Word: balladeers
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...cuddlesome delivery boy. Lee Wilkof captures the humor and pathos of a mediocrity who will endure anything to keep his job. Howard McGillin deftly sketches an oily ladies' man. As his most frequent victim, the dazzling Sally Mayes is all submission, then all self-esteem after her superbly comic ballad, A Trip to the Library...
...album janet. comes on strong from its first full song, That's the Way Love Goes, a silken seduction ballad that purrs and pounces. When the singer wants to talk back at a lover who's been "runnin' 'round with those nasty hoes," she has to cut her way through a lush sonic rain forest. As if she were afraid of getting lost in the jungle depths, Jackson enlisted the aid of opera soprano Kathleen Battle, whose soaring obbligato she chases through the song like a kid following a bread-crumb trail out of a fairy-tale forest...
...Gabriel's anthem of tentative renewal, Don't Give Up; Nelson and Bonnie Raitt making Getting Over You into a dialogue of broken hearts; Dylan co-writing and singing with Nelson on a fine new song, Heartland, which has the aura and impact of a Woody Guthrie Dust Bowl ballad; Nelson singing on his own, cutting loose on a joyous Willie Dixon blues and having a great time visiting Simon's Graceland...
...onto what the program tells us is "Main Street, U.S.A." (another Disney reference), the number "Only One Can Be the Best" sounds like it's being played by an unsynchronized high school band--we wonder if this sound characterizes smalltown America. In an impressive conclusion, Peters presents a charming ballad and Irish jig ("Chasin' the Rainbow"), beautifully sung by the poor Irish immigrant Maureen (Wynne Love). It is exciting to know that all of this music has been written by a Harvard undergrad; too bad we aren't told more about this project in the program...
...solo album as songwriter, singer and guitarist. They are in even more abundant supply here. For the Beauty of Wynona -- named for a Canadian town close to where Lanois grew up -- has a tougher rhythmic core than its predecessor. The title track takes off on a wild excursion from ballad to jams-out jam to a kind of interplanetary raga that is emblematic of the entire album-length adventure. The sound is spooky, seductive and scintillating...