Breakdown - Melissa Etheridge

...

Then Breakdown comes along in 2000 and ruins everybody's fun. Melissa
Etheridge recorded two different versions: Her regular album and a Limited
Edition, featuring extended liner notes and photos as well as three bonus
tracks. Even with the extra goodies, it is still, and will always be, a
piece of crap in my book.

*WHY THIS RECORD SUCKS*

Melissa dives into homosexual politics ...
...a way of getting attention. She composed and recorded "Scarecrow" a very candid look at the murder of homosexual man Matthew Shepherd. This was supposedly a tribute to him as well as to the family that he left behind when he was brutally beaten and left to die in a field, but it turns out to be mediocre politics versus heartfelt sentiments. The dark, sinister guitar work paints an accurate picture of the horror that everyone in America ... more

If I could summarize Melissa Etheridge's "Breakdown" in just one sentence, it would
be the following:

"This record flipping SUCKS!"

Oh wow. First I sing the praises of Melissa Etheridge, then I say that one
of her most recent recordings just plain stinks? Am I on drugs? Nope!
"Breakdown" is as rotten as three-week-old tomatoes, ladies and gentlemen!

Melissa Etheridge had a great start. Her debut, and the two albums that
followed it, were nothing short of outstanding. Brilliant and original, she ensured that her raw emotions and truthful messages were captured to the fullest extent possible. She could play guitar like no other, with her very own blend of acoustic and electric styles that made for formidable and slightly-challenging entertainment for the listener. Her music was worth buying, and listening to several times a week if not more often. She focused on the things that mattered to her personally: The hurt, pain, and sorrow that she felt, mostly, but she also delved into other topics. She
also sang about love, the coming millennium, and technology's impending
threat to the way of life back in that time. All in all, she was an
enjoyable recording artist, and lsitening to her music made me a very happy
little girl. It was cool, darnit!

Then Breakdown comes along in 2000 and ruins everybody's fun. Melissa
Etheridge recorded two different versions: Her regular album and a Limited
Edition, featuring extended liner notes and photos as well as three bonus
tracks. Even with the extra goodies, it is still, and will always be, a
piece of crap in my book.

*WHY THIS RECORD SUCKS*

Melissa dives into homosexual politics not as a means of expressing herself, but rather as a way of getting attention. She composed and recorded "Scarecrow" a very candid look at the murder of homosexual man Matthew Shepherd. This was supposedly a tribute to him as well as to the family that he left behind when he was brutally beaten and left to die in a field, but it turns out to be mediocre politics versus heartfelt sentiments. The dark, sinister guitar work paints an accurate picture of the horror that everyone in America who is worth anything felt when Matthew was murdered, but the lyrics are nothing short of a sideshow circus - a weak attempt to promote herself that was thinly guised as being in memory of the late Shepherd:
"I search my soul
My heart and in my mind
To try and find forgiveness
This is someone child
With pain unreconciled
Filled up with father's hate
Mother's neglect
I can forgive But I will not forget"

Wah, wah, wah. Etheridge didn't have JACK to do with Matthew Shepherd, so
who the hell does she think she is to talk about forgiveness and such? And
how would she know anything about his family life? What does she think she's doing, talking about "father's hate," blah blah etcetera? Okay. This song just annoyed the hell out of me from the second I first heard it, and my reaction is no better even today, over a year later. If it had anything to do with her emotions, it would be one thing. However, it's clear to at least this ONE listener that it was a weak extension of the media circus that flocked around the poor boy and his family afterward. (Note: Rest in peace, Matthew Shepherd.)

With that horrid atrocity out of the way, let's discuss Etheridge's other
shortcomings - which are numerous, of course.

"Cherry Avenue" featured on the Limited Edition version, is just a plain
mess. It sounds as if she's attempting to mix a bit of disco and funk with a lot of electric guitar and a light mixture of drumming in the background. It just doesn't work well, considering that it sounds as if she's having a hard time remembering her guitar part whilst recording. Then there are the
lyrics: It's all about the Que Sera Sera, a gay bar back in California. It's a big, black and pink building filled with musicians and other people that Melissa used to hang out with. That's nice, but it's hardly worth writing a song about in my opinion. Especially when the beat of the song is slightly off - not on purpose, but because Etheridge seems to be slightly distracted throughout the recording. Perhaps this is because, not long after the release of Breakdown, Melissa and long-term girlfriend Julie Cypher break up - whatever the case, I generally like Melissa's music, but this song in particular fell very short of the mark in my book.

Then there's the first single, "Angels Would Fall." It is hardly a heartfelt sentiment: Rather, it sound as if Etheridge is using some kind of software via her computer that generates random lyrics to fit into the pattern of a musical piece she has written. This is not amusing, nor is it entertaining. Rather, it bothers me on a deeper level, and I find it mildly disturbing because this is NOT the quality of music that Melissa Etheridge has released in the past:
"So I'll come by and see you again
I'll be such a very good friend
Have mercy on my soul
I will never let you know
Where my mind has been"

Okay. Granted, it all fits together in the big picture, but it still doesn't sound like something Melissa would write of her own free will. Then again, what the hell do *I* know?

Overall, this record sucks because it sounds like it was thrown together at
random without much thought. This is probably because Etheridge had not
recorded anything for her fans in over four years, as she was supposed to
play Janis Joplin in a movie about the late rock star's life. Well, when
that fell through, Melissa's fans were all in a twitch because they STILL
wanted new music to listen to. I suppose she complied - but only on a shallow level.

"Breakdown" in either limited edition or "regular" form is a huge
disappointment. You will see very few traces of the sentiment and emotion
that this singer/songwriter/guitarist puts into her older work. I was
expecting a powerful tribute to the heart and soul that inspire all of her
previous recordings, but I was sorely disappointed. So, I suppose you should pick it up if you're dying to know what all has changed with the musician. But, if you're hoping that it will be even half as great as her eighties and nineties albums, you're in for a letdown.

One nice thing about this record, though, is the fact that I didn't have to
pay for it myself: A friend bought it for my birthday as she thought I would enjoy it. Well, it's the thought that counts, isn't it?

Seriously though, the limited edition version's liner notes and photo inserts are worth looking at. It is one big fold-out sheet tucked inside of a cardboard case (versus the standard jewel case). It is filled with pictures of Melissa Etheridge in a serape, posing in the middle of an empty field. It's interesting...sort of.

 

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