Shania Twain: Shania Twain : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

In a year that has seen a number of exceptional country singles, one of the strongest is by a new artist from Canada. Shania Twain would be worth watching if only for the incredible heart she displays on "What Made You Say That," the first single off Shania Twain, her debut album.

For the most part, Twain's brand of country is hard and bluesy, and her themes center on love in all its aspects. "What Made You Say That" communicates the exaltation of new love; "There Goes the Neighborhood" explores the aftermath of a community blown apart by divorce; "When He Leaves You," a straight-ahead country weeper written by Mike Reid and Kent Robbins, finds a wife matter-of-factly sympathizing with her unfaithful husband's soon-to-be ex-lover. Through it all, Twain works the vocal magic of an assured stylist whose every breath broadens a song's emotional landscape. The voice has a rough-hewn edge, falling somewhere in the Tanya Tucker-Trisha Yearwood realm, and range enough to get down and dirty ("Crime of the Century") or soft and tender ("Still Under the Weather").

Accompanied by a host of top-flight Nashville, Tenn., players, Twain displays the grit and maturity of a woman who has experienced life to the depths. Check out her unflinching foray into the pleasures of the flesh on the R&Btinged "You Lay a Whole Lot of Love on Me"; when she soars and swoops on that number, you realize you may be hearing one of the best country torch singers since Patsy Cline. True, Shania Twain has a long way to go before she reaches that exalted peak, but attention must be paid.