Your Little Secret

by

Melissa Etheridge

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This album is wonderful in my opinion, it contains some of my favorite Melissa Etheridge songs. Its a very hard edged album, not to say there are not some nice "ballads", but its a really high energy album. My two favorite songs Your Little Secret and I Want To Come Over, both excellent rock songs. Nowhere To Go is a great song as well. There are some other great rock songs such as I Really Like You and An Unusual Kiss, I Could've Been You. There are also some beautiful songs such as All The Way To Heaven, Shriner's Park, Change and This War Is Over. Melissa is a very talented artist, this album being one of many reasons why. Give it a shot!

I'll lay my bias out right up front- Melissa Etheridge is the greatest singer/songwriter/performer of our generation. The passion, fire and vulnerability of her music is as real as it gets. That being said, this album is a disappointment for fans who have been with her from the beginning (and before, when she was playing in Long Beach clubs). While not a bad CD, the tracks all sound like songs that didn't quite make the cut for Yes I Am (itself merely an excellent remake of Brave & Crazy). The only truly standout track is "An Unusual Kiss," while the "hit" "I want to Come Over" is a rewrite of "Come to My Window" told from the opposite side of the relationship. "Shriner's Park" blantently lifts it's melody from "Place Your Hand" from the highly underappreciated Never Enough album to the point that it could be the same song with different lyrics. Along with the aforementioned "Kiss" the only other originl sounding track is "This War is Over" which became an incredible jam in concert. While several of the rockers (notably "I Could've Been You") show some of the previous exurberance, the overall feel of this record is one of coasting- for 4 records she had grown and changed, but this one broke no new ground. Despite that, I still like it, but it is the least played of her CDs in my CD player.