Women of Country - The Internet's #1 Guide to Female Country Music

Album Review

Shania Twain
Up!
Mercury Records

5 years worth of waiting has finally come to an end and Shania Twain has released her follow-up to the unbelievably successful Come On Over album. The concept is unique; take one batch of 19 songs and remix it as both a country version and a pop version and then sell them both for the price of one record. The problem is the songs on this album aren’t worth listening to the first time, much less a second time through with a different mix.

“I’m Gonna Get You Good!”, the debut single off Up!, held promise for the rest of the album. It’s catchy sing-a-long music and that’s really what Shania Twain does best. She’s got an ear for melody and can write songs that get stuck in your head so bad you’re singing them hours after you last heard the track. Had the album contained 19 songs like “I’m Gonna Get You Good!” the results would have been much, much better.

Instead we’re treated to some of the most painfully bad songwriting I’ve seen in years. Shania and her husband write like a rhyming dictionary. They take the easiest rhyme they can find and force the song to fit around it, even if it makes no sense. The album opens with “Up!” where Shania sings, “Even my skin is acting weird/I wish that I could grow a beard/Then I could cover up my spots/Not play connect the dots”. Then you have completely ridiculous songs like “C’est La Vie”, “Ka-Ching”, “What A Way To Wanna Be!” and “In My Car (I’ll Be The Driver)” where you almost find yourself laughing at what you’re hearing (in fact one or two bursts of laugher have been heard by people around the area while this disc was being played, so I'm not really making that up). On some of these songs Shania attempts to protest wrongs in the way we all live our lives, spending too much money or women who feel they need to spend all their time striving to achieve an certain look, but in the end the way she writes them makes you roll your eyes and quickly switch tracks. You also get the pleasure of Shania wailing away on some sub par ballads like “Forever And For Always”.

Then you have the slap in the face that is the country and pop versions of this album. I tried listening to the pop album first and then switching back to the country version of the same song. Here’s a newsflash, none of this record is even remotely country. The country mix is nothing but the pop version with some fiddles or steel guitar tracks mixed in there where additional electric guitars and studio glitz would have been. I hate to break it to you, that doesn’t make a record country. That alone isn’t a problem; there is nothing wrong with pop music if it’s good. This isn’t. These albums should have been called “The Pop Album” and “The 80’s Pop Album.”

By the time I got done subjecting myself to this record I almost couldn’t believe it. I also couldn’t believe I was ready to give my first one star rating in over 5 years without even a hesitation. I had to go share the album and see the response I got, maybe I was just missing something. I gathered a group of friends with wide musical tastes (everything from rap to rock to country to pop) into the room and we played through the album. It got laugher, a lot of strange looks, and a number of skipped tracks. In the end of this little experiment they had skipped 18 of the 19 tracks before the song had made it to completion.

I even listened to the album a couple more times hoping that it would suddenly click and all make sense. It never happened. Songs like “Nah!” seem to ramble on and on. I have no idea what the hell they were trying to do with “Waiter! Bring Me Some Water!” but whatever it was an attempt at, it doesn’t work either.

This is a sad day in music (not just country music). Shania Twain has the talent to write and perform some really catchy songs. Her music is always kind of a guilty pleasure. However, Up! just leaves you completely stunned. It’s hard to comprehend that an artist of Shania’s caliber and talent could release something this weak. The songs are very poorly written, the production makes you feel that you’re back in the worst of 80’s pop music, and nothing really holds your interest. Sure there are 38 total songs on this record but when you only want to listen to the two mixes of one song the artist has completely missed their mark. Up! will sell millions of copies off of Shania’s star power. The real test will be if people fall for this again next time around. Up! has got to the be the worst album I’ve heard in a long, long time and is easily the biggest disappointment of the year (yes Faith fans, this album redeems Cry just a little bit).

Album Review by Jeff Krasky

The WOC Rating Scale

The album stands above the rest. This is a record that every country music fan needs to have in their collection.

This album is better than the average release. A strong record with some flaws that keep it from reaching that 5 star level.

This album is an average country release. Doesn't posses qualities that make it stand out among all the other albums out there.

A weak record that lacks solid songs or good vocal performances. Sample before you buy.

This record is a bargin-bin reject that just isn't worth the time or the money. Completely misses the mark.