Word: balladic
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...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...
From the wistful ballad Fields of Gold to the insouciant rocker She's Too Good for Me, the lyrics wring pathos and irony from the misfortunes of unlucky lovers. Yet Sting's manners are too refined to let the suffering spoil the lush settings; the shackles in this emotional dungeon are lined with velvet. In Seven Days, pizzicato strings thrum a decorous, mocking waltz as a man muses over various ways to deal with a romantic rival. In the darkly cynical Love Is Stronger than Justice, a man kills his brothers to avoid sharing the affections of a beautiful senorita...
...cover of Rolling Stone, and his mother beat him to the cover of the Daily Racing Form, a newspaper about his other passion, horse racing. But he appears to believe he can catch up. After all, he was savvy enough to write a song called Brother, Brother, a ballad about a young man who turns to life on the street while his brother seems beyond reach...
Dicke portrays the victimized Audrey without making her seem like a hopeless caricature. Her touching ballad "Somewhere That's Green" is a hysterical list of simple dreams: "in a tract house we share...I cook like Betty Crocker and I look like Donna Reed..." Even dressed in fake fur and leopard skin and singing lines like "I know Seymour's the greatest but I'm dating a semi-sadist," Dicke manages to make us empathize with her plight...