Just A Little Love - Reba McEntire

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Lacking inspiration
Lyrics	Standard
Quality and consistency of tracks	Mixed
How does it rate alongside the competition	Unmemorable
Value for Money	Good

Advantages:	One or two good tracks
Disadvantages:	Badly chosen songs

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

I wouldn't say I'm a Reba McEntire fan, but I do like most of the songs I've heard from her. I've listened to the odd song over the last few years, and found that I enjoy them because most have a very strong message or story to them. But I wouldn't say she 'touched' me. Then last weekend, I was bored and decided to type "most beautiful love songs" or something soppy like that into Google (I blame it on the hormones). I found somebody's 'top 20 love songs', which contained a song by another artist (it was 'Love, me' by Collin Raye, if you're interested). I'd never heard it so decided to see if I could have a listen on youtube. Then as you do, I clicked a few links to associated videos, and at some point came across Reba McEntire. Within a few minutes I was in tears watching the video of "You're Gonna Be", and was hooked for hours. At the end of the evening, I decided I absolutely HAD to buy a Reba McEntire CD, NOW! And so, after five minutes of searching, I decided to buy this one - mostly because it was the cheapest. This morning, a package dropped through my letterbox and that's how I ended up listening to this CD today.

The first thing to say about this album is that it's live. That's not a bad thing, but I don't tend to enjoy live albums so much. But that was my own fault as it's clear on the website that it's recorded live.

I didn't enjoy this album as much as I expected to. Almost every song I've heard her sing in the past has been very strong and beautiful, but I just don't feel that with the majority of songs on this album. Up Where We Belong and Islands In The Stream are well-known songs which just don't fit her style, and I'm sorry but I didn't like the male voice! These two plus most of the others feel like badly-chosen cover songs rather than Reba's usual strong, personal style. Even the songs I usually love (You're The First Time, Today All Over Again and Just A Little Love) seem weaker on this album. The album is very listenable and I'm sure it will come off the shelf now and again, but despite a few very nice tracks (I did enjoy There Ain't No Future In This and Red Roses), it's never going to make it onto the pile of CDs that never leaves my desk. I also want to just comment quickly on the CD cover - her albums usually have a lovely photo of her on the front, but this one is quite unflattering. The whole thing feels like an amateur job - no wonder it was the cheapest on Amazon.

If you're looking for a good introduction to Reba McEntire, buy a different album. This one just doesn't do her justice and I'd only recommend it to fans who want a complete collection.

You can get the full track listing on the main page for this CD, but just for completeness here it is:

1 I'm Not That Lonely Yet
2 I'm Getting Over You
3 You Lift Me Up To Heaven
4 Can't Even Get The Blues
5 Every Second Someone Breaks A Heart
6 You're The First Time 've Thought About Leavin'
7 Daddy
8 (Love Lifts Us) Up Where We Belong
9 There Ain't No Future In This
10 Open Road (Hot Rod Guitar)
11 Today All Over Again
12 What We Can't Have
13 Who Ever's Watchin'
14 Silver Eagle
15 He Broke Your Memory Last Night
16 Red Roses
17 Pins And Needles
18 Poison Sugar
19 Just A Little Love
20 Islands In The Stream

Tracks 7, 8 and 20 are sung with her brother and sister, Pake and Susie.