Paula Cole is best when she’s bawling like a lunatic. Those moments are typically the highlights of her albums and this one is no exception. Billy Joe and Imaginary Man are decent, but it’s the office sex fantasy where she plays a naughty Secretary that flies highest. The song’s climax is intensely gratifying… or at least gratifyingly intense.
What this album would do better without are the short four-bar choruses, which could ruin an otherwise enjoyable song. A chorus should almost always go by eights. Not that this songbird needs music lessons from me. She and her band are masters at making cozy mood music. It’s just that sometimes that mood is kind of boring.
my rating : 3 of 5
2013