For her 34th studio album,
Anne Murray
recorded a set of duets with many of her favorite female singers, from
Nelly Furtado
to
Sarah Brightman
. There are a number of
country
duet partners here, such as
Shania Twain
,
Emmylou Harris
, and
Martina McBride
, but there are even more
pop
-oriented women singing with
Murray
, encompassing the likes of
Celtic Woman
and
Celine Dion
. This makes perfect sense, as
's always straddled the
pop-country
fence effortlessly. Her singing on
Duets: Friends and Legends
is just as effortless. Now in her fifth decade as an active recording artist, her voice hasn't lost a beat, sounding just as pure and clear as it did on 1970s
"Snowbird"
(done here with a surprisingly relaxed, easy vocal from
Brightman
, sounding for all the world like a young
Olivia Newton-John
). The majority of these songs are ones which have been sizeable hits for
in the past, most of which work nicely recast as duets, or at least showcases for harmony singing. There are exceptions, of course: sadly, the late
Dusty Springfield
's voice doesn't fit
"I Just Fall in Love Again"
at all, and
sounds mightily out of place on
"Daydream Believer."
But for each of those there's an
on
"Another Pot o' Tea,"
k.d. lang
matching
perfectly on
"A Love Song,"
and most of all,
showing up with what might be the best vocal of her career on the classic
"You Needed Me."
clearly inspired most of her duet partners to bring their "A" games, and since she's pretty much always on hers (and
Phil Ramone
, of all people, provides sterling production which knows when to stay out of the way), what results is often magical. ~ Thomas Inskeep