Melanie - Crazy Love (2002)

Long after most '60s icons have tarnished or dropped from sight, Melanie shows undimmed allegiance on Crazy Love to the utopianism that nourished the music of that era. Her voice projects somewhat fractured yet gloriously expressive power throughout this album, even as she lampoons herself on a loony remake of "Brand New Key." She resorts to spoken monologues where her message apparently feels especially urgent, but whether admonishing listeners to "make a little difference" over a rousing gospel outro on "Till They All Get Home," delivering a somewhat indulgent self-analysis on "I Can Do This...," or imitating a snooty Bohemian suspicious of people who, as the song title says, simply "Smile," her idealism proves disarming again and again. Melanie's new songs are solidly crafted and deftly performed by a band in which her son, Beau Jarred Schekeryk, shows an astonishing flamenco-like virtuosity. At times his pyrotechnics feel a little extraneous, but because he restricts himself to acoustic guitar they never overwhelm the arrangement. On balance, Crazy Love, with its gushy emotion, goofy humor, and exuberant vocals, illuminates Melanie as an artist of integrity, whose occasional interpretive excesses only make her more endearing.