there is an “expanded” edition
of
Breakdown, which happens to be the one I purchased. Of the
three bonus tracks, both “Cherry Avenue” and “Beloved” seem to show
a little more of the Etheridge the long-time fans know and love;
the third track, “Touch And Go,” is just as laissez-faire as the
original release. (There is a multimedia portion to this disc, but
I haven’t had the time to go in and play with it.)
Etheridge is a much better songwriter and musician than the bulk
of
Breakdown suggests, and while I realize that music must
change and evolve over time, I can’t help but wish that Etheridge
would re-capture some of the old fire and create another
Brave And Crazy or
Never Enough. While
Breakdown isn’t worse than
Your Little Secret, both albums are on about the same level
– and that’s not a lot to smile about.