Customer Reviews

Fearless Love

5 star:		(54)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

While I was downloading this album from iTunes, I noticed a rating given to each song--and those ratings weren't all that great. "Fearless" was up there, as were the bonus tracks, but the others were in the 2-3 star category. I wondered what I had gotten myself into, until I started playing the album. This is Melissa at her best, as good as any CD of hers that I have, and better than some! Melissa is about my age, so the comment here about her sounding old is--of course (lol)--preposterous! If you love Melissa Etheridge's style, lyrics, power, and sound as much as I do, you will love this album.

I will make this short and sweet. I am not even a big Melissa Ethridge fan and even I have to admit that this is outstanding work. I know she has had a recent battle with cancer and I can only guess that going through that whole experience and coming out the other end ok has really rejuvenated her passion for not only life itself but also singing and songwriting as well. My wife is a big fan of hers so even tho I am not a big fan I am knowledgeable in regards to her work and this is easily her best work in a long long time. If you are an Etheridge fan then buying this album should be a no brainer and even if you aren't a big Etheridge fan you should definitely give it a listen. You just might wind up really enjoying it, I know I have.

5 Stars!

Absolutely amazing album. She is truely one of the best artist of our time. Highly underrated her lyrics stand with Springsteen and other artists. If you don't buy the album I'm thinking maybe you shouldn't review it but hey to each their own. This album has so much emotion behind it and so much power if you LIKE Melissa and you have BOUGHT her other albums you will def like this one

Truth in advertising: I have been an unabashed Melissa fan since day 1. I know all the lyrics and I have seen her live 8 times. She is easily my favorite artist of all time. However... her output since Yes I Am has been... inconsistant. Your Little Secret sounded like the batch of songs that were left off Yes I Am. After a break she roared back with the amazing Breakdown, the most mature album of her career. But that was followed by Skin, a record that, while emotionally pure (as nearly all her work is) was simply lacking in good melodies or riffs and ultimately was rather forgettable. Lucky was an attempt at another big fun rock record and while the riffs were there, this time it was the lack of strong lyrics that let her down. The Awakening was a very somber record, understandably so, but not what fans of "Bring Me Some Water" may be looking for. Her seasonal album A New Thought for Christmas had some moments of a return to form, but seems trapped in its own concept.

Which brings us to her new album Fearless Love. For the first time since Breakdown, I am truly excited about a new Melissa album. Her lyrical focus has expanded beyond her usual repertoire of love, longing & loss to encompass more political concerns and her sharp turns of phrase that seem to have abandon her on Lucky and Awakening have returned. Best of all, this album ROCKS. Fearless Love may not be the sing a long that Like the Way I Do or If I Wanted to are, but it still will stick in your head and have you bopping your head along and pounding your fists. Miss California is a great indictment of the Prop 8 fiasco in California and has the added bonus of being read as a slap at former Miss California/bigot Carrie Prejean.

The band she has assembled is tight and straightforward. The return of guitarist John Shanks is welcomed and he will hopefully stick around for some time. The rest of the band may not be as musically adroit as Kevin McCormick and Fritz were on those first few albums but that's ok. These songs sit well along side the likes of Ain't it Heavy and Angels Would Fall and I am certain they will go over quite well in concert.

Melissa is, by far, one of the most underrated stars of all time.

This woman can rock.
This woman can tell a story.
This woman pierces your soul like no other.

Passion + Rock n'Roll = Perfection

Buy it.
Sing loud.
Dance.

I have always appreciated Melissas journey. I remember being a young teenager and haphazardly finding "Yes I Am" on the floor at a friends house, popping it in and just being blown away by this voice, the music and most of all the heart put into it. I have been a fan since... and on this journey we have seen through a lot of pain, two divorces, 4 children, an Oscar, a book, countless touring hours, cancer, survival, fearlessness and finally an awakening to a more talented and amazing sense of awareness as an artist. Melissa doesnt sing about heartache anymore, she sings about life. She sings about triumph. I appreciate this. Truely one of my heroes.

This album is very driving and VERY much influenced by her own musical heros. I hear bits of John Lennon, Bob Segar and most definately U2. These three stand out most to me. Her writing is very much shot in the vein of Springsteen. Parts of this album are epic (see: "Indiana") and parts are reflective. For the very first time I have a sense of who Melissa is as a strong woman. Not who Melissa is, in love, in pain from love or in a reactive frame of mind (ie: "The Awakening"). She also incidentally is rocking out harder on this album than I have seen since "Your Little Secret" and "Yes I Am". The chord structures are the most complex I have ever seen her use. There was thought put into this record. For a while I thought we were going to have another "Breakdown" after her most recent divorce but this is not the case at all. What I got was a thoughtful record, full of melody, heart and THAT VOICE. That beautiful, powerful VOICE.

xoxo

Melissa has come back with a strong, confident and enjoyable album full of catchy rock songs that made her name. I love the album, I got it the day it came out and have not stopped playing it. The track Indianna has been on repeat for days, there is a slow burning build to this song as the story of the lyric unfolds, it is truly something to be heard. Melissa is in fine form, the guitar playing is brilliant. The lead single, probably the most radio friendly of the tracks on here is a killer and not too bad to run along the beach too as well. The closing Gently We Row is almost like a lullabye, very touching nice work. I hope this album does well in Australia, I would LOVE for her to tour here...but I did recently jump on a plane and head to Vegas to see her last show a The Palms, it was brilliant, life changing, completely moving. We didn't secure tickets to the show until three days before, and we went thinking that they wouldn't be the best seats in the house....no, they were better. I was asked to go up to the front of the stage with some ladies that befriended me in the audience (thanks girls) and it was amazing. Melissa sang a solid 2.5 hours, covering many hits and the amazing 'An Unexpected Rain' she just blew me away. Just when I thought the night couldn't have been better Melissa came over and grabbed my hand...and yes I'm proud to say I cried.

this album is one of her best in my opinion . A return to the rock she has mastered to an art form.

The best album since "Yes I Am", the old Rockin' style is back! Not only that, but the emotion in this album will grip your heart and not let go. Even those 'first timer' Melissa fans will be astounded by the compilation of rock and roll and heart-rending ballads, that are sure to make "Fearless Love" the top of anyone's list.

Over the years, Melissa Etheridge has developed herself a tried and true musical vocabulary. It's all great, but after years of repetition it becomes a bit predictable. What a surprise and delight it was to hear the title track of this album thundering across my speakers like Melissa had just become the new lead singer of U2. HUGE drums, ringing guitars, and crashing piano chords for good measure escalate to breathtaking emotional peaks. She does some of her most committed singing ever, and given that we're talking about Melissa Etheridge here, that's really saying something. It's a wonderful, electrifying track, certainly Melissa's best song in at least a decade.

This sound continues into "The Wanting Of You," a tale of aching temptation that Etheridge imbues with an epic sweep. The rest of the album sticks closer to her signature sound, albeit with some more-explicit-than-usual nods to classic rock heritage. The clearest of these is in "Company," which borrows The Who's famous "Baba O'Riley" chord progression for its foundation. There are plenty of others, though: the Zeppelin-esque strumming behind "Only Love," the Joan Jett yelp that leads off "Miss California," John Shanks trying his best to channel David Gilmour in the solos for "To Be Loved."

Lyrically, it's a typically solid Etheridge offering, with flashes of stone brilliance. The standout here is "Miss California," which starts out sounding like your basic lover-in-distress Melissa Etheridge song, then slyly reveals itself to be a political statement. ("Your propositions make me feel so cold," indeed! What a great line.) "Fearless Love" also features some excellent lyrics, in particular "I am what I am / And I am what I am afraid of." Other songs lean more heavily on boilerplate Etheridge-ese, replete with references to angels, sleeping, skin, dancing, and so forth. These make up a large chunk of the album's middle, but its final song, "Gently We Row," raises the quotient. It's an uplifting, maternal song, in the mold of "Truth Of The Heart," but uses an imaginative visual conceit ("She drew me a room with a light / And said just turn it off when you leave") to lend power to its point.

According to me, average Melissa Etherige music tends to be more enjoyable than the greatest hits of many other artists, but on an album with such tremendously strong parts, it's hard not to feel disappointed that most of the rest is pretty much average Etheridge. There are the usual tales of lust, fierce commitment, and new-agey, therapy-infused healing. There's also a real clunker, "We Are The Ones," which seems to want to be an anthemic rallying cry to be played at Democratic conventions, along the lines of "I Need To Wake Up," but overreaches, trying to jam too many words into its chorus and too much generic head-patting ("So I agree to let you be / Anyone you want to be") into its verses.

Overall, Fearless Love doesn't quite reach the heights of Breakdown or Brave & Crazy, but it's a strong piece of work, with some songs that rank among her best ever.