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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 6, 2004)
MUSIC IMW^OdfclS emphatically, “W e’re better off for all that we let in.” T h e two have grown in different musical directions, Sabers favoring the ballad and Ray branching off to collaborate with punk hands on her solo efforts. But on this album, as with all that have come before, it’s the blending of voices, strong writing and politics that makes the Indigo Girls greater than the sum of its parts. — Kathy Beige L ucky M elissa Etheridge Island Records A ll T hat W e L et I n Indigo Girls • Sony • et me start by say ing I’m a huge Melissa Etheridge he Indigo Girls sound hasn’t changed much in the 20-plus years the duo have been fan. I’ve bought all her albums, seen her together, and that’s a good thing. Like a bowl of your mom’s chicken noodle soup, the in concert dozens of Indigo Girls are comfort food that doesn’t need times, read her book, to be improved upon. joined her fan club. On the past few albums, Amy Ray’s song I rushed to buy writing has overpowered Emily Sabers’, which Lucky the day it came out and popped it into has been pasty white. W hat a nice surprise on my car stereo. My heart started to race as I All That W e Let In that Sabers, author of the heard the first distinctive guitar licks. Then she classics “Power of Two” and “Closer to Fine,” opened her mouth. finally has her songwriting power back. At 40-something, Etheridge’s voice is as strong and rich as ever. Her problem is lyrical. Ray’s songs tend to ask the unanswerable It just gets annoying listening to her rhyme questions. Sabers’ give us answers and hope. words like notion, ocean and emotion. She has Especially strong is the title song, a muse on always overused certain terms, such as “angel,” predictable Indigo topics: love and war. Ray for instance, from “H ie Angels W on’t Have It” asks: “Can we make it better? Do we tether the to “I’ve Been Talking to My Angel” and now “I hawk or do we tether the dove ?" Sabers states T L want to ride with my angel and live material, except for shockingly.” H ie woman needs to Macy Gray’s “Come ditch her rhyming dictionary and pick Together” and Tori Amos’ “Cornflake up a good thesaurus. G irl,” both from live “I want to see how lucky, lucky can performances. be,” Etheridge opines. My 10-year-old D ID O "V i MACv GRAY ZA niece writes better stings. H ie album’s Part of the pro AVR11 :AV>GNf ceeds from sales of best offering, “Home,” was not written ICA! h i t£ N CDWAROÌ^ t o s i Afvvos Æ by Etheridge. the album go to Oh! AIMÉ t M ANN THE P R E l t N D e « ^ ^ G et the Money, an To the dyke icon’s credit, lesbianism SARAH M C lA C H lA N THE HE G O O D TANYAS organization of Oxy is creeping more overtly into her S a r a h h a r m e r o h S u s a n n a gen Media company music. “Meet Me in the Dark” is a that helps women strong ballad about life in the entrepreneurs start their own businesses. closet, and in “G iant” she deservedly credits herself with some of the Hopefully these entrepreneurs will know progress of the modem gay rights how to put together a better CD. Oh! exhibits movement. But, her earnest tribute to little variation in its mood, which is mellow in gay 9/11 hero Mark Bingham falls a an unsatisfying kind of way. Combining the little too short, too late. chosen artists with more lively songs could have produced an edgier compilation, but, as Etheridge is newly in love, and that’s what this album is really about. too often is the case, the balance is tipped in favor of less character and less dare. Unfortunately for us, her real song H ie Be Good Tanyas’ calm but mesmerizing writing talent lies in heartbreak. It’s Not Happening” and Stacie Orrico’s rock — KB ing “Stuck” are good examples of more spirit. O h ! F rom the G irls But then Sixpence None the Richer’s cover of Various Artists • N ettwerk “Don’t Dream It’s Over” is a strange choice considering the hand’s many powerful songs. And why flaunt Amos’ overdone “Cornflake” h! From the Girls, the latest showcase of when she cuts right through the heart with women in music, does a fairly good job at spanning genres (pop, rock, folk) and unearthly songs like “Precious Things”? artists from mainstream biggies (Dido, Avril Similarly, Erin McKeown’s fine “Slung-Lo” Lavigne, The Pretenders) to lesser-known does not magnetize like, say, her opulent “The indies (Sarah Harmer, O h Susanna, Martina Taste of You.” And Sarah M cLachlan’s “Angel” Sorbara). pushes you right over the languid edge. 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