Gone Country

fireflies
Originally uploaded by mcmrbt.

Here's a record that divides the critics. Slant Magazine awards it a big fat zero, while other reviews are fair to middling and or generous in their praise.

I'm inclined to be generous myself, because I like Hill's voice, especially when she's up close and personal to the microphone and not trying to out-belt Céline.

Fireflies belongs in a context, the career of Faith Hill, which started quite well with a country pop record, and then fell into peril as vocal nodules threatened to end it before it began. Several voice training sessions later, she returned with her follow-up, a stronger set, in a deeper register.

None of this prepared her audience for her third album, the excellent Faith, packed full of corking songs and crossover hits; so much so that the record company started to get Big Ideas.

The unfortunate consequence of this is that Hill just can't get away from record company meddling. Their muddy pawprints have been all over her subsequent records, including this one.

Breathe was an obvious attempt at full crossover; it was loud, bombastic, and obsessed with genre. And that's the problem with the American music scene. I gave up, long ago, trying to convince people that so-called "Country" is only what we called "Rock" in the 70s, and that so-called "Rock" is what we called "Heavy Metal." Etc.

American music is no longer allowed to be that all-encompassing general category of "Rock". It has to be "Adult Contemporary" or "R & B" or, I don't know. This obsession with genre is a bit confusing for the British ear; and I just can't believe there are people there who want to tune in to one kind of music exclusively. Still, for the American market, falling between categories is a no-no, and for country music in particular, well, you just don't, that's all. They will never forgive you.

Even Shania Twain, to whom Hill is sometimes compared (for no good reason), knows that you can't do everything, all at once, which is why her last record was available in three different mixes. So Hill's Breathe was a bit crap, here and there, and Cry, the follow-up, was a critical and commercial "disaster."

I say, "disaster." That only means it sold half as many as Breathe, which is still a lot, unless you're a record company suit. Cry tried to do power ballads, and I have to admit to quite liking it, but it took Hill so far from her core audience that there was an obvious need to bring her back into the fold.

So here she is, with Byron Gallimore, Dan Huff, and herself producing, and the first instrument you really hear on this record is a... banjo. As a statement of intent, you couldn't get clearer, but on this blog we are very familiar with the expression "unintentional hilarity", and I laughed out loud in the car when it came on.

So, er, okay then, Faith Hill, crossover diva, has "gone country" with this, her sixth album proper.

Cool!

The guitars are mixed up front, and the songs, for the most part, are chosen for their emotional content rather than pop hooks. In spite of the obvious thumbprints of record company suits, she pulls most of this stuff off quite well. That said, I kind of agree with some of what Slant magazine has to say in the review linked to above. She's no Trisha Yearwood, and sometimes you can detect obvious efforts to demonstrate the kind of superlative vocal control that Yearwood has. It's there all right, but not so effortlessly.

Still, while you wouldn't want Yearwood to stutter just to prove her mortality, I don't think Hill should be criticised for trying to improve her voice, or for trying to reach for the heights Yearwood occupies.

No, for me the false notes here include the track "Mississippi Girl", which wasn't just written for Hill, but about her, and it's just too self-referential and perky. She tries to tell you she's not been changed by her success (read "failure"), to which my response is, "See you down Tesco, then, yeah?"

"Like We Never Loved At All," her usual duet with husband Tim McGraw has been praised elsewhere, but to me it sounds a bit off, as if Tim sneaked into the studio one night, drunk, and "contributed" his vocal without Faith's knowledge or permission.

"We've Got Nothing But Love To Prove" is her "political" statement, and although it's not a great track, and the lyrics edge towards fromage, I admire the sentiment behind it. Rather than running up the Red White and Blue like most country artists these days, Hill chooses to ask questions (like Dylan at his finest). It's about as right-on as you can get without being Steve Earle.

The opener, "Sunshine and Summertime" is great, and there are several other really good ones. The last two tracks are very interesting. I'd love to know the full circumstances of the production of "Wish For You" and "Paris," because there seems to be something very different going on with the vocal sound. It's very "vintage", sounding like nothing so much as a classic MGM musical, or like something out of Capitol in the 50s.

You'd suspect vintage microphones and analogue tape at the very least, but I think Hill is due some credit, too, for making considerable efforts with her vocal technique to sound vintage, too.

I like this record - it's her best since Faith and it's been a long time coming. I doubt she'll be fully forgiven by the country scene (in which context I read the Slant Magazine review), and it's all over the place at times, with several songs sounding like they're searching for the melody, but the production values are as high as ever and her voice is superb.

I look forward to seeing her in Tesco's. Even as a Photoshopped Brunette (and they used the Photoshop Filter That Should Never Be Used, the fools), she's a 4 or a 5. I'd like to point out, vis a vis her husband, that I have a full head of hair and I'm willing to be photographed without my hat.