Testimony

Backed by a session SWAT team, encouraged by churchy backup choirs, and buffeted by exquisite arrangements written, in part, by the wizard whose charts transported Elton John to success in the '70s, Glover nonetheless delivers a set of forgettable material with vocals that show plenty of polish but little distinction. She runs a gamut from gospel appoggiatura to intimate whisper, all of it phrased in ways that conform so much to pop performance practice that no hint of originality stands exposed. Imprecations to "let your feelings flow" on "A Reason" and assertions that "your love is like a river" on, of course, "River of Love" obviously draw more from formulaic tunesmithery than from anything more personal; the best lines, such as the "bloodstained smile" of "Make Me Smile," turn up on songs that she wrote with someone else. At least her admission that "I can't expect the whole world to stop turning just to listen to me" on "The Way" suggests that Glover harbors a degree of self-awareness that doesn't often make it into her music. ~ Robert L. Doerschuk, Rovi