In Brief

** 1/2 Faith Hill. “Faith,” Warner Bros. If only everything on Hill’s third outing were as sharp as Gretchen Peters’ “The Secret of Life,” a refreshingly small view of The Big Picture. But Hill also hops from fluffy pop-country love ditties (“Me”) to overwrought pop-country ballads (“I Love You”). Hill (who plays Saturday on the George Strait Country Music Festival at Edison International Field) is striving to be more than just a pretty face and voice, but she needs a firmer hand on the artistic rudder.

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