Reba McEntire: Keep on Loving You (album review)
McEntire Puts Her Powerhouse Voice to Good Use on New Album
Aug 23, 2009
Throughout her career, Reba McEntire's focus has always been finding songs that connect with women--songs that celebrate women, comfort women, and encourage women. Her music and her forays into Broadway, television, and fashion design, have have made her a role model to women who have followed her career through the '70s, 80's, and '90s. Now, through her television show and duets with the likes of Kelly Clarkson and Justin Timberlake, she is striving to reach out to a new generation of fans.
Her ability to multi-task often spills over into her music--McEntire's still supple voice can handle rock and pop, country, swing, southern gospel, Broadway tunes, and weepy ballads with aplomb. With Keep on Loving You, however, she attempts to do it all on the same album--and it leaves the album feeling unfocussed and segregated.
Album is Influenced By Work with Kelly Clarkson, pop stars
On the positive side, perhaps her time spent with Broadway starlets and pop singers have had an influence, as we find McEntire letting loose and putting her powerhouse vocals to better use than on recent albums. "Just When I Thought I'd Stopped Loving You" puts her squarely in Kelly Clarkson territory, with the song's rock guitar riffs and McEntire's voice blasting over the electronic din.
"I Want a Cowboy" was originally on Katrina Elam's debut release. While Elam's version was a youthful, wide-eyed, wish list for a man, McEntire sounds like a no-nonsense woman who has seen her share of heartbreak with the wrong men, and she knows exactly what she wants this time around. The punchy guitar breakdown near the end is a nice touch.
"Consider Me Gone," "Nothing to Lose," and "Pink Guitar" are the country ditties of the album. "PInk Guitar" is a bland version of Wynonna's "Girls with Guitars," but McEntire's attitude and soaring vocals lift up this substandard song. The album's first single, "Strange," is a clever ode to getting over a bad breakup that women from 16 to 65 can relate to.
"She's Turning 50 Today," which McEntire co-wrote, is written specifically for an older audience that country radio largely forgets. "Eight Crazy Hours" is three minutes of unfocussed, but beautiful imagery.
"Maggie Creek Road," "I'll Have What She's Having" showcase McEntire's versatility
"Maggie Creek Road" keeps the spirit of McEntire's earlier hit, "The Night the LIghts Went Out in Georgia," and Reba delivers a suspenseful vocal performance about a pistol-packing mama bent on revenge.
"I'll Have What She's Having" touches on Texas Western swing, with its peppering of piano and bouncy rhythm. The songs clever lyrics of a woman who ought to know better, but still covets another woman's man in a restaurant, come off as quaint rather than questionable.
Best Tracks:
"I'll Have What She's Having," "Maggie Creek Road," "Strange," "I Want a Cowboy"
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