Melissa
Etheridge: Our Little Secret by Joyce Luck
This
first full-length biography of the international rock star is
beautifully illustrated with over 50 photos, many of which have
never been published. Carefully researched and filled with
numerous anecdotes collected from Etheridge's friends and
colleagues, Our Little Secret chronicles the artist's personal and
professional accomplishments to date and anticipates even greater
achievements.
Growing up in Leavenworth,
Kansas. Discovered while performing in a California women's bar.
Rising to international stardom. Announcing with partner Julie
Cypher the imminent birth of their child. Our Little Secret covers
these key events and many others in the life and career of Melissa
Etheridge, the First Lady of Rock-and-Roll. In this richly
illustrated, full-length biography, Joyce Luck offers us a
compelling tribute to Melissa and music. Includes a complete
discography.
Yes
I Am by Melissa Etheridge
Yes
I Am is the album that catapulted Melissa Etheridge into
superstardom. The 1993 collection's mercilessly driven, bluesy
songs--nearly all dripping with sensual lyrics and rousing
rhythms--made it the ideal breeding ground for a couple of
career-enhancing music videos. The eerily possessive rock ballad
"Come to My Window" hit the tube first with a bizarre
twofold portrait of Etheridge and her guitar and actress Juliette
Lewis having a nervous breakdown. This single brought the album
into the public consciousness and was quickly followed by the
similarly obsessive, slow-groovin' "I'm the Only One"
and the co-dependence-battling "If I Wanted To." But the
album's real strength is in the hidden gems untouched by MTV
programmers. The slow-building "Silent Legacy," the
undulating blues scream "Yes I Am," and the playful,
acoustic "Ruins" are what make this album a whole. --Sally
Weinbach
Melissa
Etheridge by
Melissa Etheridge
Exploding onto
the late 1980s rock scene with this energetic, sensual, and
shamelessly personal debut, Melissa Etheridge instantly proved
herself a skilled singer-songwriter and thunderstorm of a
performer. This radio-friendly rock collection lays out the
Etheridge fundamentals. "Bring Me Some Water," the
driven, bluesy plea of an abandoned lover, is easily the strongest
cut here. Its infectious rhythmic backdrop perfectly supports
Etheridge's rowdy, passionate vocals to make this sexually charged
lament unforgettable. This album also launched the radio favorite
"Similar Features" and "Like the Way I Do,"
another uptempo, jealousy-laden rocker. Actually, the album is almost
overripe with scathing indictments of former lovers, but it also
makes it clear that Etheridge is a growing musician. These early
efforts are so power-packed that it's easy to overlook redundancy
and focus on all that raw emotion. --Sally Weinbach
Never
Enough by
Melissa Etheridge
An album that
never spawned hits on the magnitude of "Bring Me Some
Water" or "I'm the Only One" from her debut,
Melissa Etheridge's sorely overlooked third effort is a gold mine
of poetic contemplation, sensual declarations, and emotional
pleas. Of her first five albums, Never Enough is the one
that best shows her range. Stepping away from electric
guitar-based rock and blues and toward such exploratory tunes as
the piano-backed "The Letting Go," the beat- and
sample-driven "2001," and the uncommonly poppy
"Dance Without Sleeping," Etheridge proves she's not a
one-riff musician. She seems to push through her stylistic fears a
bit, yet stays comfortably within the boundaries that her raspy
belt can reach. Never Enough offers a healthy dose of
Etheridge's trademark soul-twisting rock in the form of "Ain't
it Heavy" and the angry, possessive of "It's for
You." But the addition of pattern-busting songs makes this
album a particularly mature, rich, pleasurable listen. --Sally
Weinbach
