Disc 350 is...The Woman In Me
Artist: Shania Twain
Year of Release: 1995
What’s Up With The Cover?: A 'big head' cover, made more bearable by the fact that Shania Twain is easy on the eyes.
How I Came To Know It: Since this review will be filled with embarrassing admissions, I might as well start here. In the mid-nineties I used to occasionally watch videos on Country Music Television (CMT), mostly for the Canadian folk music they'd slip into the mix. After seeing about four songs from this record, all of which I liked, I broked down and bought it.
How It Stacks Up: I only have this one record, so it can't really stack up. That said, Guilty Admission #2 is that I once owned the follow up album, "Come On Over." I really hated that record and quickly gave it away. This was before I began the Odyssey, so don't look for a review; mercifully you won't find one.
Rating: 3 stars.
Gentle readers, before I begin this review I would just remind you not to judge me too harshly for owning this album. Or if you do judge me, look into the heart of your own music collection first. I'll bet you'll find your own guilty pleasures in there. John Denver? Barry Manilow? If not those, chances are you've got something equally embarrassing that you'll say belongs to someone else, but that you secretly put on when no one else is listening. We all have our skeletons my friends; this is mine.
What's more, I like "The Woman In Me". I've enjoyed listening to it for the last couple of days, and I'm not going to pretend otherwise just to preserve some artificial veneer of musical elitism.
Yes, it is pop country, which has become a scourge of country music over the past fifteen to twenty years. Shania Twain is at least partly responsible for this unfortunate sub-genre of music, and for that we owe her no favours. Having said that, there is a big difference between listening to Faith Hill butcher Janis Joplin's "Take Another Little Piece of My Heart" and Twain's sexy, traditional-yet-sassy songs, with their original (for the time) sound, impeccable production and damned catchy hooks.
On her follow-up album, "Come On Over" Twain took the empty pop sounds of this record a step too far (albeit with some great music videos - hello "Leopard Girl In Desert" and "Inverted Robert Palmer Striptease"). However, minus the visuals, the music was far too AM radio/bubble gum for my tastes.
On "The Woman In Me" the down-home quality of Twain's stylings preserve a fair bit of traditional country sound. On songs like "Is There Life After Love" and "Leaving Is The Only Way Out" she even reminds me of an updated Patsy Cline, with her throaty and emotional delivery. She even has the 'tear in your beer' country lyrics down pat in places. My favourite:
"If cryin' is the only way into your heart
Then leavin' is the only way out."
That said, this record is about the hits, which are much more pop flavoured. "The Woman In Me" was a monster album for Twain, propelling her into superstardom on both sides of the 49th. Perfectly marketed, the first singles were playful country songs, "Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under" and "Any Man of Mine," both catchy tracks that spoke to a woman's independence from a place that wouldn't offend middle America in the process. Later, "If You're Not In It For Love" and "You Win My Love" showed her playful, more urban side. "God Bless The Child" gave us some soulful spiritual action, and "No One Needs to Know" got picked up for the blockbuster film "Twister" just in case Shania wasn't already famous enough at that point.
All in all, "The Woman In Me" had seven singles, five of which were number one hits in both Canada and the United States. Not bad for a poor girl from Timmins.
I'd be lying if I pretended that her story of a poor girl making good didn't appeal to me, but this blog isn't about Shania's commercial success, it is about my reaction to her music. And I don't care what you say, the music on this record is good.
Say what you will about Mutt Lange, but he has created a record that is impeccably produced, having elements of that big, open Daniel Lanois sound while still giving you that cozy, 'she's playing in your livingroom' quality that country music albums need in order to have veritas. When a song calls for a fiddle, he uses a fiddle, and when another song is better served in the same range by a steel guitar, he uses a steel guitar.
The songs are catchy. On my walk to work it was all I could do not to do some form of two-step, side shuffle or a little toe-heel action when listening to "Any Man of Mine" (regrettably, I resisted). Today while driving around doing some chores, my wife and I both spontaneously sang along to "If You're Not In It For Love" (her in tune).
I don't like everything on this record, and found a few of the tracks obvious and formulaic. There are places where I hear the sound that would later wreck Nashville country radio and get frustrated. (Fortunately country music survives through the efforts of Outlaw Country artists). For all its virtues, it is also decidedly and almost painfully mainstream.
Overall, though, this is a good record, and I'm not going to pander to music snobs and pretend it isn't. It isn't Leonard Cohen or Bob Dylan or Steve Earle, but it doesn't pretend to be. Nothing else Shania Twain has done remotely interests me, but the "Woman In Me" works and works well.
Now if I can only work up the nerve to buy some Martina McBride. Maybe if I wore a disguise...
Best tracks: Any Man of Mine, Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under, If You're Not In It For Love I'm Outta Here, No One Needs to Know, God Bless the Child
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