DAVE'S DIARY - 26 JULY 2008 - MELINDA SCHNEIDER CD REVIEW
CD
REVIEW
MELINDA SCHNEIDER
BE YOURSELF (BE MUSIC-DESTRA).
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Sydney
chanteuse Melinda Schneider has broadened her eclectic country music
even further by regular songwriting trips to the mean streets of Nashville. The results are obvious on indie fifth album - her second to be recorded with a Music City producer in Guitar Town. On previous disc Stronger her song Sometimes It Takes Balls To Be A Woman - one of three penned with roots country singer Elizabeth Cook - made the prestige Americana awards finals. This time she collaborated on seven tunes with Grammy award winning co-producer Gordon Kennedy. |
They include
the assertive title track, the fiddle fuelled Cry A Little and
eternal love of I'll Take Care Of You.
Schneider explores the tough love in Safe, healing of Outside
and hormonal intuition in Bad Day, penned with Marcia Ramirez.
Equally memorable is the radio friendly duet with Paul Kelly on Still
Here - one of three songs penned with Jay Knowles - and a paean to
a changing but enduring love.
Not so ecstatic is stubborn resolve of the character in People Don't
Change and the neglect by another in Thank You that breeds
solace and growth industry in new songs.
BEN COOPER
Challenged
male emotions underpin Understanding but not inspirational Courageous
- a collaboration with young gun Ben Cooper and a nice little earner as
a duet with Olivia Newton-John on her new disc.
Don't get the impression this is all a confessional capsule - the hedonistic
Grassy is a swampy stomp in a rustic, rural locale and salient
sibling of liberation finale Awake Now.
Sydney studio serf Mark Punch relieves Kennedy on acoustic guitar on Courageous
but drummer Steve Brewster and bassist supremo Glen Worf drive the train
on this delicious disc.
Fiery fiddle is the province of Dead Reckoner Tammy Rogers and Jimmy Mattingly
while Russ Pahl's dobro, Jews harp and lap and pedal steel ensures country
depth.