Love's Labor Won

Brave and Crazy

By Melissa Etheridge

Island Records, 1989

Judging from her latest album Brave and Crazy, Melissa Etheridge has a love life you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy.

The ten songs on this album, the first since her 1988 debut, Melissa Etheridge. each tell a story of lost love, dying love or unrequited love. Thankfully, Etheridge's voice is very much up to the task of conveying her emotions through music.

Just as she did with her first LP. Etheridge has made a record of straight-ahead, stripped down rock and roll in which her throaty, deep. haunted voice (she may remind you of a more melodic. female version of Rod Stewart) overpowers the thin instrumentation of her band. You will only listen to her passionate voice, not the rather boring bass, drums and guitar behind it.

Etheridge, who opened for Little Feat's summer tour, rocked crowds into a frenzy (a nearly impossible task for an opening band) with the energy and emotion in songs from her first album like "Occasionally" and "Like the Way I Do." Brave and Crazy, while it treads most of the same musical ground as Melissa Etheridge, possesses the same vibrant vocals as the first album.

A problem listeners might find with Brave and Crazy is that many of the songs sound alike, and virtually all have similar lyrics. Typical is "No Souvenirs," the first cut of the album that allows Etheridge's voice to range from melodic ballad to a bluesy rap: like most of the rest of the album, however, it follows a standard pattern of alternating a slow, mournful verse with a fast, angry refrain.

The image of a strong woman involved in confused love dominates the album. Etheridge's lyrics, however, more or less succeed in skirting the rocks of love cliches, and she hits home with lines like "Am I the snake inside your garden, the sugar in your tea, the knock upon your backdoor, the twist that turns your key."

Other notable songs include "Brave and Crazy," which mixes a funky bass beat with rough, pleading vocals and "You Can Sleep While I Drive." a ballad not unlike Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car." In "Skin Deep." a savage song about superficial love. Etheridge proves that no one can sing "baby" quite like she can.

With the exception of the "Royal Station 4 16." all the songs have the same simple rock sound, with vocals not getting lost in the sound of the band. "Royal Station 4 16," which features U2 lead singer Bono playing harmonica. is a confusing jumble of mournful lyrics and excessive guitar and drums that does not succeed as well as Etheridge's simpler songs.

Brave and Crazy is not the kind of album you will listen to at high volume or play at dance parties. The instruments sound thin, and the songs only run the gamut of A to F. In spite of all that, Etheridge's voice and passion make this album worth a listen.