Whole New You
When Shawn Colvin's last album of original material, 1996'sA Few Small Repairs, scored Grammys for Song and Record of the Year ("Sunny Came Home"), the singer found herself blessed with pop stardom--and the stifling curse of expectations. Colvin faced two choices: make a U-turn back to the acoustic folksiness of her late-'80s rise to prominence or brave the notoriously shifting currents of musical populism head on.  She's chosen the latter tack here, but it often seems like more of a showcase for her longtime songwriting partner and producer, John Leventhal. He frames her lyrics and radiant voice in slick, spacious productions that sometimes make Colvin seem uncomfortably like a session singer on her own album. Whatever fresh emotional insights she offers can't help but seem insulated in that context, making the hard-edged crash metaphors of "Another Plane Went Down," the world-weariness of her collaboration with Edie Brickell, "Roger Wilco," and the haunting "Mr. Levon" sound almost refreshing by contrast. Tellingly, the title track seems like a factory-tooled, hook-laden entry from crossover central--as comfortable and indistinguishable as anything found on either pop or contemporary country radio. It's not exactly Faith Hill, but it still feels like a long way from home.--Jerry McCulley