CD REVIEW OF
Mindy McCready's
"Ten Thousands Angels"
(BNA Records, 1996)
By Sandra L. Toney
Shania Twain. Terri Clark. Deana Carter. And now there's Mindy McCready. It's a new breed of country music women. A more daring, even sexier breed of country. Mindy McCready is the perfect example of daring and sexy country music. Her debut album, TEN THOUSAND ANGELS, is one of the best "first" albums I've heard in some time.
If McCready can stay true to her unique style and voice, she will definitely be a name to be reckoned with in the field of country music. Whether she's crooning a slow, sad song or giving it her all with an attitude song, she's great in any tempo. McCready zoomed into the spotlight, much like Shania Twain did, with a song targeted at the female listeners. Twain did it with "Any Man of Mine," and Mindy McCready gained national recognition with her hit, "Guys Do It All The Time." If you're a woman, you can't help but love this song.
Consider the opening verse, "Got in this morning at 4:00 a.m./You're as mad as you can be/I was drinkin' and talkin' and you know how that goes/Time just slipped away from me/By the time I knew what time it was/It was too late to call home/Stop carryin' on actin' like a child/I wasn't doin' anything wrong/Guys do it all the time . . ."
The song goes on to remind the men in our lives that when the shoe is on the other foot, it isn't very fun. Hopefully guys will have a new understanding for a word called "courtesy." McCready also jams on the sure-to-be-a-hit single, "A Girl's Gotta Do (What A Girl's Gotta Do)" and "It Ain't A Party."
The title song, "Ten Thousand Angels," that's already hit the country charts, tells the story of a girl trying to resist the charms of a certain someone as she belts out the song's chorus, "Lead me not into temptation/Heaven help me to be strong/I can fight all that I'm feelin'/But I can't do it alone/Help me break this spell that I'm under/Grab my feet and hold me tight/I need ten thousand angels watching over me tonight."
If her guy's that much of a problem, she might need a little more than the help of ten thousand guardian angels. The very best song on this album, which is currently climbing the charts and hopefully will peak at its rightful position as number one, is the touching duet with Lonestar's Richie McDonald, "Maybe He'll Notice Her Now."
After seeing the fantastic accompanying music video, a vivid picture comes to mind whenever hearing the heartfelt single. The story is an all-to-common one of a woman being neglected, perhaps not intentionally, by her man. She finally does the only thing she can do, "She wrote, 'I feel just like that painting, collectin' dust on the wall/And every day you walk right by me/You don't know I'm there at all/And I can't think of one single reason/Why I should be hangin' around'/She signed it, 'I hope that you'll me me'/And she drove herself out of town." Her chorus then focuses on the title of the song, that maybe he'll notice her now. Unfortunately, as McCready tells so accurately, sometimes leaving is the only way to get results.
The song ends on an upbeat note, however, as the emptiness drives him to realize that life isn't worth much when you're alone. Hopefully, this song will open the eyes of all the men (and women) out there who are presently taking their significant other for granted. And isn't that an artist's greatest wish? To make a difference in perhaps just one life.
Mindy McCready's entire album is doing just that and more.
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