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If you are an avid "Steve Wariner"
worshiper, by all means run out and get this disc (like I, or
any other reviewer, would have to TELL you to do so). But for
me, the reason this disc gets a smack-down-the-middle rating
is that Steve always balances a strange line.
On one side of that line, only a fool could
deny his talent as being one of those kinds of natural musicianships
that come along once a millennium. His press release correctly
touts him as being perhaps the ONLY person in today's country
radio's obsession with flavors of the month to be making hit
records still that was making hit records nearly TWO DECADES
ago. He has a truckload of number one singles and his pedigree
is also undeniable. He played in Dottie West's band as a virtual
adolescent and he was also mentored by the mighty Bob Luman,
who Steve paid tribute to by making his own blockbuster smash
covering Bob's 60's classic "Lonely Women Make Good Lovers"
some years back. He also is perhaps the only hit maker in Nashville
who is respected as a massive triple threat, as a recording artist,
as a crackerjack guitar picker who has learned at the feet of
the legendary Chet Atkins and as a dandy songwriter.
But I'm sorry, here's the other side of
that line . . . Steve's hits are always well put together without
a blemish or weakness to be found. But like a woman who looks
that perfect, for me, his songs have always been SO perfectly
inoffensive and whitewashed that I have been afraid to get to
close to these songs (or said women) for fear they might be made
out of plastic. And after listening to this collection, I haven't
changed my mind.
Many of his hit slow songs, including "There
For Awhile," "When I could Come Home to You" and
"The Weekend" are here, as are his up-tempo ditties,
including the catchy "The Domino Theory," the spirited
"Lynda" and the super smash "Some Fools Never
Learn." But to my own jaundiced ear, these songs have the
virtual sameness I have always come to expect from the mighty
Mr. Wariner. A beautiful, talented and expert sameness, but a
sameness nonetheless.
Two new cuts are on the disc, "In
a heart Beat," a catchy ditty with some almost Nashville-sound-esque
background singers, and another white-bread whiner that is sure
to be a huge hit, "Can I Come Over Tonight."
As I said, if you love Steve this disc
is for you. If you only admire him as I do, this ain't no must-buy
that's for sure. For my money, when I listened to this album,
all I could think of is Garth's album of the same title. Now
Garth, say what you will about him, and granted he probably doesn't
have the same kind or depth of talent in his whole pudgy wild-color
shirted body that Steve W. does in one guitar-picking pinky,
but listen to Garth cross stylistic boundaries of country Rap
- " Ain't Goin' Down . . .," Cajun-style "Callin'
Baton Rouge," and soaring weeper" Somewhere Other Than
The Night," and then compare that to Steve's consistent
and admirable, but dreadfully white-bread output, and see If
you might agree with me - even if you do worship Steve and already
have this Disc on constant play in your changer.
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