Melissa Etheridge - Never Enough

An album that never spawned hits on the magnitude of "Bring Me Some Water" or "I'm the Only One" from her debut, Melissa Etheridge's sorely overlooked third effort is a gold mine of poetic contemplation, sensual declarations, and emotional pleas. Of her first five albums, Never Enough is the one that best shows her range. Stepping away from electric guitar-based rock and blues and toward such exploratory tunes as the piano-backed "The Letting Go," the beat- and sample-driven "2001," and the uncommonly poppy "Dance Without Sleeping," Etheridge proves she's not a one-riff musician. She seems to push through her stylistic fears a bit, yet stays comfortably within the boundaries that her raspy belt can reach. Never Enough offers a healthy dose of Etheridge's trademark soul-twisting rock in the form of "Ain't it Heavy" and the angry, possessive of "It's for You." But the addition of pattern-busting songs makes this album a particularly mature, rich, pleasurable listen. --Sally Weinbach