Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Nothing is ever truly lost or swept aside, nothing is forgotten, only emotions and retrospective can make a difference to that which was placed in drawers, locked in steel containers, or placed in a box that was securely hidden from view. The sense of release when one looks back at those artistic moments which were maybe too big to contemplate at the time, is second only to making sure that the One Way Out for them is to allow the light of day to bring the beauty, the sheer force of nature attached to them, out into the open, and be celebrated.
The tracks that make up Melissa Etheridge’s latest album are ones that were for longest time tucked away in the drawer of life, admired certainly, framing a place in her when the iconic musician was respected, but not yet ready to see them breathe independently of her, and as each ones growls with class and frolics like a child seeing the sun for the first time hit the new mown grass, so One Way Out becomes a spectacular, a vision of once was unseen and unheard, resolutely and tremendously being given power.
It is power, and whilst the songs, including two live tracks, You Have No Idea and Life Goes On, may have come from another time, they are more than relevant in today’s world with the modern outlook and recognition of gender, sexuality, and love, than they arguably would have been given time for in the early days of Ms. Etheridge’s career.
The heartbeat of the musician has never wavered, and despite the sadness that has been part of her life of late, even in the face of a world-wide situation that has cost our collective peace of mind, Melissa Etheridge’s performance of these songs is undeniably sublime, and as tracks like As Cool As You Try, For The Last Time, the open wound reveal of I’m No Angel Myself, That Would Be Me and Wild Wild Wild, as well as the aforementioned stunning live offerings, that heartbeat, always resolute, always true, are more than captivating, they are affirming of one of the greats and her presence in music fan’s minds.
Not just a recollection, not just a find, but a reminder that what we practise in art, will always find a way to be heard, to be valued at some point; and in One Way Out, that time has gloriously come to realised.
Ian D. Hall