Search - Rita Coolidge :: Thinkin About You

Better Then Most.

Harold J. Gaugler | Philadelphia, PA USA | 06/25/1999

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The latest from Rita Coolidge finds her still stuck a little too firmly in a middle of the road, adult contemporary formula. The song titles pretty much tell it all, with 6 out of 11 tracks having some variation of the word "love" in their title. Is love all there is to sing about? With the exception of "Love Without Mercy", written by Mike Reid, writer of Bonnie Raitt's hit "I Can't Make You Love Me", and "What's It Gonna Be", written by little known but highly acclaimed singer / songwriter Essra Mohawk, there are no noteworthy songwriters contributing material here. Rita should follow the example of Joan Baez, whose latest cd is all material written by some the best young songwriters in contemporary Americana music. With all that said, THINKIN' ABOUT YOU is still Rita's best effort in years. The musicianship is excellent, and Rita is in fine voice, delivering some strong vocal performances. The first half of the cd is better then the second, the two standout tracks being "Love Without Mercy", the torchy Raitt-like ballad, and "Without Love", a gospel flavored rocker with Rita returning to her baptist church roots. The title track is a real loser, but the cd closes on a high note, with the beautiful, piano-driven ballad "I'll Remember You." This is the closest Rita has come in a long while to recording the kind of songs she did on her first few albums, when she covered Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Leonard Cohen, Graham Nash, Kris Kristofferson and some really fine songwriters. Recommended."