Still a Lot of "Country" on this Crossover Album . In the 1990s, the Country Music began to go through some transitions. Country music which had for the most part stayed in a vacuum began to go mainstream and embrace other genres of music. As a result, the sound started to change. One artist that led this transition was Faith Hill.   Faith Hill had previously released two albums, but it was her 1998 breakthrough album "Faith" that helped her break into mainstream music.  Surprisingly, while "Faith" did cross-over into the mainstream, there still is a strong country element on this album.     By no means do I consider myself a Country Music expert.  The nice thing about "Faith" is that I believe it caters to a fan like myself that may not be deep into Country Music, but can appreciate many of the elements Country Music can bring to the table.   While "Faith" could be directed to a more casual fan like myself, I think the collection does an admirable job at addressing the fan who is deeper when it comes to the Country Music genre.   Faith Hill brings an interesting formula to this album.  Faith's role on the collection is primarily of vocalist.  Since she is focused on vocals, she is dependent on a solid cast of characters (musicians and songwriters) to support her effort.  On "Faith", this doesn't appear to be a problem.  She is surrounded by many top notch studio musicians and is given an oustanding slate of songs to work with.  Given this solid infrastructure, Faith is able to provide stellar vocals and produce a great product.   The interesting twist to this formula is that Faith Hill is a co-producer on all 12 songs.   Therefore she just isn't a "vocalist for hire".  She ultimately is deciding what the songs should be and how the final product should sound.  This is why "Faith" is a solid collection.    "This Kiss" was the song that made Faith Hill a household name on the mainstream music scene.   This was also the song that was my first introduction to Faith Hill.  In 1998, I first heard this song on the radio and it completely blew me away.   One reason why this song made it into the mainstream arena is that it does have qualities that make it sound like a "pop" song.  However, there is a true country element to this song - complete with Steel Guitar and Fiddle (played by Glen Duncan).    This instrumentation gives the song a most unique flavor.  The song features some very clever and catchy lyrics such as "It's a centrifugal motion; It's perpetual bliss; It's that pivotal moment".  The vocals are delivered with a very up-tempo pace (with little rests between the words) and that also contribute to the unique flavor.  This song features some great background vocals by Chris Rodriguez (who provides background vocals on several other songs on the album) and Beth Nielson Chapman (who is a co-writer for this song).    At first, upon purchasing "Faith", I expected it would basically be "This Kiss" and not much else.  However, after my first listen to this collection - I realized that this was not the case.   There were many other terrific songs that are included on this collection.   The second song "You Give Me Love" is also pretty catchy.  This has much more of a country element on this song.  This song is highlighted by some terrific drums and more Fiddle by Glen Duncan.     Although not as catchy a song, "Let Me Let Go" is worth mentioning.  The highlight of this particular song is background vocals by Vince Gill.  Gill is a master in the domain of steering Country Music toward the mainstream, but not abandoning the Country Music element.  This song clearly has a Country Element and it works.  This song also features a string section of viola players.  The Country Music element is alive and well in the song "Better Days".   This song was co-written by former Fleetwood Mac vocalist Billy Burnette.  This song also features Duncan's Fiddle.      The Country Music element is also present in the song "My Wild Frontier".   This is a powerful and sad song about a woman, who with her family moves into the Canadian Prairie.  Tragedy then strikes when the woman's baby son dies in his sleep.  This song is a great example of some of how a very well written song is made even better by some very emotional and powerful vocals by Faith.    The best song on the album is "The Secret of Life".   This song was co-written by Gretchen Peters, who is a songwriter that worked with Bryan Adams on "On a Day Like Today" and his "Unplugged" album.   The song is about exactly what the title says - telling little bits on what "the secret of life is".   No loss of a solid country feel in this song - including more great fiddle by Duncan.  Simple lyrics like "The Secret of Life is in Sam's Martini" (Sam is a character that is referred to in the song) or "The Secret of Life is a Good Cup of Coffee" give this song a very special quality.    Two other country element songs are that are solid are "Just to Hear You Say That You Love Me" and "The Hard Way".  In "Just to Hear You Say You Love Me", Faith does a terrific duet with her husband Tim McGraw.   As for "The Hard Way", this is very powerful song (more great Fiddle) and is best described by the lyrics "I Keep Livin and Lovin and Learnin The Hard Way".  Finally, "Me" is another good song - this song has more of a pop element and deals with a woman changing who she is.    On a side note, Sheryl Crow is a co-writer of "Somebody Stand By Me".  Not a great song, but worth mentioning.    All of the lyrics, studio musicians, songwriting and production credits are listed in the liner notes.  This album should appeal to Country Music and Mainstream fans.  Highly Recommended
Output: POS