Sunshine Anderson: Your Woman : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

To be part of today's soul-siren club, you have to have gone through the fire and come out all the stronger. Give North Carolina native Sunshine Anderson her membership card. She's triumphant on the stern funk of the hit single "Heard It All Before," lambasting a cheating dog of a man who has returned home "tapping on my shoulder, thinking you gone get you some." But Anderson's not so jaded that she no longer longs for love. Her debut, Your Woman, is full of hope and expectation, whether it's sizing up a potential mate, on "Letting Down My Guard" ("You seem like your mama raised you right," she sings), or elated that her man secretly puts money in her bank account, on "Saved the Day." Anderson's writing style and delivery are conversational, which fits well with producer Mike City's easygoing guitar soul. Still, there are times on Your Woman when her doe-eyed hopefulness can veer toward anodyne sluggishness. So, wisely, by disc's end she's back in pain, breaking out without making up on "Crazy Love" and "You Do You." After all, membership has its privileges. (RS 869 - May 24, 2001)

JON CARAMANICA