Up!

by Shania Twain

Overview

On Up!, superstar Shania Twain presents her first new material in five years to a country-pop populace that seems almost psychotically split between bluegrass 'n' roots rediscovery and bold, rock-styled productions that are "country" in name only. Only Shania Twain, it seems, can hold the two together. Fittingly, Up!'s 19 songs appear on both a "Green" CD of country arrangements and a "Red" CD with Twain's vocals dropped into pop arrangements, for those who prefer their Shania sans fiddles and banjos. The dual-disc arrangement allows Twain and her husband-producer, Robert John "Mutt" Lange, to indulge their rock tendencies and infuse the arrangements behind her soaring vocals with metal-edged guitars and hard-hitting rhythms. No matter what the style, it's futile to resist: Shania's voluptuous charms are as much aural as visual, and when Lange backs her come-hither cooings with a fierce rhythm track, it silences the argument about fiddles versus synths -- better just to melt with her. Twain prefers upbeat, positive songs, and Up! is loaded with 'em, from the groove-heavy hit single "I'm Gonna Getcha Good!" to a cautionary, dramatic testimonial to self-assertiveness, "Juanita." On the ballad side, Twain is positively captivating in the urgency she brings to her vows of everlasting love in "Forever and for Always," which is most effective in the pop version that establishes an evocative ambience with the synth washes and a drum program. For even more Shania, check out the "Blue" mixes on her web site, which she describes in her liner notes as "more rhythmic with an Eastern influence." With Up!, Shania Twain offers enough lofty songs to raise the spirits of all her fans, country cosmopolitans and city slickers alike.

Product Details

Release Date:	11/19/2002
Label:	Mercury Nashville
UPC:	0008817031422
catalogNumber:	170314
Rank:	33577

Tracks

1. Up!
2. I'm Gonna Getcha Good!
3. She's Just Not a Pretty Face
4. Juanita
5. Forever and for Always
6. Ain't No Particular Way
7. It Only Hurts When I'm Breathing
8. Nah!
9. (Wanna Get to Know You) That Good!
10. C'est la Vie
11. I'm Jealous
12. Ka-Ching!
13. Thank You Baby! (For Makin' Someday Come So Soon)
14. Waiter! Bring Me Water!
15. What a Way to Wanna Be!
16. I Ain't Going Down
17. I'm Not in the Mood (To Say No)!
18. In My Car (I'll Be the Driver)
19. When You Kiss Me

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Shania Twain   Primary Artist
Paul Franklin   Pedal Steel Guitar
Paul Leim   Drums
Brent Mason   Electric Guitar
Mauro Pagani   Voices
Jatinder Thakur   Violin
John Willis   Acoustic Guitar,Banjo,Bouzouki,Mandolin
Jonathan Yudkin   Mandolin,Violin,Cello
Michael Hart Thompson   Electric Guitar,Slide Guitar
Ulhas Bapat   Santoor
Irish Film Orchestra   Strings
Cory Churko   Slide Guitar,Soloist
Donnell   Group Member
Diamond Duggal   Bouzouki,Guitar,Mandolin,Percussion,Bass Guitar,Keyboards,Synthesizer Guitar,Coral Sitar
Rakesh Chaurasia   Flute
Sunil Das   Sitar
Sanjay Vyas   Tabla
Simon Duggal   Bass,Percussion,Keyboards,Tabla,Darbouka,Dholak
Chintoo Singh   Rabab

Technical Credits

Shania Twain   Composer
Bob Bullock   Engineer
Robert John "Mutt" Lange   Arranger,Composer,Producer,Executive Producer
Brian Masterson   Engineer
Arthur Stead   Pre-Production Arranger
Gavin Greenaway   String Arrangements
Cory Churko   Pro-Tools
Michel Gallone   Engineering
Kevin Churko   Programming,Engineer,Remixing,Construction,Copy,Numerical Editing,Engineering
Simon Duggal   drum programming

Editorial Reviews

When Up! was released in November 2002, Shania Twain revealed in one of many promotional interviews that she writes far more songs than can fit on her records and that she hides any personal, introspective songs she pens, not even playing them for her husband and collaborator Robert John "Mutt" Lange. Now, this is certainly a psychological quirk worth exploring, but it also suggests why Twain's albums are such brilliant pieces of mainstream pop. Anything that doesn't fit the mold is discarded, so the album can hum along on its big, polished, multipurpose hooks and big, sweeping emotions. This is Super-Size pop, as outsized and grandiose as good pop should be. And, unlike the work of most pop divas, where the subject matter is firmly about the singer, none of the songs on Up! are remotely about Shania Twain, the person -- let's face it, she's never faced a situation like "Waiter! Bring Me Water!," where she's afraid her guy is going to be stolen away by their hot waitress. No, these songs have been crafted as universal anthems, so listeners can hear themselves within these tales. Just as cleverly, the songs are open-ended and mutable -- always melodic, but never stuck in any particular style, so they can be subjected to any kind of mix and sound just as good. (Indeed, Up! was initially released in no less than three different mixes -- the "Red" pop mix, the "Green" country mix, and the "Blue" international mix; sometimes the differences in mixes were so slight, it sounded like nothing was changed, but each mix revealed how sturdy and melodic the structure of each of the 19 songs was, and how they were designed to sound good in any setting.) True, the sheer length of the album could be seen as off-putting at first, since these 19 tracks don't necessarily flow as a whole. Then again, part of the genius of Up! is that it's designed as a collection of tracks, so the album is durable enough to withstand years on the charts, producing singles with different textures and moods every few months. Time revealed Come on Over as a stellar pop album, and the same principle works for Up!. Upon the first listen, singles seem indistinct, and it seems like too much to consume at once, but once you know the lay of the land, the hooks become indelible and the gargantuan glossiness of the production is irresistible. In other words, it's a more than worthy follow-up to the great mainstream pop album of the late '90s, and proof that when it comes to shiny, multipurpose pop, nobody does it better than Shania Twain.

All Music Guide - Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Up! is like ABBA Gold without all the melancholy. (A)

Entertainment Weekly - Chris Willman

Nobody does it better than Twain. As Up! shows, she doesn't so much cross genres as render them pointless, because her personality trumps all.

Blender - R.J. Smith

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