Terri Clark’s new release “The One” retains many of the familiar features that have made Clark’s music so enjoyable. It has a pleasant restrained production arrangement, and a nuanced, sincere vocal performance, along with an interesting lyrical scenario with some clever turns of phrase.
What it’s missing is a good hook. The unoriginal hook of “I don’t need a love I can live with/ I want the one I can’t live without” bears a strong resemblance to songs like Clint Black’s “The One She Can’t Live Without,” and that feels like a notable artistic liability, mirrored by the song’s ho-hum two-syllable title. As mentioned before, there’s still some musical goodness to be heard on this track, but the lack of a great hook leaves a bit of a hole in the song, so to speak. Thus, a potentially interesting song ends up feeling somewhat vanilla.
It still sounds pretty good, but like the first two singles released from the album, it’s just not great. As a whole, Roots and Wings is a better album than the three singles would lead one to think. How long until the great songs get released instead of just the “pretty good”?
Written by Tom Shapiro and Jim Collins
Grade: B-
Listen: The One
Just curious, which songs do you think are great? I know you’re not a big fan of “Wrecking Ball,” but that one and “Breakin’ Up Thing” are my two favorites.
“Lonesome’s Last Call” was probably my favorite, with “Smile” being a close second. I would also give honorable mention to “Beautiful & Broken” and “Flowers In Snow.” I liked “Breakin’ Up Thing” quite a bit as well, and I think it would have been a good choice for a single. As for “Wrecking Ball,” I thought it had a good lyric, but the distracting arrangement greatly hindered my enjoyment of it.
I don’t mind the “unoriginal hook”. If you look hard enough, you could probably find other songs that borrow from the past and maybe the writers here never heard the Clint Black song.
I agree that “breakin’ up thing” would have been a good choice for a single. Mid or up-tempo songs seem to have a better chance at cracking the country top 40 charts.
My name is Sweetcheeks and I used to like Terri Clark a lot but I went back a few months ago and listened on the youtube to “When Boy Meets Girl” and “Better things to do.” Those songs sound soooo dated now. I listened to them over and over in the mid 1990s but now I can barely make it through the overly twangy production. Terri Clark does have a lot of talent but I can’t really muster up any interest in checking out her new music. Out of nostalgia I might care about her old songs, though. Kinda liked “Emotional Girl.”