Saturday, December 07, 2002
shockingly, shania twain's up! not only holds up to repeatedly listenings, it rewards them. and this an album that takes a while to dig into, especially considering it's not one but two discs - a pop mix (the red disc) and a country mix (the green disc) - and has 19 tracks. entertainment weekly gave the album a marvelous review, calling it "abba gold without the melancholy." though I consider shania more a country than pop artist, as I've said previously, she so effortlessly straddles said divide as to make it ridiculous. and truth be told, this is one record that would be better served by a (more thorough) mix of the two; some tracks sparkle as country songs, while others are obviously meant to be pure, gleaming, "eat this, max martin!" pop.
the first single, "I'm gonna getcha good!" is a prime example of this. as pop it's not as convincing, and the synth swoops bring to mind the lonesome west - in a kansas' "dust in the wind" sense. but on the country version those swoops are rethought as fiddle licks, and the song's defiant rope-him-in sentiments mesh better with the music. and its patented, perverse mutt lange/twain formula of pickin' and grinnin' by way of "we will rock you" comes off gloriously. the same is true in reverse for her attempts at social commentary: "ka-ching!" (about our money-driven, materialistic culture - how's the view from that swiss manse, shania?) and "what a way to wanna be!" (about our body-image-driven culture - let those with perfect abs throw the first stone?) are flaccid as country, but just plain make more sense as pop. I can hear pink revving up "what a way" with some faux-grunge guitars and making a top 10 smash out of it already (and hope dearly she doesn't, but that's another matter). "the pill" or "stand by your man" they're not.
a number of up!'s tracks, however, are just plain yummy no matter the instrumentation. "nah!" begs to be a single. it's "getcha good!"'s reverse corollary:
"that's it! (that's all!) we had fun! (we had a ball!)
it was good while it lasted - but now I'm past it
(it was sure!) it was sweet! sure you swept me off my feet
I miss you now and then, but would I do it all again -
nah"
what a beautiful, perfect kiss-off. this is sure to be the official "I'm gone!" song of ex-lovers everywhere for about the next two years. and twain sings it so breezily, it's utterly irresistable.
if you like "dancing queen," you'll probably like shania's "c'est la vie," which shamelessly rips off abba's melody. "up!" is a positive-thinking track that in anyone else's hands would sound hopelessly twee and trite, but twain pulls it off in much the same way that julia roberts can suspend disbelief in nearly any romantic comedy she's starring in. without wanting to, you're nodding your head, tapping feet, et.al.
shania's stock-in-trade is songs about attitude, most of them revolving around men and women - what's more elemental? at least some of her success can easily be attributed to her attitude, as well - that indefatigable sassiness, similar to that of the dixie chicks' kick-us-and-we'll-kick-your-ass raison d'etre. that makes it all the more surprising that twain succeeds with a story song, "I ain't goin' down." a tale of a 15-year-old single mother, the lyrics are better than what you might expect (I expected bathetic hallmark sentiment and got, in the least, good lifetime tv movie), while mutt's production and shania's performance (understated and respectful to the song's subject matter) carry it home.
yes, the plethora of exclamation points is annoying (9 of 19 songs end in them) - but shania's earned 'em. she's the biggest thing in country music this side of patsy cline (at least if records sales are your barometer - and please remember that patsy was as much pop as country, too), and up! distills the reasons why into 19 tracks that rather than plead their case, treat the result as a foregone conclusion. and why not? if anyone can go up from here, it's shania. !.
the first single, "I'm gonna getcha good!" is a prime example of this. as pop it's not as convincing, and the synth swoops bring to mind the lonesome west - in a kansas' "dust in the wind" sense. but on the country version those swoops are rethought as fiddle licks, and the song's defiant rope-him-in sentiments mesh better with the music. and its patented, perverse mutt lange/twain formula of pickin' and grinnin' by way of "we will rock you" comes off gloriously. the same is true in reverse for her attempts at social commentary: "ka-ching!" (about our money-driven, materialistic culture - how's the view from that swiss manse, shania?) and "what a way to wanna be!" (about our body-image-driven culture - let those with perfect abs throw the first stone?) are flaccid as country, but just plain make more sense as pop. I can hear pink revving up "what a way" with some faux-grunge guitars and making a top 10 smash out of it already (and hope dearly she doesn't, but that's another matter). "the pill" or "stand by your man" they're not.
a number of up!'s tracks, however, are just plain yummy no matter the instrumentation. "nah!" begs to be a single. it's "getcha good!"'s reverse corollary:
"that's it! (that's all!) we had fun! (we had a ball!)
it was good while it lasted - but now I'm past it
(it was sure!) it was sweet! sure you swept me off my feet
I miss you now and then, but would I do it all again -
nah"
what a beautiful, perfect kiss-off. this is sure to be the official "I'm gone!" song of ex-lovers everywhere for about the next two years. and twain sings it so breezily, it's utterly irresistable.
if you like "dancing queen," you'll probably like shania's "c'est la vie," which shamelessly rips off abba's melody. "up!" is a positive-thinking track that in anyone else's hands would sound hopelessly twee and trite, but twain pulls it off in much the same way that julia roberts can suspend disbelief in nearly any romantic comedy she's starring in. without wanting to, you're nodding your head, tapping feet, et.al.
shania's stock-in-trade is songs about attitude, most of them revolving around men and women - what's more elemental? at least some of her success can easily be attributed to her attitude, as well - that indefatigable sassiness, similar to that of the dixie chicks' kick-us-and-we'll-kick-your-ass raison d'etre. that makes it all the more surprising that twain succeeds with a story song, "I ain't goin' down." a tale of a 15-year-old single mother, the lyrics are better than what you might expect (I expected bathetic hallmark sentiment and got, in the least, good lifetime tv movie), while mutt's production and shania's performance (understated and respectful to the song's subject matter) carry it home.
yes, the plethora of exclamation points is annoying (9 of 19 songs end in them) - but shania's earned 'em. she's the biggest thing in country music this side of patsy cline (at least if records sales are your barometer - and please remember that patsy was as much pop as country, too), and up! distills the reasons why into 19 tracks that rather than plead their case, treat the result as a foregone conclusion. and why not? if anyone can go up from here, it's shania. !.
# posted by Thomas : 7:32 PM
