Yes I Am - Melissa Etheridge

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In my opinion, yes and no. Yes if you can find it on sale or pirate it from the Internet. No if you think it's good enough to pay full retail price for. I didn't pay full price, of course, being the cheap miser that I am. (Note: For great used albums that are guaranteed not to be abused, scratched, or otherwise painfully mistreated, visit SecondSpin.com - they also have DVD movies and video cassettes up for grabs at very reasonable prices).
...like Etheridge-s music for the great guitar playing and backup musicians that find their way onto her records. Some will say they enjoy the same tired-ass "Love is great," "Love sucks," "My heart is broken," "I love love" type of messages that Etheridge is forever putting onto CD and unleashing on us. Others will say that she's one of the greatest musicians in the world today, and that she ought to be in the ... more

For anyone who wasn't painfully aware of it, Melissa Etheridge doubled up her coming-out with the release of 1993's "Yes I Am" - a 10-track studio recording that netted her a Grammy award, not to mention a LOT of media attention and plenty of playlist rotation in the early nineties.

So, Melissa Etheridge is officially a lesbian now, and she's got a so-so album on the shelves as an affirmation of it. The burning question is not "Who cares?" but rather, "Is the album even worth buying?"

In my opinion, yes and no. Yes if you can find it on sale or pirate it from the Internet. No if you think it's good enough to pay full retail price for. I didn't pay full price, of course, being the cheap miser that I am. (Note: For great used albums that are guaranteed not to be abused, scratched, or otherwise painfully mistreated, visit SecondSpin.com - they also have DVD movies and video cassettes up for grabs at very reasonable prices).

Many will claim that they like Etheridge-s music for the great guitar playing and backup musicians that find their way onto her records. Some will say they enjoy the same tired-ass "Love is great," "Love sucks," "My heart is broken," "I love love" type of messages that Etheridge is forever putting onto CD and unleashing on us. Others will say that she's one of the greatest musicians in the world today, and that she ought to be in the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame the moment she is eligible for that honor.

To all of that I say, "Bah, humbug!" In the context of "Yes I Am," anyway. I still believe Melissa's earlier work was great and more than deserving of any credit or honor she could have earned for it.

This is the disc with the half-image of Melissa Etheridge on the front, part of her name wrapping around the cover, and a dark brown background that sort of resembles marble or something. The liner notes include full lyrics as always, and credits for the various musicians and other contributors.

Of all the ten tracks on this CD, there are but five or six that are even worth listening to. You will find that the first half of the disc is great entertainment, with widely varied musical themes and a bit of experimentation with the guitar. And, of course, the songs are just plain cool.
Once you venture into the world of the second half of this disc, you will fall asleep from the boredom. The songs are slow as molasses at Christmastime, they have the same crap messages that Melissa has always sung about, and they are - frankly - in dire need of scrapping. Unfortunately, it-s too late for that last bit, as 1) She has already released the album and 2) I have already bought it. Oh, well.

Songs That Make This CD Worth Bargain Bin Price:

*I'm The Only One. The scratch guitar technique is used by a lot of artists. Etheridge, apparently, is no exception. The picked/strummed/muted playing in the intro and verses of this song definitely catch the listener's ear ' and the lyrics aren't half bad either:

I'm the only one who'll walk across the fire for you
And I'm the only one who'll drown in my desire for you
It's only fear that makes you run, the demons that you're hiding from
When all your promises are gone, I'm the only one.

Don't bother checking out the video, though: It's a boring black and white sequence featuring Melissa playing and singing on stage at a lesbian bar, complete with lots of lesbian dancers. If they were naked lesbians, or "intimate" lesbians it would be okay, but they're not. How...disappointing.

*If I Wanted To. Another medium-paced song, but this time it's a bit more chaotic, mournful, and depressing.

"I wouldn't have to be in love with you / If I only wanted to..."

Yeah. It's "good" most of the time, but "very good" right after Mister or Missus Jerk-of-all-ages has pulled a nasty on you.

*Come To My Window. Oh, come now - if you haven-t heard this song, you must have spent most of 1994/95 in a cave with your fingers in your ears.

"Come to my window / Crawl inside, wait by the light of the moon / Come to my window, I'll be home soon." Yes, THAT song - with the crappy black and white video featuring a scared-looking chick in the backseat of a car. Whoopie, I fell asleep halfway through it even though I had just consumed twenty-four ounces of Mountain Dew and washed down several caffeine pills with it.

*Silent Legacy. Etheridge says she wrote this one after hearing a story about a young girl whose father kicked her out of the house because she was dating a black man - or something like it. Somehow, as with 98 percent of Etheridge's other songs, this comes back to love in some form or another. Don?t act so shocked.

*I Will Never Be The Same. A painfully slow (but still decent) track that focuses on the "life after love" theme. Nice. I usually fast-forward through this to get to the next track, which is:

*All-American Girl. Fast-paced rock and roll like it was meant to be - sort of. Etheridge comes up a chick to sing about - a chick that, is, as the song says, an all-American girl, Marlboro Red cigarettes, crappy job and all. The tempo, beat, music, et cetera are pretty good on this track. The lyrics are a bit weak, but what do you expect? I am firmly convinced that Melissa Etheridge uses those damned Poetry Magnet toys to create the majority of her songs. (Please, if you ever meet her, DO tell her I said that - and ask her why in the hell she thinks she's Janis Joplin's poltergeist.)

The rest of the CD is just plain crap, trust me. "Yes I Am" is boring and uninspired. "Resist" has a nice guitar rhythm, but it falls short. "Ruins" is yet another crappy song about exploring love - are we tired of this theme yet, and when can I listen to Marilyn Manson or an old Eagles CD? "Talking To My Angel" is pure crap, plain and simple, and I don't think I should say anymore about it.

All in all, this is fine if you're willing to pay no more than five bucks for it. Currently used copies are available at amazon.com for as little as two dollars, so look into it if you're still interested.

Also, check out melissaetheridge.com for more of her self-aggrandizing drivel. You'll enjoy it even though it slows down your computer and makes you want to hurl for the bad color schemes. Be sure to read the chat logs from the rare times that Melissa feels like interacting with her numerous fans via the Internet. While you are reading all these wonderfully non-intelligent, conforming people worshiping the ground Etheridge walks on, you'll feel oh so much better about yourself - but I strongly suggest you not be wearing shoes at the time, as you'll probably vomit from all the hero-worship and ass-kissing many of her "paying fans" (you have to pay a pretty hefty fee to chat with the rock goddess, apparently) participate in.

The sad thing is, before the release of this particular CD I thought Melissa Etheridge was pretty darned cool. Since this is THE record that marked the start of her "popular musical goddess" status, I can't help but feel it is more of a carbon-copied pile of rubbish than anything else. She set out to become famous for her music, and left the passionate and interesting songs behind in order to do so. She did, however, get a Grammy for this album, so I guess it was worth it to her in the end.

Better albums would have to be: Melissa Etheridge; Never Enough; Brave And Crazy; Unplugged + More (an illegal bootleg that's easy to find on the Internet).

Note: I didn't recommend this to potential buyers because that rating is based on regular retail price - which I would definitely not recommend. 

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