MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: JANN ARDEN - BLOOD RED CHERRY (20th anniversary edition)

Sad timing for Jann Arden this past weekend. It was to be her day at the Juno Awards, being inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. Then the world got shut down. Hopefully she will be suitably honoured soon. In the meantime, tons of publicity and tie-in projects were either put on hold or came out without the full fanfare. That includes this reissue of her fourth album, from 2000 on vinyl for the first time, and CD with five bonus tracks.

Blood Red Cherry continued Arden's run of albums with producers Ed Cherney (Jackson Browne, Dylan, Rolling Stones), Mark Goldenberg (Linda Ronstadt, Pointer Sisters) and guitar player Russell Bloom. She had her style solidified by this point, with deeply emotional lyrics, mostly love songs or unrequited love, but with a uniquely clear style. She spoke like we talked and thought in intense romantic situations. "Buy a ticket for a plane and come and see me baby," she sings to a long-distance love, "Or drive your car all night by just starlight to Canada." Describing another relationship, she sings "You were my favourite hockey card/You were my smokey little bar/You were my cherry popsicle." In the 'stuff we say in a breakup' category, there's "I never really love you, I never loved you back/I never even liked you/I only wanted sex."

The music can also be described as intense and emotional, each song sounding like a dramatic moment unveiled. They're not ballads; clippy percussion drives most of the songs, the beat a key component in keeping up the tension. It's almost overwhelming. In 2000, artists were still filling up too much of the available time on CDs, and the album proper has about three too many cuts at the same tempo and theme. But still there are two previously-unheard tracks here, "Love Me Love" and "Everything," and the first certainly would have made a fine addition, a little fun in the mix.

The other three cuts added for this release are demos of songs on the original album, "Another Human Being," "Cherry Popsicle" and "In Your Keeping." These demos, made by Arden and Broom leading up to the album, are well-constructed and quite close to the final tracks, showing the pair probably didn't need all the L.A. studio support and guns for hire that made it on the final product. Oh, expect for Jim Cuddy, and his excellent duet on "Mend."