Bonavista (1996)
(This review originally appeared in The Flying Inkpot.)
Rating: 4/10.
"You jerk/You jerk/You are such a jerk," rages Canadian chanteuse Kim Stockwood with all the pent-up angst of a Strawberry Shortcake doll on barbiturates. The single, "Jerk," has doubtless sent droves of adolescent girlfriends dialing radio stations to dedicate the number to their ex-boyfriends. It's an unthreatening, rock-lite strummer that's catchy as hell, guaranteed irony-free, and sticky sweet as melting candy-floss. But if you think the rest of the album is going to be this fun, you've got another think coming.
"Jerk" is the made-for-radio anomaly on an otherwise country-flavoured album. The song falls into the backyard of a more oddball singer-songwriter like Jill Sobule (whose "She's Not in Love" opens BONAVISTA). Kim herself typically displays a far more conservative lyrical approach, and generally speaking, you won't be hearing about Tori Spelling, girls who kiss girls, or "old fat Marlon Brando in APOCALYPSE NOW" on her songs (listen to Jill Sobule's self-titled 1995 album for all of that).
The other oddities on the album also prove to be the best things on it. Stockwood sounds absolutely in her element when singing her heart out on the rather obviously titled Patsy Cline tribute, "Cry Crazy," which has the magnificent sweep and elegance of one of Patsy's country-pop classics. "You Won't Remember This" is a bouncy bit of sunny, infectious pop-rock, not at all unlike Merril Bainbridge's. Anybody who will sing "la la la la la laaaa" to a guitar riff refrain cannot be totally without charm. And come to think of it, anybody who will give Randy Bachman of Bachman-Turner Overdrive 'fame' a job playing guitar can't be all bad.
Unfortunately, almost everything else on BONAVISTA does prove to be bland country and western at it's most terrifyingly banal - soul-destroying good ol' tunes about unselfish paternal love, forty-year old Dolly Parton wannabes in "N.A.S.H.V.I.double L.E." (spell that right now, y'all), and some bleeding-heart Garth Brooks-style commentary on "Compassion." You practically have to put on a cowboy hat, rhinestone boots and a tassle-sleeved jacket to justify your listening the stuff. I'm just surprised she didn't spring a cover of "D.I.V.O.R.C.E." or "Ode to Billy Joe" on us.
Apart from being awfully sincere and sensitive (there are ship, star and ocean metaphors here for godsake), there's not so much as a musical curve ball in sight. If you want to listen to female singers who have successfully used country music as a cornerstone and then developed their own individual sound and style, listen to Shawn Colvin, Maria McKee or even Sheryl Crow. Seeing as BONAVISTA is Kim Stockwood's debut album, its patchy, unfocussed quality could be attributed to her having not yet found her own voice. What's then disturbing though, is how she can sound so confoundingly comfortable and happy singing even when she's singing rubbish.
Gerald Tan 1997
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