Wrecking Ball

Emmylou Harris's formula has been to match a crack crew of left-of-centre country players with an assortment of tasteful tunes and head into the studio with a non-intrusive producer. Now and then (most notably the 1980 bluegrass collection Roses in the Snow), she tampers with her basic blueprint and comes up with something exceptional. Wrecking Ball is one of those. Daniel Lanois's radiant production no longer seems as fresh as it did on albums by U2, Peter Gabriel and Bob Dylan, but here its hum enfolds Harris like an electric blanket. Lanois's usual recruits, including U2 drummer Larry Mullen, Jr, and New Orleans regulars Malcolm Burn, Brian Blade, and Daryl Johnson, lay down a solid base for Harris's weary vocals and Lanois's buzzing guitar. At its core, Wrecking Ball seems almost too finely calculated. Hot producer plus sought-after songwriters plus venerated performer frequently totals on deadly bore. Here, however, all that calculation adds up to something. --Steven Stolder

Label: Unknown
Studio: Asylum
Released: 1995-09-26
Format: Audio CD