Martina McBride – Shine – CD Review

15 years ago Liv Carter Comments Off on Martina McBride – Shine – CD Review


Martina McBride – Shine (RCA, 2009)

I can’t seem to get away from Dann Huff these days. On ‘Shine’ Martina McBride co-produces with Huff for the first time and, while not a radical departure, the difference is noticeable.

Late in 2008, Martina came roaring into the charts with lead-off single ‘Ride’, a glorious ode to life reminding us to live it to the fullest. It has great rhythm, solid lyrics and most importantly for the first time in a long while Martina was really singing; this CD promised to be very good indeed.

Opener ‘Wrong Baby Wrong Baby Wrong’ seems to want to set the tone right from the start. With its powerful rhythm and message of a woman’s inner strength, this is vintage Martina McBride. But second track ‘I Just Call You Mine’ immediately goes in the opposite direction. It has the same old overused power ballad arrangement and the lyrics of ‘everyone calls you amazing/I just call you mine’ don’t seem to make a whole lot of sense. So, to her he’s not amazing, just hers? Leave a comment if you think I am just missing something in this track because I don’t get it. Along with this, ‘What Do I Have To Do’ has nothing really wrong with it but it’s just kind of forgettable as it sounds like a million other songs.

The cheerfulness returns on ‘Sunny Side Up’ which almost collapses under its own relentless optimism. But this is again countered by the warm ‘Walk Away’, a very mature break-up song.

The emotional performance of this CD is ‘I’m Trying’, a dialogue between a recovering alcoholic and his wife. McBride skilfully gives both characters a voice and interprets the rainbow of emotions in the lyrics beautifully.

‘Don’t Cost a Dime’ is a ‘the best things in life are free’-tune that delivers its message without too many cliches. On ‘You’re Not Leaving Me’, Martina throws a wonderful tantrum. With lyrics that only just fall short of arrogant, I don’t think any man would get away with this.

While ‘Wild Rebel Rose’ might start out like out typical song about an abused teen, it has a surprising twist at the end. This delicate song should have closed the album, a slot now given to ‘Lies’. Nevermind that it’s another list song, it is just not clear what it sets out to accomplish, and it is the only song where the vocals stray too close to oversinging.

The fresh take on the music Huff provided really has made a differenceand has lifted this record to be the best Martina McBride offering for the better part of a decade.

Several artists seem to have decided that optimism and fun are what need to be focused on in these hard times, and who can blame them. Where most have consequently delivered shallower material, McBride makes the same life-affirming point without surrendering emotional depth and maturity.
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Liv Carter

Liv Carter

Liv is a career coach for creatives, and the people who work with them.
She holds several certificates from Berklee College of Music, and a certificate in Positive Psychology from UC Berkeley.
Her main influences are coffee, cats, and Alexander Hamilton.
Liv Carter

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