A mixed bag for Ashton's return
Posted March 14, 2013
By TrentJerome,
First thing: Susan Ashton retains her stunning voice! Now that's out of the way.....
This EP is unfortunately a mixed bag. I was expecting better. Susan is an incredible singer and interpreter of songs, with a stunning recording history in the 90's, even though it was capped off with the mostly poor-quality album Closer.
One big problem I think is that it is overproduced: Susan thrives with less production.
The stunning title track is the best track on the album. It is very slightly overproduced, with a few "echo's" of her voice. Other than that, it is stunning.
The first track, Moonshine, is dispensable. Nothing special about it. It's boring, and lyrically devoid of anything special. You feel no emotion from it.
Love is Alive showcases Susan's fantastic voice. But the instrumentation and performance just isn't "convincing". This seems like a cover of Joan Osborne's cover--and Osborne takes the cake, no question. And Ashton is once again overproduced with vocal "effects" that are annoying and distracting.
Become Myself seems like an attempt at a radio single--like it's trying to be catchy, but it isn't. Similiar to how Closer seemed like she was trying too hard to be popular. It didn't work on most of the tracks.
The Wrong Well returns to quality material, thankfully. Susan does best on the "sadder" songs. Probably the 2nd best song. This could be a radio single, in the same vein as Carrie Underwood. Sounds like Carrie's kind of song.
The same can be said for the final track, Not Small--It sounds like a Carrie Underwood-type track. This is not a criticism. Not Small is also a very good song, not overproduced.
So this is a mixed bag. Half good, half not so much. Disappointing that given the span between Closer and Thief, there is only this EP to show for it (if you don't count Ashton/Dente/Thumes & the track What Joy). Ashton had released some demos on Myspace some years back--those are not represented here. Although I understand that she did take quite a few years off, for personal reasons, I do feel this could have been better. She could have worked with other artists, such as Mindy Smith (with whom she did colaborate a few years ago). She could have included some stunning covers of lesser known tracks. This just wasn't the way to return after her absence. View All Music And Book Reviews By TrentJerome | View TrentJerome's Profile
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