REVIEW: Alannah Myles, Arival (Ark21)
- Jon Steltenpohl
It's tough being a one hit wonder. Alannah Myles rocketed straight to number one with her bluesy song "Black Velvet", sold 7 million albums, and then plunged straight into the footnotes of pop music history. Now, on her 4th album, she's on Miles Copeland's Ark 21 label, and she's free to do her own thing.
As it happens, her own thing sounds very much like "Black Velvet", but without as much pop polish. This is straight forward rock music with a strong classic rock and blues influence. There's a homage to Led Zeppelin called "Everything Missing", and some early Rolling Stones tunes are hiding behind a few tracks. Myles' love of Janis Joplin goes a little too far into the shredded vocal chord realm at times, but, as producer, she thankfully avoids looping her voice to hide the flaws. Warts and all, Arival is an album with integrity.
Myles is a true musician with a stable touring band backing her. She shares songwriting credits with 11 different cowriters including Eric Bazilian and Desmond Child. Her collaboration with those two, "Bad for You", is a cliche with chords. Fortunately, she sings it with just a hint of tongue in her cheek, and it works. "What Am I Gonna Do With You?" doesn't fare so well. It starts out with a beautiful vocal and piano melody, and then, with an awkward key change, trots out a line of pure cheese -- "You struck me like a match / and I had to burn," recalls Myles. As the song goes on, the simple melody gets forced louder, and Myles' voice gets scratchier and more strained.
But more often than not, Arival is a decent album. Despite the years in her voice, she sings boldly and confidently in a style that fans of "Black Velvet" will relate to. At times, she is reminiscent of a cross between Pat Benatar and Melissa Etheridge (before she became a lesbian poster child). The lyrics are serious, but not too deep, and the melodies are catchy. "Kisses are Weapons" has a "Love is a Battlefield" feel to it and is punched up with a bluesy harmonica and sharp drum beat. Myles sings with force, but manages to avoid the vocal pitfalls of some other tracks.
Alannah Myles seems to have no problems living in the shadow of her past success. Arival is not a formula-driven stab at reclaiming ancient history. Instead, it's a loose, well-produced album of uncompromised blues rock. Myles vocals are an acquired taste, but if acquired, Arival reveals itself to be a decent release.
For more information and a muddy real audio version of "Bad for You", visit http://www.ark21.com
