Fearless Love
- Melissa Etheridge
- Island
If you worry that there's something ineluctably male about arena rock, fear not - Melissa Etheridge can rock a cliché as predictably as any man. From the snarling blues guitar and Bonhamesque drums of Miss California to the majestic, U2-style uplift of the title tune, Fearless Love is packed to the gills with classic rock ready-mades and Jumbotron gestures. Not that Etheridge emphasizes riffs over rhymes; her lyrics are as playful and self-aggrandizing as ever, whether she's spitting venom at an ex-lover in Miss California, or moaning about loneliness in Company (which includes the stunningly narcissistic couplet: "Send a reflection of myself to me/'Cause everybody needs some company").