Edwin McCain: Scream and Whisper : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

His first album after a three-year absence, Edwin McCain's Scream and Whispers arrives both in the wake of his successful attempt to sober up after a struggle with alcohol and, by his account, "while falling in love with music all over again." That life-affirming spirit, is inarguably present on Scream. McCain sings with the fervent, searching conviction of a pardoned man: "Maybe this life is just about love and tenderness/If all we are, are shooting stars." Unfortunately, such conviction is often served up under a thick residue of schmaltz -- the track "Say Anything," bears a disturbing resemblance to Roxette's "It Must Have Been Love" -- that makes it difficult to classify McCain's love affair as one to remember.