Fortuneteller's Melody
The sister trio SHeDAISY arrived in the late '90s riding the huge wave of Shania, Faith, and Dixie Chicks country-pop, and made a splash or two before seeming to sink out of sight. They buoyed with 2004'sSweet Right Here, which climbed to #2 on the Billboard chart, but never regained the buzz they generated with their 1999 debut,The Whole SHeBANG. Now, on their fourth effort, they've pulled out all the stops to rejuvenate their career--Kristyn Osborn, their chief songwriter, cowriting two tunes with Sheryl Crow ("Whatever It Takes," "Healing Side") and another with Don Schlitz ("In Terms of Love"). In following the dissolution of a relationship, a theme that works throughout, the sisters craft a resonant album that should ring truthfully with their primarily female fan base. They bolster it with all the trendy radio-friendly production touches (e.g., driving banjo beneath a pop arrangement, à la Keith Urban), and sell it with their usual seamless and creative vocal blend. The latter is the only thing that saves the album's most disappointing cut, "God Bless the American Housewife," an indescribably awful piece of shameless pandering, even if the lyrics are meant to be tongue-in-cheek. It's to their credit that they didn't write it, but to actually record it speaks far more poorly of them than any reviewer ever could. Other than that, this comeback effort (replete with a bold and sensitive "mistress" ballad, "She Gets What I Deserve") goes the distance to keep SHeDAISY blooming.--Alanna Nash