Mercury Nashville
2003
Pain To Kill
About This Album
Pain to Kill is Terri Clark's pop-country release after the artistic triumph -- yet commercial failure -- of Fearless. There are many things on Pain to Kill that are different. For one, like Fearless, this is the work of a mature, fully realized artist. She's well aware of her strengths and uses them to her advantage in every song on the set. Secondly, veteran producer Keith Stegall worked on only half this record -- the latter half. Byron Gallimore produced the first half, including the first single, "I Just Wanna Be Mad." Thirdly, none of Clark's songwriting contributions to the project appear until the second half of the record. One has to ask why. Clark is a fine songwriter, either alone or in collaboration with others. Gallimore likes country music, he likes lots of guitars (layers and layers of them), and he likes very slick production styles. His drum loops and compression on the guitars squeeze everything so tight that Clark's voice is so far out front she no longer feels as if she's part of the musical accompaniment. It's not bad; it's just very different, jarring even for someone who's been listening to her records for a while. "I Just Wanna Be Mad" was an obvious choice to open the record with a grab-you hook and tough-woman stance.
Track List (try tracks 1,3,5 and 8)

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