A few words about Christine:
I unfairly dismissed her Tusk songs as "yawners." I didn't mean all her songs in the album are that, but I see it came across that way. "Think About Me" and "Over and Over" are pretty good tunes. "Honey Hi" and "Never Forget" are really catchy folk numbers. I like "Brown Eyes" well enough but I have to be in the right mood for it. "Never Make Me Cry" is just plain dull to me. Sometimes I get "Never Make Me Cry" and "Brown Eyes" confused.
"Never Forget" has what I consider Christine's best lines ever: "What a wonderful night to be/The stars must be my friends to shine for me," which unfortunately are counterbalanced by the "cold/gold" lines. Still, there's an easy optimism in that song and "Honey Hi" that I find irrepressibly attractive. In general, Christine's songs in Tusk have an understated quality that now strike me as somewhat dull, now comforting. It really depends on my mood.
Before Tusk she had some real gems, including "Over My Head," probably my favorite song by her, and "Don't Stop," "Songbird" and "You Make Loving Fun." Before the Lindsey/Christine era, a lot of her songs feel like to me they are missing something, with a couple of exceptions, including "Why." What that something is may have to do with Lindsey's production, but I'm not sure. Maybe she just hadn't come into her own as a songwriter back then.
Christine doesn't inspire me all that much. A handful of her songs are excellent, but for the most part they strike me as OK or less. Her contributions to "Tango," however, were pretty damn good.
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