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And here's someone else who knows the value of a good collaborator. Here he's enlisted the help of former Prince pals Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman, and we all know what they did for Prince - the Purple Rain album, basically, and much of his best stuff. They play on all and Wendy co-writes some, and they funk and beef up his sound a bit. But even they can't help him sound at all comfortable on the up-beat songs, which are not his strength, and he does keep them to a minimum. He's best with the ballads, as he was in Crowded House - Wherever You Are is very House-y and Secret God is a slow and slinky stand-out, complete with a the sort of weird instrumental play out that is a Wendy & Lisa trademark. The ordinary/special ratio is roughly 50/50 here, but it's always cute.

Jeff Cotton
June-July 2001

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