Monday, September 11, 1989

Melissa Etheridge Brave and Crazy released

Brave and Crazy

Melissa Etheridge

Released: September 11, 1989

Peak: 22 US, 63 UK, -- CN, 9 AU

Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, -- UK, 1.28 world (includes US and UK)

Genre: mainstream rock

Tracks:

Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts.

No Souvenirs [4:33] (9/9/89, 95 US, 9 AR, 18 MR, 4 CN, 30 AU)
Brave and Crazy [4:37]
You Used to Love to Dance [5:33]
The Angels [4:38] (3/3/90, 34 AR)
You Can Sleep While I Drive [3:14] (3/31/90, --)
Testify (Etheridge, McCormick) [4:28]
Let Me Go [3:56] (11/18/89, 27 CN, 70 AU)
My Back Door [4:24]
Skin Deep [3:10]
Royal Station 4/16 [7:08]

All songs written by Melissa Etheridge unless noted otherwise.

Total Running Time: 44:13

Rating:

3.631 out of 5.00 (average of 9 ratings)

About the Album:

“Not a trace of the dreaded sophomore curse was to be found on Melissa Etheridge’s second album. On Brave and Crazy, the throaty singer/guitarist/composer is slightly more reflective than on her first release, but no less confident. Nor is she is any less rootsy.” ^AMG “As introspective as things get…Etheridge never becomes wimpy or self-pitying. For all its vulnerability, Brave and Crazy is the work of someone who comes across as a survivor.” ^AMG

“Etheridge’s earthiness is a large part of her appeal, and she uses it most advantageously on the gutsy rockers Skin Deep and Let Me Go, as well as more reflective pieces such as Testify, You Used to Love to Dance and You Can Sleep While I Drive.” ^AMG The latter is Etheridge trying her hand at balladry and it is one of the best of her career. “Like a lot of Bruce Springsteen’s songs, equates long drives with freedom and liberation.” ^AMG It’s criminal that the song didn’t even dent the charts.

Etheridge travels down much of the same thematic road here as she did on her debut. She may not venture far from her songs about love both discovered and lost, but she knows her way with the lyrical pen. Having not yet come out, she uses clever wordplay to craft songs that don’t identify the gender of a lover. For example, the lead single, No Souvenirs, refers to the lover in question simply as “Romeo” which implies male, but doesn’t have to be.