Trisha Yearwood - Heaven Heartache and the Power of Love (13 tracks) +Album Reviews

The Power of Her Voice is Sublime

Judith Agee | SmallTown, Indiana USA | 11/13/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This CD bodes very well for Trisha's continuing collaboration with Big Machine Records. I don't know how it will do commercially, what with the vagaries of country radio,but, artistically it is, for this listener, an unqualified success.

The CD starts out with the powerhouse vocal performance of the title track.

Trisha lets it rip. Big sound, bold emotion and the power of her voice.

Next she tones it down for a beautiful gentle ballad, "This is me you're talking to".

Just Trisha, not even any harmony vocals and a gentle arrangement of strings and piano to accompany her. BEEYOUTEEFUL.

Another up-tempo tune follows. "They Call It Falling For A Reason". Written by one of Trisha's favorite tunesmiths, the ultra-talented and prolific Matraca Berg. All about falling in love. (Its a tumbling rush, its a helpless kind of feeling). It is a great song!

"Nothing 'Bout Memphis" is about a woman who doesn't want to reveal to her current love, a great passion she shared with someone else.( All he sees is that big muddy river and the ghost of Elvis). Kinda bluesy.

Written by Jessi Alexander who sings harmony vocals on they Call it Falling, but not on the song she penned.

"We Tried" is close to acoustic. Lovely background vocals by Sonya Issacs and

the ubiquitous Wes Hightower. He must have worked with everyone in Nashville:}

Up-tempo tune about giving love and life your best shot. Nice guitar work by Billy Joe Walker, Jr. Trisha's band member Johnny Garcia is studio musician for most of the tracks.

Yet another gorgeous story song is "Let The Wind Chase You" with Keith Urban.

Just the opposite of "We Tried". (I don't want to work for your love, I don't want to try to be something that your looking for).

Another solid track. Trisha's vocals and the musical arrangements on this are just

so perfect. Not overproduced at all. You hear Trisha's voice equally with everything. She is hitting some gorgeous notes. Exquisite phrasing as always.

A stunning song, "The Dreaming Fields", again by Matraca Berg about America's Farmers. (Oh the sun rolls down, big as a miracle, and fades from the midwest sky). Wonderful piano work by Steve Nathan.

I guess my favorite out of all these wonderful tracks would be

"Cowboys Are My Weakness" GREAT VOCAL FUN. Delightful lyrics.

(I love to hear my name inside a southern drawl, a man who takes his time, you know what I mean, y'all). I have no idea what country radio is all about anymore, but THIS song should/would be a smash hit as far as this listener is concerned.

A Leslie Satcher/Billy Joe Walker, Jr tune "Help Me" My take on it is the give and take in relationships, how sometimes you can find your strength in your partners love.

"Not A Bad Thing" is about possibilities in love and life after you have lost someone significant in your life. Very breezy delivery for a serious subject but it works.

"Nothing About You Is Good For Me" by Karyn Rochelle who sings background on several tracks. Some good guitar going on here, and some sassy vocals.

(Don't call my Mama, don't call my sister, don't nobody cares whats on your mind). Great driving down the road song to sing along with.

A song with the unlikely title of "Drown Me" written by Jessi Alexander

is just a damn fine country song. I won't tell you about it. I'll let Trisha reveal it all for you:}.

They just don't write them better than this.

That is something Trisha and her team have always done, choose songs with memorable lyric content. This CD is 13 tracks of stellar songwriting.

Trisha ends with a song to her Daddy. "Sing You Back To Me"

(A miracle of page and pen, you'd hear it and be here again).

Just beautiful. Trisha-classy. Just Trisha on vocals, accompanied with acoustic guitar.

I bought it this afternoon and have listened non-stop since.

I admit to being a tiny bit disappointed in Jasper County, so I was really

anxious to see what Big Machine was going to let Trisha do.

I saw Trisha in concert in Sept and she indicated it was a really good experience

working with Big Machine. I think the results sing for themselves.

Awesome recording.

"

GREAT FUN ALBUM!

Andy | NJ | 11/14/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A great collection of barn burning country rock and gorgeous ballads. Trisha ventures outside previous comfort zones with a novelty song (Cowboys Are My Weakness) and a celtic tinged story song (The Dreaming Fields) with great results. What holds the album together are the gorgeous vocals by Trisha- her strongest studio singing yet, and the high quality of the songs- especially the lyrics. A great ALBUM- from start to finish."

Amazing Improvement for an already wonderful artist

Kimberlie | Arlington, TX United States | 12/08/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Throughout the years I've owned a couple of Trisha's CD's, but I can't really say I'm a huge fan. Just an average fan. I bought this CD to freshen up my music library, and because of the high reviews. It was money well spent! Other reviewers have said better what the album is all about, song by song. I'm just truly amazed to be so enthralled by the smoothness and clarity of her vocals, the soft and flowing ballads, and the lyrics that weave stories I can relate to. I have a ton of CDs from other artists that do one or two of those things well, but HURRAY to Trisha for finding the perfect blend of all three. She continues to top her previous albums with this one, showing amazing improvement for an artist who had already achieved great success.

If I don't buy another CD for a while, it's because I'm still listening to this one! Highly recommended!"

A masterpiece!

Razor X | New Jersey, USA | 03/29/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I can best be described as casual Trisha Yearwood fan. When she arrived on the scene back in 1991, I was much more focused on her contemporaries -- Reba, Patty Loveless, Lorrie Morgan, Tanya Tucker, and Martina McBride, who arrived about a year later. I purchased every CD these ladies released and there's only so much music one can buy. I held out until Trisha released a greatest hits package and purchased "Songbook" in 1997. Then in 2001, she had a big hit with "I Would've Loved You Anyway". I went out and bought her "Inside Out" CD just to get that one track. It turned out to be one of only three or four decent tracks on the entire CD, which was a bit of a disappointment. I haven't bought any of her music since then, with the exception of the single "The Georgia Rain" which I downloaded from iTunes.

With the release of "Heaven, Heartache And The Power Of Love", Trisha has redeemed herself for the lackluster "Inside Out". I just got it today and there is not a bad track on the entire disk. I really liked the title track, which was also the lead single. I thought it would be a huge hit when it came out, but it stalled at #19 on the charts. The second and current single "This Is Me You're Talking To" is a beautiful ballad and vintage Yearwood. There are even a few pleasant surprises -- the unusual (for Yearwood) "Cowboys Are My Weakness", and there's lot more steel guitar on many of these tracks than we've heard from Trisha in a long, long time.

I can't find a single negative thing to say about this CD. I really like that Trisha selected 13 of the best songs she could find -- seemingly without regard to whether or not they are "radio friendly". Unfortunately, that may prove to be the album's undoing; it's simply too good for today's country radio. Trisha's chart success seems to be in decline, but hopefully her fans will generate some decent sales for this latest effort even if it doesn't get a lot of radio airplay. I will go so far as to say that if you only buy one CD this year, make it this one."

Trisha nails it!

Michael Holland | San Francisco, CA USA | 02/23/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Trisha Yearwood is one of the few artists that started off as a huge hitmaker, but continues to record and have midling hits because her song choice and her vocals are among the best in Nashville. Not every artist can pick great music througout their career, but even more so, not many artists can save a weak song by shear musicality, and Ms. Yearwood does just that.

What makes this cd great is that Ms. Yearwood mines songs, not for their hit potential, which could happen anyway, but because she has become an artist who wants to present an album that is artistically sound, from her band and back-up singers (Jim Lauderdale, Jon Randall, Keith Urban, and Jessi Alexander), or picking songs from such heavy weights as Matraca Berg and Keith Fundis. Trisha can afford to pick out the best musicians in country music. Like her predecessor, Patty Loveldss, she just gets better and better, and never hits a false note.

The opening track, the title of the cd, is a rollicking number that proves that Trisha can handle a demanding up tempo song and still show expression and and grit. Following that is the hit "This Is Me You're Talkin' To," which could have been featured on any of her other cds, except that the maturity of the vocals shows her growth. There is no need for her to shout the lyrics or sing riffs to be effective. It is gorgeous in its simplicity and packs an emotional whallop. "They Call It Falling For a Reason" is also an upbeat number that works thanks to great production and Trisha's velvety voice. "Nothin' Bout Memphis" is another stellar ballad that you wonder how she is able to sort through such great songs to find the perfect match for her.

Her masterpiece of the cd comes from in the form of "The Dreaming Fields." Such a beautiful, haunting lyric, full of nostalgia about another place and time that does not sound hokey thanks for the craftmanship of the songwriter, great lyrics, and an understated vocal from Trisha that builds to a crescendo at the precise moment in the song. Bravo I say.

"Cowboys Are My Weakness" also benifits from great production and solid songwriting to tell of a love story about a man rough around the edges, who also cleans up well so she can take him to meet her parents. The vocal is fun, and she slides into the notes effortlessly. "Help Me" is another great ballad. Another great Trisha jewel.

Whatever Trisha chooses for a project in the future, there is no doubt that she will continue to present to us more great music, and if radio chooses not to play it over the overrated Taylor Swift and Gretchen Wilson, well, her fans will flock to it because of its excellence."

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