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Label: Island
Sound/Style: Thematically striving adult contemporary with a strong classic rock influence
By Steve Morley
Being outspoken is nothing new for Melissa Etheridge, a cause-conscious rocker whose controversial battles include gay rights. But in the process of being diagnosed with and ultimately overcoming cancer, she took a long look inward, aided by readings on metaphysics and modern spirituality in Ken Wilber’s book A Brief History of Everything. The results of her journey became the basis for The Awakening, an impassioned rock concept album that combines autobiography with personal politics and enlightenment theories. Though the disc is cluttered with numerous thematic threads, the overriding idea is the possibility of change, delivered with the uncompromising, arena-sized ardor of a rock star who’s been given a second shot at life. (“We do our best/ We stay in step/ As time goes marching by/ But there's something wrong/ We don't start living/ Until we almost die.”)
“The Universe Listened” unpacks a hierarchy of significant events in the singer’s life, from the realized desire for fame and lasting companionship to healing from disease and its resulting push towards expanded consciousness. She ties these experiences to the notion that change must begin from within. (“If you become the change you want to see, you change/ What happens tomorrow/ What happens tomorrow.”)
Her ideas, while arresting and potentially inspirational, can be oversized and underexplained, especially as they relate to her expressions of the spiritual realm. On “The Kingdom of Heaven,” she affirms the presence of a loving God but also selects examples of finger-pointing conservatives and Muslim suicide bombers to make an argument against religion used as a sword rather than a plowshare—an action she feels makes faith a hindrance to an already present but barricaded paradise. Her anger at dogmatic thinking seems to simmer here, as it does on “Open Your Mind,” which points to heightened possibilities, but in the process also chastises those whom the artist hopes to inspire: “How come so many are willing to say/ There is no sense, there is no plan/ Yet they will not believe the ancient mysteries/ Passed down through time into their hands…Open your mind/ ‘Cause you have been blind/ Imagine the answers or questions will be all you find/ Open your mind.”
The track is one of several on which she gives a lengthy leash to guitarist Philip Sayce, whose searing solos provide many invigorating moments for fans of classic rock. These provide a welcome break from the album’s weighty and convoluted subject matter, as does the irresistible “Message To Myself,” a shimmery pop singalong that perfectly crystallizes Etheridge’s theme of positive transformation, free of the intensity heard elsewhere: “It’s funny how you get just what you seek/ Love is what you get/ When love is what you seek/ I’m sending out a message to myself/ So that when I hear it on the radio/ I will know that I am fine/ I will know that I am loved.”
To its credit, the disc attempts to empower listeners to seek change by trusting in a force greater than themselves. But The Awakening also includes ideas that, if not ungrounded, sometimes rely more on emotion than explanation. Those who prefer to be awakened gradually may, in the end, find Etheridge’s fervent wake-up call to be a strident alarm.
Audio Clips
"All There Is"
"California"
"An Unexpected Rain"
"Message to Myself"
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