If This Is The Best She's Got... "Without Love" By Donna Lewis

The Good: Decent lyrics, Sounds all right
The Bad: Short, Not a great use of the medium, Somewhat inane pop music
The Basics: Donna Lewis's best song from her debut is revealed as a mediocre single that can easily be passed up for the buy.


There is only so much one can write about a single song. With the c.d. single of “Without Love,” it is a true single, there are no additional tracks and that makes it very hard to write much about it.

Having reviewed Donna Lewis' debut album Now In A Minute (reviewed here!) and deemed "Without Love" the superlative track of the album, relistening to the single playing over and over and over again on repeat makes me think, "If this is the best she's got, do we really need Donna Lewis?" It's a question that's coming down to a coin toss for me.

With only a single track, clocking in at a scant 3:40, "Without Love" is a terrible use of the compact disc medium. The track could have been pressed onto this disc approximately twenty times over and for the expense of hunting down the single (if one chooses to do that), one is left wanting quite a bit more. But, to be fair, this is very much Donna Lewis's musical vision. She wrote the music as well as providing all of the vocals for it. As well, she plays keyboards for it and is credited as a co-producer on the disc.

For those who might not have heard "Without Love," this is an overproduced pop song that has a light sound defined by Donna Lewis's whispy voice. Lewis, perhaps most famous for the infectious single "I Love You Always Forever" followed up that hit with this much more subtle song. The first major problem is that Donna Lewis mumbles through many of the lyrics and her sugarpop voice is almost constantly produced over to obscure any sense of her actual voice. She might well have the most beautiful natural alto-soprano voice in history, but one would never know it because her vocals have been so range-shifted and computerized for this song that it is impossible to tell.

The net result is that Donna Lewis's vocals, which are compounded by echoes and accented by strategic strums on the electric guitar, are almost completely drown out or are fairly incomprehensible when they are present. She whispers through some of her most clear singing, which makes one wonder just what she is trying to do with her performance.

Because, at the end of the day, it does seem like Donna Lewis has something she wants to say. "Without Love" has a remarkably clear message and theme, but perhaps Lewis just doesn't like what the song has to say. "Without Love" is, after all, the only song from her debut that Lewis did not even co-write the lyrics to. Credited to Dave Taylor, "Without Love" does have some predictable rhymes, but it actually has a message that is quite honorable and well developed.

Is it possible, though, that Donna Lewis just objects to singing "Promises promises sealed with a kiss / Please acknowledged it's me that you miss / No message received / Excuses believed / You hurt me so much I'll never recover / Takes time to discover a love like no other" ("Without Love")? It would seem odd if she did; her own lyrics seldom have lines that are less predictable than that. And is it so bad to have an anthem that is essentially a woman crying out to be noticed, to be paid attention to? I think not!

Moreover, Lewis's lyricist makes a fine point (albeit with predictable rhymes) when he writes the refrain that is still fairly catchy: "Without love I mean nothing to you / Without love broken in two / Without love give me some value some worth / Without love no life left on earth" ("Without Love"). It does not need to be repeated hundreds of times to make the point and it's a good point; love makes life worthwhile.

Unfortunately, "Without Love" is presented as a silly little pop song, so any potential gravitas the lyrics might have - if Lewis were to articulate them and not mumble through them at a high pitch - is pretty much lost amid the drum machine and bland keyboards. The guitars accent at intervals that act like a musical highlighter and the few crescendos are used to either accent mumbled lyrics or completely overwhelm them.

Ultimately, "Without Love" is a little pop song that does what little pop songs do; it distracts us for a few minutes with a catchy beat and melody, but this one doesn't stick long after the last spinning of the disc. And if it's the best Donna Lewis has, perhaps it's not necessary to keep her works in one's collection. Even though this might be her best song, it's hard to get excited about buying this single. Better to wait for it on the odd chance it'll pop up on the radio; owning it is just unnecessary.

For other pop works, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Susannah Hoffs - Susannah Hoffs
World Clique - Deee-Lite
White Turns Blue - Maria Mena

5/10

Check out how this stacks up against others albums and singles by visiting my Music Review Index Page where the reviews are organized best to worst!

© 2012, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Not A Promising Debut For Donna Lewis With Now In A Minute

The Good: A few decent lyrics, Generally sounds all right
The Bad: Some breathy vocals that are annoying, Short!
The Basics: The more I wrote about this album, the more I realized I didn't like it and I ultimately tossed a coin (it ended up being best 5 out of 10) for the rating.


For quite some time, I did not know my mother that well. I grew up without her in my life and when I was in high school, we started to see one another more and interact. While we were getting to know one another, my mother learned quickly of the things I liked and one of the few artists she knew impressed me was Sophie B. Hawkins. So, whenever a new song would come on that she thought was by Sophie B. Hawkins, she would tell me about it, convinced it was Sophie. The only one that I actually took a strange level of offense to (my mother was trying, after all and I had to give her credit for that!) was the Donna Lewis smash hit "I Love You Always Forever." From the first time I heard that song, I loathed the wispy vocals and could not see how my mother would mistake Lewis for Hawkins.

To be fair to her, now years later as I finally picked up a copy of Donna Lewis's debut album Now In A Minute, there are a number of tracks on the album that sound like some of Sophie's work on Tongues And Tails (reviewed here!). Actually, it is easy to imagine that Donna Lewis sounds like Sophie might have if Hawkins had been producing music in the mid-1980s. There is an overly-produced quality to much of Now In A Minute that turns me off some, but seems to be quite popular with mainstream pop-rock artists or performers.

It is fair to call Donna Lewis an artist, though. With eleven tracks, clocking in at 45:54, Now In A Minute is distinctly Donna Lewis. All of the lyrics were written by Lewis, save the first two singles where the lyrics were co-written by Lewis and written by someone else entirely. Still, this is not bad for a debut and that Donna Lewis is credited with writing all of the music, performing all of the vocals and taking a co-producer credit tells one that she was intimately involved in the creation of this album. This does appear to be largely what Lewis wants to say and the way she wants to say it. Checking out the individual credits for the songs, it appears she plays keyboards on nine of the tracks and piano on the tenth! She plays other instruments, like the Omnichord and is credited with programming on the majority of the songs as well.

So, what's the problem?

After nine listens to the album, the only songs that have truly stuck with me are the opening song, "Without Love" and the remix version of "I Love You Always Forever," which is far more aurally interesting than the original release. The nine tracks in between leave virtually no impression. I hear them, I listen and . . . when the disc ends, it's like waking up from hypnosis. And this is not from not giving the album the attention it deserves; my first listen was one of my classic, laying-in-the-dark,-all-attention-on-it-first-listen. And yet, this is a pretty unmemorable album overall.

For example, as I write this, the fourth track, "Nothing Ever Changes" is on and the only line I know is the title. Why? Even as she sings it, the song is instantly forgettable with her breathy presentation and the overproduced instrumentals. Moreover, as she hypnotically sings the title over and over again, I feel compelled to look up what the rest of the song (which I've heard ten times now but hasn't stuck) actually says. Perhaps the reason the song has not stuck - which is odd for a track that is over four minutes long! - is that its lyrics are essentially "Standing in isolation roadless wilderness faded and discarded the last leaves gone, gone and let me tell you nothing every changes . . . farewell to my first love farewell for all time pleasure for the loving there they lie eye to eye . . . lay down let it break down the hidden tortures to an end . . ." ("Nothing Ever Changes"). Those ellipses, all they are omitting are more repetitions of the title. Four and a half minutes with only three short stanzas and the rest is filler repetition of the title. No wonder it is forgettable.

Add to that, the sound of many of the songs is a vague, light pop keyboard sound that (I thought) died an early death in the mid-1990s when that type of soundtrack love song fell out of popularity. Perhaps Donna Lewis thought she would bring it back, as she seems to try on "Simone." There, the breezy keyboards she plays meld flawlessly with her wispy vocals to completely overwhelm her repeating "Don't look back now . . . you have to let your childhood go and then you'll find a peace within" ("Simone"). She produces over her own lines, making it almost impossible to hear whatever statement she wants to make.

Maybe Donna Lewis would be a good instrumental artist; especially if she's producing over her own lyrics and vocals. Without the pressure to create lyrics, perhaps she would not write songs that were so boring and repetitive (and even fans of "I Love You Always Forever" have to admit that it is terribly repetitive and if one were to keep it on a continuous loop for a day, it might well cause the listener to go insane). Then again, she might just produce boring instrumental songs. "Agenais" might as well be a boring instrumental song as she repeats "floating" an obscene number of times and the music sounds like a slow descent of a feather. She is good at melding the form and the words, the problem that Now In A Minute has is that both are largely boring and simple.

The only place that simplicity truly works is on "Without Love." There, Donna Lewis has a very simple message and she makes it sound good. While "I Love you Always Forever" is essentially a wispy chant in its refrain, "Without Love" is musical and it expresses a fundamental desire to connect. Lewis connects with anyone who has ever felt their lover has lost interest in them with lines like ". . . am I so far away in your thoughts not there forget what you told me it's what didn't get said it's not much to ask come down off your cloud and with your feet on the ground say something out loud. Without love I mean nothing to you without love broken in two . . ." ("Without Love"). The rhyme scheme may be a bit obvious for me, but at least Lewis has something to say and one can understand what she is singing without it being repeated a hundred times over.

What isn't musically boring on Now In A Minute seems terribly derivative. "Fools Paradise" sounds like the theme song to Mannequin and if the 1980s ever return, perhaps Donna Lewis will get work again. "Lights Of Love" sounds a lot like "Don't Stop Swaying" by Sophie B. Hawkins. But where Hawkins has something to say and insists her listeners hear her carefully crafted lines, Lewis seems to want to mumble through her own songs.

Moreover, the vocals are almost all high pitched and presented in a wispy quality that makes the listener want to hand Lewis an inhaler. Perhaps that is cruel, but Donna Lewis presents her vocals so meekly one thinks she either is severely limited in her range or just too timid to break loose.

As a result, Now In A Minute is largely forgettable, mostly because it blends together in a way that . . . yeah, just blends together as dull-pop whitenoise. Wow, if the 1980s ever comes back, maybe I'll head a Donna Lewis cover band called Dullpop Whitenoise. Yeah . . .

The best song is "Without Love," the only other memorable song is the up-tempo remix of "I Love You Always Forever" that closes the album. Everything in between is fairly dull.

For other female music artists, be sure to visit my reviews of:
The Very Best Of Sheryl Crow - Sheryl Crow
300 Days At Sea - Heather Nova
Bomb In A Birdcage - A Fine Frenzy

5/10

For other music reviews, please be sure to visit my index page on the subject by clicking here!

© 2011, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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