What About Love?

I tend to agree with the other reviewer. I've been a fan of Ms. Coleman since her first Blind Pig release, and I don't much care for the "smoothing" effect that Telarc seems to have had on her style. The album isn't bad by any means, and her voice is as good as ever, but there isn't enough cutting loose on the guitar for my taste (though "The River Wild" is a bracing instrumental). The covers are decent enough (especially "Healing Ground"), but "When Will I Be Loved" is a disappointment;stiff and repetitive. If this is your first taste of Coleman's work, make sure you snap up "Soft Place To Fall" and "Soul Be It," which are much better reflections of just how terrific she really is.

This new album starts out warmly with Bad Boy, good catchy backing riff--it sticks in your mind and keeps the song lively, but by the second song I realize just how smooth, how relaxed the album is, and how much more powerful these songs must be live. It seems to me Lie No Better should be an angrier song, but it sounds like pop on the CD. The third song almost loses me...starting to become bgm (back ground music); a nice grove, well seasoned backing, accurate but uninspiring drumming, the kind of song I can enjoy driving to without listening to the words, just humming along, you know? The organ saves me from falling asleep (B3 always catches the ear nicely), I try hard to listen to what the B3 is doing from the short solo on. Then the 4th track, Can You Hear Me? finishes me off. If the next song weren't a pick-me-up, I might not listen to the whole album. This may not the blues album I was looking for, but that doesn't mean it's not a very fine album. Listen to the songs over again and realize how much soul Deborah has in her vocals, how smooth the band is.

So, when I hear the first four notes of When Will I Be Loved I start smiling and just can't stop--I've liked this song since I was four years old--I get a kick out of knowing Deborah likes the Everly Brothers too, but here her vocals are a little stiff, hesitant, almost avoiding making it uniquely Deborah's version (the original Everly version is sung too cheerfully for the subject matter too, but anyway...). Then her guitar comes in and totally saves it in the break. Healing Ground in contrast is the "Led Zeppelin meets Joan Armatrading" tune I'm expecting to find when I buy a Deborah Coleman CD, but it's mellowed out here. Again, saved by the guitar; I really like the feeling there. The River Wild, an instrumental, is my favorite tune on the album... it just tastes good and I want to be standing outdoors on a misty day with a cool breeze, a beer, with good friends around me near the stage when I hear this one. The next song, the title track, fits the mood and theme of the earlier tracks; that bad boy who can't lie no better is getting a lecture here, with beautiful clear lead guitar emphasizing her complaints. For the radio, Loves Like Rain comes in to please all the country boys like me who want something to dance to by now, but i can't help thinking that the title needs an apostrophe (Your) Love's Like Rain--not important on the radio thank goodness. The second to the last track is the theme wrap-up expected in a pop album, she's getting over that lying bad boy and is out hunting the love she deserves, and the tune is lively to match. A good groove on A Woman In Love burns into you nicely like the fury of a passionate woman...that bad boy is history and she's torched all the photos.

The band on this album is so tight, so smooth, it's the best quality CD Deborah has so far. For deeper vocals and more inspired guitar by Deborah, though, you still have to look back to the Blind Pig releases.

Overall the new CD is not as groovy and free as the older Deborah Coleman albums I listen to in the bar all the time, but more restrained and perfected...must be more to Telarc's taste, more for radio play I guess. I don't get the same exciting hip-moving feelings as I do on, for example, the Where Blue Begins album, which sounds a little Buddy Guy-ish from tracks 3 & 4 on (or maybe I should say Luther Allison-ish, but Luther never let up to breathe--anyway it was his band backing Deborah, right?) Deborah is maturing as an artist and is chosing excelent mates to play with--that is evident in every track on What About Love? The talk in blues circles is that she's unbeatable live and can't be missed! I can't wait!

With her move to a new label for her, Telarc, Deborah Coleman has moved to a lighter smoother sound with a more mellow sound and less blistering solos. Although this is not necessarily a move for the better, she does a fine job with it. Her singing is as great as always and the instrumental "River Wild" is a nice one.
A note: when she does these songs in concert, she does them a little "harder" and they rock a little more. And when she does her older songs, there's no toning down- they're just as strong as ever. 4.5 Stars

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