Review Summary: Emmylou shifts direction again towards a more polished, rock-influenced expression, with far greater success than earlier in the decade
After retreading more traditional ground with her previous trio of albums, Emmylou Harris apparently felt that her artistic direction should revisit the shiny, more maximalist style that she had attempted in the early 80s. But where those albums came across as half-assed stabs at crossover appeal, the more commercial sounding tracks on Bluebird have a sense of focus and purpose that gives the polished sound a sense of legitimacy not found on Evangeline or White Shoes. Not to say that Bluebird is totally devoted to power ballads and crossover appeal. But the fact that a good chunk of the album is devoted to a more commercial style, but with a greater emphasis on lyrical strength and strong songwriting comes as a bit of a surprise.
Opener Heaven Only Knows is emblematic of the success of this shift in style, a driving, muscular piece of pop-country that accomplishes what White Shoes was falling short of without breaking a sweat, with a hook that refuses to leave the brain once it’s heard. A renewed focus on piano-led balladry on the front half of the album isn’t quite the success of the more energetic numbers, but the song selection is strong enough and Emmylou’s performance is convincing enough that the dated sound doesn’t sap all the enjoyability out of the bombastic balladry on the likes of You’ve Been On My Mind. Icy Blue Heart, which ends up being the clear highlight of the album sees Emmylou retreading her more traditional style, her soaring falsetto on the chorus inducing goosebumps on initial listens. But even though the strongest material on the album may be closer to the confines of what has worked for Harris in the past, it perhaps speaks to a certain boldness that she is revisiting the kind of sound that had been met with such a tepid reaction earlier in the decade. The fact that it succeeds only speaks to her strengths as an artist.
Unusually for an Emmylou Harris album, most of the strongest material is to be found on the second half of the record, as she eschews the 80s glitz for a more intimate approach, with both the ballads and uptempo numbers giving Emmylou’s voice a bit more room to breathe. But even on the back half of the album, the glitz and reverb that was a hallmark of contemporary pop albums leaves the whole proceeding sounding a bit stale in places, and a bit dated. It’s the songs themselves that make Bluebird the success that it ends up being, with Emmylou’s voice rarely sounding stronger or more confident, Bluebird ends up being a successful enough farewell to the 80s, and a strong rebuttal to the failures of the decade’s beginning.
