Rodney Atkins should be ashamed!

RODNEY ATKINS : IT'S AMERICA

NO IT'S NOT! PLEASE DON'T BUY IT!

Atkins should hang his head in shame. This is a despicable travesty of the truth!!!

The chorus repeatedly lists a series of things which - apparently - personify America. I don't dispute that everything on the list is there in the USA in abundance.

But RODNEY ATKINS ignores the FACT that:
1 in 4 US children live below the poverty line; millions live without proper healthcare cover and milllions are losing their homes because greedy bankers magicked up new "financial instruments" to make EVEN more money for their own back pockets and then walked away with the cash when the credit crunch hit!

Atkins needs to get the rose-colored tint off his glasses.

Shameful, despicable, and something you should not waste a single cent on.

MARTINA McBRIDE : RIDE

Ouch: as soon as you hear the lyrics say: "Life is a rollercoaster ride", you just know Martina's on a new crusade to empower the unempowered.

This is a steady pop-country song. Her vocals are, as usual, expressive and competent.

But it's dull as dishwater. There's nothing to grab the attention.  This is music borne of the high dollar suits up in LA and has little to do with what Country music has to do with!

EMERSON DRIVE: BELONGS TO YOU

Superb vocals and squeaky clean arrangements for the tightest of tight harmonies can't hide what this song is - middle of the road pop music.

The band's label claim this will be the "wedding" song for 2009 - the one for the first dance.

No: the lyrics don't have the power.

Here in the UK, we have a history of producing what are known as "boy-bands" - sets of great singers who top the charts and send young ladies' hearts fluttering with a succession of pop-pap songs. One such group, Take That is making a comeback.

They've seen the light - the need to move with the times.

But that's ok, Emerson Drive can take their place.  This is rubbish.