Style: soft rock, pop rock
Label: Sony
Year: 1993
Home: n/a
Members: Celine Dion ~ lead vocals
Steve Piggot, Claude Gaudette, Simond Frangler, Ren Klyce ~ programming
Gary Cirimelli ~ programming/b. vocals
Walter Afanasieff ~ keyboards/synth bass/programming/synth guitar
Rich Tancredi, David Foster, Russ Desalvo ~ keyboards
Bob Cadway, Tim Renwick, Michael Thompson, Dean Parks, Bob Mann ~ guitars
Peter Zizzo ~ guitar/b. vocals
Andrea Proulx ~ violin
John Pierce ~ bass
Randy Kerber ~ synths
Guy Roche ~ drums/synth
Jimmy Greco, Jimmy Bralower ~ drums
Lenny Castro, Mike Fisher ~ percussion
Jean McClain, Pauline Wilson, Larry Jacobs, Maria Christensen, Claytoven Richardson, Skyler Jett, Pam Sayne, Laquan Carter, Eddie Stockley, Kenny Bobien, Earl Robinson, Jackie Rowe, Kitty Beethovan, Charlie Dore, Jeanie Tracy, Sandy Griffin, Terry Taylor ~ b. vocals
Guest: Aldo Nova ~ guitar
Clive Griffin ~ lead vocals
CD's third English album, back in the days when she had more French albums than English, was her international breakthrough moment. From now on she would be part of the definition of what 'Adult Contemporary' music means. There's a few songwriters whose appearance on an album signals nothing but that a big chart hit, or in some cases a comeback, is desired. Desmond Child is such a name, known for boosting at an important time the careers of Bon Jovi, Aerosmith & Alice Cooper, amongst countless others. While today T-Bone Burnett is the man everyone wants to work with. But, if you don't do hard rock or folk but more soft rock then you turn to songstress Diane Warren whose magic fingers have worked with Michael Bolton, Air Supply, Gloria Estefan, Cher & countless other softer edged crooners. With four songs here from Warren's pen is it safe to assume that CD was looking for increased chart success? There should be no doubt about that. The Warren equation works out to the end. Though, arguably, has CD ever aimed for music that wasn't incredibly slick with all rough corners trimmed, commercially as perfect as one can get, with heavily textured & melodic production & screaming make me successful? No, that's CD's default moniker. Actually, it might be to her detriment as it's hard to pinpoint what exactly makes her music distinct outside of her voice. What is the CD sound? So much of her output is as by the book as it gets, Warren penned & Ric Wake produced, potentially interchangeable songs & sound with any number of other singers. Sometimes I find it hard to imagine listening to this type of super clean keyboard heavy pop on a regular basis ... then I remember I like George Michael. At least with him an acoustic guitar shows up once in awhile. I realize then it's all about whose voice you connect with the most. Do you want something sly & playful like Michael, dance pop like Tiffany, bluesy like Taylor Dayne or Lisa Stansfield or mature like CD? She fits a nice niche in the soft rock spectrum aiming for the crowd that doesn't want any of the other choices. Due to the interchangeable sound of her music none of her albums really rate too high with critics in general & this early release is as good an album to pick up as any, & includes the hits "The Power Of Love" & "When I Fall In Love" featured in the movie Sleepless In Seattle. Personally, I find this album better than later releases because it's while her reputation was still untainted by: time, her husband's gambling, Las Vegas, an overblown career & was still a diva in the making, pre-motherhood, & might say before she wore out her welcome for a lot of the audience & became a bit repetitious musically. Though, while her voice is good, none of the songs really climax or go anywhere & their imitative nature of CD's peers is more obvious than not. While there's a lack of cohesiveness to the album as each track gets a different producer & while the band isn't too extensive & many faces re-appear it's an album done piecemeal, typical for this genre, leaving a cohesive sound out of the picture. My personal favorites are "The Power Of Love", "Misled" I enjoy though it sounds like Taylor Dayne, the pop ballad "Only One Road", "Everybody's Talkin' My Baby Down", "Next Plane Out" ... it's interesting that I would list so many favorites, considering this really isn't my style of music for regular listening ... but then I do like Lisa Stansfield, Dayne, Tiffany, so I shouldn't be surprised I end up liking more than I expect! "Refuse To Dance" is a personal favorite with its dance beat & violin. I've heard Al Pitrelli recorded guitars with CD, I assume it was an album & not a show, but I can't find any album with his name in the credits though, such as this album, I find many of the Rick Wake crew who he was working with post-Alice Cooper. If anyone can direct me to which songs I would be most appreciative. Your reward is free reading of this blog for a year.
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