Flyer [Us Import]

Flyer may well be Griffith's best album--not because her lyrics have improved on their already high level but because the melodies are so darn catchy. A song like "Nobody's Angel," for example, captures the forlorn loneliness of being single in lines like "I'm grounded and rusty, my dance card is dusty." On another song, she tells an ex-lover that he can have "Anything You Need But Me." You can tell she's really over him by the way she delivers the kissoff to a carefree, bouncy bluegrass tune, underscored by Pat McLaughlin's mandolin. Griffith wrote or cowrote all the songs but one (the broken-hearted ballad, "Southbound Train," by Julie Gold, the author of "From a Distance"). Harlan Howard helped Griffith write "Say It Isn't So," yet another variation on the gossips-say-you're-cheating theme. It's a fresh take on an old formula, thanks to the intricate detail of the lyrics and the acoustic guitar arpeggios which keep the tune tumbling ever forward. --Geoffrey Himes