N.D. review of Sara Evans - No Place That Far (RCA) :
"
Just a simple question: Why sign artists if you're going to insist they play
so far away from their strengths? - Grant Alden (that's the entire review)
A review which I found extremely irritating on many levels. Although I
had the same reaction to this album (that it moved away from Evans'
strengths), I'd say the answer to this question should be obvious to anyone,
let alone someone who's been around the business as long as Alden. The answer
is: To sell some friggin' product!
The first album, as good as it was, did not sell. This one already has a top
20 single so it's going to do better.
Another thing about this review that bugged me is that it assumes (as
some people on this list also do) that the artists on major labels have no say
in what their album sounds like. Wrong, wrong, wrong! Sara Evans wants to sell
product just as much as her label does. Nobody put a gun to her head.
And I think in general it's just an irresponsible, cheap shot review.
Either write something that at least has pretenses of being an intelligent,
thought out, critique, or just ignore the album like they ignore all the other
mainstream country albums.
