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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

There’s No Secret Here: Melissa Etheridge Rocks

Steve Morse The Boston Globe

New albums are bouncing around like tennis balls these days, but don’t overlook Melissa Etheridge’s “Your Little Secret,” due out Tuesday. It’s no wonder she’s been called the female Bruce Springsteen, because the album boasts the kind of visceral, meat-and-potatoes rock for which Springsteen was once known.

Etheridge became a superstar based on her 1993 disc, “Yes I Am,” which exceeded 3 million sales and enabled her to play multiple nights at many amphitheaters this summer.

The new disc has more of her fiery, come-hither hard-rock, which some reviewers (including one in the latest Rolling Stone) have termed overblown. But one person’s overblown rock is another’s catharsis - and there’s plenty of that on this high-energy disc, which finally features her complete band instead of a sprinkling of studio musicians.

Etheridge, who did an “MTV Unplugged” with Springsteen last year, shows some Springsteen influences in the gritty ballad “Nowhere to Go” (where she’s in “my jeans and my T-shirt and my blue Chevrolet” - very Bruce-like); and the breakup song, “Shriner’s Park,” where she urgently sings: “There’s nowhere to run when darkness comes down.” The subtle mandolin textures and the sexy moans at the end, however, add a flavor that is all her own.

Etheridge’s music sometimes outshines her lyrics, but she puts it all together on “The War is Over,” which closes the album.

It’s a stunning antiwar song with an expressive, Peter Gabriel-like delivery. “Tell them I’m all right/ The war is over/I’m coming home,” she sings with an exalted inflection that adds a touch of caviar to this meat-and-potatoes outing.