Medusa

by

Annie Lennox

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I originally bought this album in 1995. After enjoying her previous solo album "Diva", I decided this could be a winner as well. It's actually more than a winner, a masterpiece is what this album is. A voice like Annie's is hard to beat, and this album features re-workings of classics such as 'Don't let it bring you down' (Neil Young) and Paul Simon's 'Something so Right'. Guess what? They are actually better than the originals which is a personal opinion but I am sure many would agree. Look out also for a brilliant cover of 'A Thin Line Between Love and Hate", and 'Take Me to the River'. Back in 1995 when it was released, it didn't do very well on the charts and that surprised me - it richly deserved a number one album placement. The song 'Don't let it bring you down' is featured in the 'American Beauty' film and hopefully it will lead more people to discover this masterpiece album. I only gave it 4 stars rather than 5 due to 2 tracks which seem out of place. I'll leave it up to you to work them out.

Although it reached number one in the UK and eleven in the USA, Annie Lennox's MEDUSA took a beating from critics and fans who hoped the CD would equal the previous DIVA and such late-era Eurythmics releases as SAVAGE. The simple truth is that while MEDUSA is well crafted, and flawlessly sung by Lennox, but it simply isn't memorable.

The recording consists of covers of songs previously written and released by men--which may be a rationale for the title; the word "medusa" has developed a feminist connotation. The opening cut is easily the best: "No More I Love Yous," a fairly obscure piece originally recorded by The Lover Speaks, a band associated with Eurythmics in the 1980s. In Lennox's hands, it develops a delicate musical irony beautifully played out. But the remaining cuts aren't equal to it. Al Green's "Take Me To The River" is awash in excessive synth and drum machines, and Procol Harum's signature "A White Shade of Pale" remains too much associated with that band for Lennox to wrest it from them.

Lennox's version of Neil Young's "Don't Let It Bring You Down" is extremely good, indeed almost equal to "No More I Love Yous," but thereafter everything returns to the commonplace: The Clash's "Train In Vain" is merely okay, The Temptations' "I Can't Get Next To You" is truly dire, and everything else is ho-hum. Lennox's voice is, as always, astonishing, but MEDUSA is truly a minor effort. No one turns to stone on this one.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer