Tina Arena : Just Me
The Undercover Review

Tina Arena spent four years in between albums before she delivered "Just Me". Times change musically, but Tina is sticking solid to her core audience. She's upgraded the technology but basically what you have here is a worthy follow-up to 1997's In Deep.

The production and songwriting element has been carefully constructed. Recruited to the studio were Nile Rogers from Chic who has also worked with David Bowie and Madonna as well as Peter-John Vettese (Heather Small, Annie Lennox).

The result is a breezy, sassy good time album with some great rhythms, tender ballads and the soaring voice of Tiny Tina.

The first two songs set the pattern. "Dare You To Be Happy" was produced by Peter-John and "Soul Mate #9" by Nile. Both reflect the current dance pop trend on the charts yet maintain the maturity of an artist who has been working her art for most of her life.

She does lay it back though and when she does, the focus falls totally on her voice. "God Only Knows" highlights Tina as one of Australia's greatest female vocalists but the real vocal highlight comes from the personal "You Made Me Find Myself". When Tina sang this one to the small media crowd at her album launch a few weeks back, there was silence. The song is album "a woman" who breaks up from a relationship with the man who drove her career. Instead of a a bitter response, the "woman" simply says thankyou. This is obviously going to have people thinking about her own relationship with her former husband / manager. "I'm not going back in time / there's a price for being strong" she sings in the most personal lyric she has ever performed.

After "You Made Me Find Myself" you find yourself being more attentive to the lyrics waiting for more insight into the personal life of Tina Arena. "If You Ever" tells the story of an unavailable love and a woman prepared to stand in a queue waiting for the mans availability. Then "Tangled" with some beautiful string arrangements send the message "I'm not sure if I love or if I hate you". Tina certainly doesn't hold back on "Just Me".

"I'm Gone" kicks off with some nice acoustic guitar and again has us questioning her personal life "I'll carry on until the right one comes along". "Something's Gotta Change" is a big production number, again from a personal angle telling us "Something's gotta change / nothing stays the same". This certainly is a woman ready to move on diarising her last few years. I guess the final song "Woman" is the conclusion to this story.

Tina has a massive following across Europe. The consistency of this album is going to be a winning point for her league of fans ... and there's lots of them.

by Hector The Rock Dog
http://www.undercover.com.au