Dare To Love
Dare to Loveis a remarkably consistent and entertaining collection of finely honed dance/pop, a sub-genre that doesn't generally place a premium on personality. Somerville, however, has never been one to sacrifice his convictions to the beat. By the same token, his gay repartee here is carried along by wide-ranging rhythms (a dub intro here, a disco break there) and imaginative instrumental adornments (here a Spanish guitar solo, there a violin interlude). Lyrically, Somerville celebrates the gay lifestyle of the '90s, which, in his own words, encompasses "life, love, sex, and death." Indeed, the romanticism of much of the material is colored by the AIDS epidemic so that even the most jubilant outpourings are weighted down by a hint of grief.--Steven Stolder