ALBUM REVIEW

SHANIA TWAIN

“Come On Over”

Mercury

* *

What made Twain’s “The Woman in Me” the best-selling album ever by a female country artist? A lot of sex appeal, a little vocal sass and a sound that made it equally inviting to pop and country listeners. In short: style, not substance.

The follow-up continues, while modestly embellishing that recipe. These 16 songs, all written by Twain and her producer-husband, Robert John “Mutt” Lange, are outfitted with the same edgy pop-rock textures. (Lange again makes her voice so viscerally prominent you worry she’ll leave lipstick prints on your speakers.)

Where the record improves over its lightweight predecessor is in “Black Eyes, Blue Tears,” the confession of a woman opting out of an abusive relationship, and “When,” an inner dialogue that tackles romantic self-deception with humor and honesty (“I’d love to wake up smiling--full of the joys of spring / And hear on CNN that Elvis lives again”).

Do more predictable songs of revelry and ecstasy predominate? Bank on it.

*

Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).