Bare - Lennox, Annie (CD 2003)

This Is Mine To Remember

Every Day I Write A List
Of Reasons Why I Still Believe They Do Exist
(A Thousand Beautiful Things)
And Even Though It s Hard To See
The Glass Is Full And Not Half Empty
(A Thousand Beautiful Things)
Annie Lennox A Thousand Beautiful Things

01. A Thousand Beautiful Things
02. Pavement Cracks
03. The Hurting Time
04. Honestly
05. Wonderful
06. Bitter Pill
07. Loneliness
08. The Saddest Song I've Got
09. Erased
10. Twisted
11. Oh God (Prayer)
*Bold signifies every song worth listening to.

I am not a young artist in their early twenties. I am a mature woman facing up to the failed expectations of life and facing up to core issues. I don t want to represent myself visually in some kind of clich d, airbrushed, saccharine kind of way.
Annie Lennox (quoted from the back of the album)

It is hard for me to imagine Annie Lennox the wonderful and vocally gifted Scottish Diva ever failing at anything in her career. Much less that she would have any regrets for any of the beautiful vocals she has graced us with.
Here she is in one of her most emotionally intense and musically lush albums in almost eight years and she's passionately ripping away any type of surface fa ade to employ her dazzling voice in this collection of honest and starkly introspective depressing tunes.
Probably in some disgusted reaction, at least in my twisted overly stimulated mind, to the last Madonna album.

Time And Space Will Pass Us By And By
When We Don t See Eye To Eye
I Would Have Done Anything
For Happiness To Bring
But It Don t Show Up In The Pavement Cracks
I Can t Even Cover Up My Tracks
I m Goin Nowhere And I m Light Years Back
Ooh I Wish You Well
Annie Lennox - Pavement Cracks

But let s face some facts about my personal bias here.
Annie Lennox could sing the greatest television commercial ditties of all time and I would sit here amazed and entranced by her voice.
This album does represent a small departure for Annie in that it does not rely on a steady barrage of pop hooks and electronic dancing digits to put across something more closely resembling an album that might be done by someone like Carly Simon.

The term easy listening or adult does come to mind quite frequently while making your way through the album, that's my admission to the fact a few songs on here are laborious, it most definitely could have used less of those over used Stevie Wonder-esque toodlings.
Bare unfortunately does draw from some of the same imperfections we saw on Medusa and Diva.
She needs to find some better musicians to back her in these forays.
It s fine to slow things down and to use more acoustic sounds but you can t simply depend only on the vocals to get you through the song every dang time.
Dave Stewart did not help her learn that of course with his horrible casio inspired peckings during the Eurythmics years.
One can only take comfort in knowing time has proved he's the has-been and Annie Lennox is the legend.

Laid Myself Upon You
Underneath Your Feet
Laid Myself Upon You
Didn t That Look Sweet?
Finally The Truth Has Come
Guess I Knowed It All Along
Nothin Else I Could Have Done
Yea
Bitter
Bitter
I m Bitter
So Bitter
Annie Lennox - Bitter Pill

Despite these imperfections all it takes is to hear Annie singing songs close to acapella like The Saddest Song I ve Got and all is forgiven.
Don t get me wrong there are bit s and pieces of energy running through this album in songs like Erased and Bitter Pill which go a long way to saving this album from the lethargy and emotional angst that could have overwhelmed listeners.
Pavement Cracks will have you clapping your hands and singing along as her water colors fade to black.
Annie Lennox has always been about the song, the vocal interpretation, the mood, and here on Bare she maintains and rules with all the sophisticated majesty she has long fought for.
So be prepared to take a journey to the dark side of Annie Lennox s soul with this one but in the end spending the time taking this voyage with THAT VOICE is worth every marvelous moment.

PS...To those who did not get my reference above...
One of the lyrics of this album spoke way, way, too much to me "This Is Mine To Remember".
That coupled with the write up Annie Lennox put on the back of her album signals to me she is not trying to polish her image or right any wrongs or explore new ground but simply to present the here and now.
I got it immediately; say what you want this is her album.
Sung precisely in the way she wanted and with all the feeling she has to give it.
I will tread lightly on this ground.

Now You re No Longer Talking
And I m No Longer Hearing
There s Nothing Left To Say
Said It Anyway
Said It Anyway
And I Want You Not
And I Need You Not
I m Dyin
Cause This Is The Saddest Song I ve Got
The Saddest Song I ve Got
Annie Lennox - The Saddest Song I ve Got