Out of the Blue
Vamping blues, back-street rock & roll, Irish whistle folk, slick new country, and gospel praising both body and soul: for their sixth album, Annie, Jeannie, and Marie Burns continue melding their charming harmonies with perky, adult, feminist rock.Out of the Blueis their most musically catchy and accomplished recording; it's also their most lyrically forgettable. Marie and Annie write songs about relationships, whether broken or enduring, but rarely transcend prefabricated pop sentiments. Cliches are tacked together--"For your love, I'd climb the mountain / For your love, I'll swim the sea" and "Stand up for what you believe / To yourself be true"--which might be forgivable if the writers weren't so laboriously earnest. Humor nearly saves the Earth-mother preaching of "God Made Woman" and the fun country fluff of "Two Step Recipe," butOut of the Bluerarely makes it out of the commonplace.--Roy Kasten