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Cry - Faith Hill |
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Reviewed by Matt Bjorke
What would you do if you had become a multi-platinum selling artist on the basis of your country music roots? If you are Faith Hill you follow the paths of previous country stars Dolly Parton, Olivia Newton-John, Crystal Gale, Linda Ronstadt, and others to record what many will call a pop rock album.
After the massive success of her previous two albums, Faith and Breathe, Faith Hill has collected fourteen songs from various sources and recorded her most anticipated album yet. Along with Dann Huff and Byron Gallimore, Marti Frederickson joins Faith's production team. All fourteen songs are more pop/R&B sounding than anything Faith has ever recorded before.
While this album is sure to create some ire among many country fans, especially the traditional ones, Cry isn't that drastically different than Faith's last recording, 1999's Breathe. Yes it's true the majority of these songs were recorded everywhere but Nashville but save for four tracks, each one was written by Nashville based writers like Jeffrey Steele, Anthony Smith, Bobby Terry, Beth Neilson Chapman, Annie Roboff, Bill Luther and Matraca Berg.
The four songs that weren't "Nashvillian" songs are Angie Aparo's "Cry," Linda Perry (of the 4 Non Blondes" band)'s "If You're Gonna Fly Away," Steve McEwan (of the British group UnAmerican)'s "If This Is The End" and Derek Bramble's "Back To You." While covering a "rock" song is nothing new to country music, or vise-versa, the fact that Faith found such rarely-heard tracks is quite a feat.
The leadoff track to Cry is the Beth Neilson Chapman/Annie Roboff penned "Free." Musically not a country song, the lyrics keep this up-tempo rocker grounded. The song could be a metaphor for Faith's opinion of her career direction. Not a country single, it nonetheless will be a smash Pop/AC hit.
"Cry" is the previously mentioned title track. Also the first single, Angie Aparo is a male rockster who has a wonderful way with a lyric. Musically unchanged from the original version, Faith takes this soaring ballad to a higher level. While it failed to hit "Top Ten" at Billboard, the song still was a Top 15 Country hit. On the Adult Contemporary (AC) charts, it is in the Top 5 and rising.
Craig Wiseman, Jeffrey Steele and Rivers Rutherford are three well-established songwriters who have created a lyrical gem. "When The Lights Go Down" is a gorgeous ballad that could be a hit on the country charts. It sounds musically similar to "Breathe" but doesn't contain any breathy vocals. Consider this Faith's answer to Tim McGraw's "Set This Circus Down."
"Beautiful" sounds as if it were written by Faith for Tim McGraw. The lyrics are tailor-made for their fairy tale romance and also could very well make this track a candidate for a soundtrack. This song features the mandolin and that alone with its soaring chorus makes it a sure bet to be a country single.
The previously mentioned "If This Is The End" would be my choice for the second single. No, it isn't even remotely close to the country styled songs Faith recorded at the beginning of her career, but it isn't much different than her current string of hits and has more of a "country" sound than even cry did.
"I Think I Will" is not a country song, well at least in this version, for Anthony Smith ("John J. Blanchard") wrote it with a guy from the UK. Lyrically it is strong like anything Anthony has written, but Faith and Dann Huff give it the pop star treatment. That being said, I think it could be a smash at pop radio.
If you were expecting a country album, you better just walk right by this one and buy something like Alison Moorer's latest album but if you are just a music fan then you may find yourself pleasantly surprised at how well-crafted Faith Hill's Cry album is.
Song List:
- Free
- Cry
- One
- When The Lights Go Down
- Beautiful
- Unsaveable
- Baby You Belong
- If You're Gonna Fly Away
- Stronger
- If This Is The End
- This Is Me
- Back To You
- I Think I Will
- You're Still Here
Album cover, used with permission of Warner Nashville.
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