Shania Twain
's second record,
The Woman in Me
, became a blockbuster, appealing as much to a
pop
audience as it did to the
country
audience. Part of the reason for its success was how producer
Robert John "Mutt" Lange
-- best-known for his work with
Def Leppard
,
the Cars
, and
AC/DC
-- steered
Twain
toward the big choruses and instrumentation that always was a signature of his speciality, AOR radio.
Come on Over
, the sequel to
, continues that approach, breaking from
contemporary country
conventions in a number of ways. Not only does the music lean toward
rock
, but its 16 songs and, as the cover proudly claims, "Hour of Music," break from the
tradition of cheap, short albums of ten songs that last about a half-hour. Furthermore, all 16 songs and
Lange
-
originals and
Shania
's sleek, sexy photos suggest a New York fashion model, not a honky tonker. And there isn't any
honky tonk
here, which is just as well, since the fiddles are processed to sound like synthesizers and talk boxes never sound good on down-home, gritty rave-ups. No,
sticks to what she does best, which is countrified mainstream
. Purists will complain that there's little
here, and there really isn't. However, what is here is professionally crafted
country-pop
-- even the filler (which there is, unfortunately, too much of) sounds good -- which is delivered with conviction, if not style, by
, and that is enough to make it a thoroughly successful follow-up to one of the most successful
albums by a female in history. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine