Faith
Faith Hill
Warner Brothers Records, 1998
REVIEW BY: Alfredo Narvaez
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 01/16/2000
Last century, I reviewed Faith Hill's new album Breathe. I found it to be a well-done album, mixing elementsof both traditional country and 90s pop in perfect fashion. Thatalso raised my expectations for this album, the previous onereleased and the one that took Hill to country superstardom.Unfortunately, for some reason, I did not find it to be as engagingor as original. Shocked? So was I. In any way, let's discuss thealbum a bit further.
The opening track - and the single that is easiest to recognize- is "This Kiss." This song became a monster hit for Faith and forced non-country fans to take notice of theup-and-coming diva. Still, I find it to be not as inspired as someof the tracks on Breathe. In fact, that becomes the biggest drag on thisalbum. The majority of the songs are all right and decent enough.However, none of them truly jump out to grab you like the bettertracks on the follow-up album did. The majority of songs, like"Love Ain't Like That," "Better Days" or "You Give Me Love" areonly somewhat good. They, for the most part, just sit there and donothing.
However, as I listened to this album, a darker thought hit me.Were the producers, or the writers or the managers trying to turn Faith into a country-version of Celine Dion? Material like"Let Me Let Go" and "The Secret Of Life" sound like something outof Dion's repertoire. This dark feeling reached its peak when Iheard Hill's version of "I Love You" which, if you remember, wasdone in Dion's monster Falling Into You.
Then you read that her duet with hubby Tim McGraw, "Just To HearYou Say You Love Me," was penned by Dion's favorite writer, DianeWarren. This is just too much coincidence. Luckily, Breathe does feature stronger writing and sound. I wouldhave hated if whoever's idea had succeeded, but, as it is, Breathe does restore my faith in this country diva.
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