Global Pop Dominatrix

The music Twain and Lange write and make together is as finely tooled as a Rolex, with every drumbeat and backing vocal perfectly in place. Twain's fourth record, Up! (her third with Lange), is a testament to their ceaseless toil. Each of its nineteen tracks was recorded in two versions: one with banjos and fiddles for country fans (the "green" mix) and a synth-heavy pop version (the "red" mix), both included in one jewel box. Partially, this reflects Twain's sensibilities: She grew up listening to pop radio, dreaming of being Stevie Wonder's backup singer and loving Supertramp as much as Dolly Parton. It also indicates how huge she's become worldwide: There were actually two versions of 1997's Come On Over, although the de-Nashville-ized "international" version wasn't sold in the States until several of its mixes became pop hits. It's also a canny way to make a pop record without a backlash from her country fans. "Country artists have resisted putting out remixes of the same song," points out Lon Helton, host of the Country Countdown USA radio show. "But it's harder for country radio to generate as much mass appeal as it used to." Many country stations are now expected to bring in women forty years and older, instead of men and women from twenty-five to fifty-four -- which means that country is gradually sounding more like adult-contemporary.