** Terry Radigan

RADIGAN

(Vanguard)

Terry Radigan played guitar in late '80s for the New York-based folk-rock quintet Grace Pool and has since written songs for the likes of Trisha Yearwood and Patty Loveless. On her solo debut she essays a variety of styles, as though she were still writing for other people. Her voice has no trouble reproducing the rock power of Melissa Etheridge and the smooth, low tones of Gwen Stefani (whom she mimics in "Blink"). And she plays piano, guitar, banjo, mandolin, and autoharp while rasping and whispering her way through 12 songs that never create a memorable hook or a personal style. She drifts in and out of strangely upbeat pop tunes about her broken heart ("My Love Is Real," "G-O-O-D-B-Y-E"); she tries light ska ("Blink"), jazz, country ("Love Wouldn't Lie to Me," covered by Yearwood, among others), and even tango beats ("50 Kisses"). When her lyrics aren't spelling out "goodbye," she's trying to mend her broken heart ("Love wouldn't lie to me but it did") or offering cliché'd observations about how love stinks. It's all pretty listenable (especially the slow, jazzy, Aimee Mann-like "Everything Starts Out Small"), but most of the album gets tired fast.

-- Vanna Krupnikov

(Terry Radigan opens for Amy Rigby next Friday, September 29, at the Kendall Café. Call 661-0993.)