Search - Cheryl Wheeler :: Half a Book

On her sophomore album, singer-songwriter Cheryl Wheeler fails to deliver the coup de grâce her debut hinted lay straight ahead. Instead she continues to learn both songwriting craft and how not to produce an album. Like her debut, most of this disc suffers from overly sweet adult-contemporary production touches such as saxophone solos and busy drumming. Songs such as "Tell Him Goodbye" and "In Your Heart" show the fledgling folkie trying hard to perfect a middle-of-the-road rock style. "Emotional Response" reached that goal, climbing to No. 24 on the AC charts. But in this album's final pair of songs, "Summer Fly" and "Piper," Wheeler's gift for melody and strong voice finally takes over and shows what she can do. --Robert Baird