Good songs can render such matters unimportant - a good song is a good song no matter its setting - but these are mostly pretty pedestrian. Even so, a singer of Schlieske's ability ought to have been able to make more of them. But throughout this CD her voice sounds tired. (I can imagine this material sounding more exciting in a live setting.) A few songs stand out: "Son of a Gun," echoing the Stones' "Gimme Shelter," is catchy and rocks hard. "Baby Blue" has an easy Motown-ish charm, and "Never Knew Love" is a tasteful take on the type of three-four ballad exemplified by Aretha Franklin's "Do Right Woman Do Right Man" and Janis Joplin's "Maybe." But despite the sharp production and a few flashes of inspiration, one can't get away from the fact that the CD just plain sounds tired.
"A sinister cabal of superior writers."
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