MEGAN HILTY – It Happens All The Time – CD review

MEGAN HILTY
It Happens All The Time
Masterworks

Now I haven’t seen the TV show, “Smash”, but I did know that Megan Hilty has been in several Broadway musicals including her performance as Glinda in “Wicked” and her portrayal of Doralee Rhodes in “9 to 5: The Musical”. So even though I’d never heard her sing, I thought this, her debut album, would definitely be worth a listen. I wasn’t even overly concerned when I learned that “The Broadway veteran doesn’t ease on down the well-worn Broadway-diva CD-debut road, usually leading to a set of classic standards”.

It didn’t bother me when I read an interview that said, “While I love those albums,” Hilty said, “I wanted to do something unexpected.” I was actually reassured when she said that “I guess it is a breakup album, but not a cry-your-eyes-out kind of album,” Because nothing works on an album like misery. Sad to say though, this is just dull. Now I wasn’t looking for a full blown Ethel Merman jazzhands record, and fair play for trying to break out as a pop singer with an album of songs from the likes of Taylor Swift, Damien Rice, Ne-Yo, Carrie Underwood, and Glen Ballard. But you can’t polish a turd, and the songs on offer are the kind of things you try to step around to avoid.

More worryingly, her voice doesn’t come over as anything special either. I assume she’s reining in her talents because of the material she’s performing, but by the end I was screaming out for a moment of passion. If I was pushed into picking a couple of songs to play again, I might find room for the Carrie Underwood co-penned ‘Walk Away’ and the Aimee Mann written ‘Wise Up’, but I’d rather listen to either of them singing that this record. The one song that gives you hope is ‘Be A Man’, where she actually comes close to singing. It’s co-written by Nashville songwriter / Tommy Lee James, who hasn’t put a foot wrong in the last decade, so it’s no surprise that it’s a good one. Reba McEntire, Brooks & Dunn, Martina McBride, Tim McGraw and Jo Dee Messina don’t pick duffers.

Hopefully, I can forgive her for murdering ‘The Heart Of The Matter’, one of my favourite eighties tunes, but I won’t be rushing to hear any follow up.

Buy at Amazon

Watch Megan sing ‘No Cure’