June 1995

by Colin Hogg

Now Australian-based, Auckland's westie pop queen, Jan Hellriegel, has taken her sweet time following up the fine debut album which won her some of the usual accusations women singer/songwriters cop (a "new" Chrissie Hynde, etc). The accusations should recede with this second chapter, which finds Hellriegel standing on very firm stylistic ground. No sensitive flower, she swings between moody balladry and tough stuff like Sneer, Moon's on Fire and the churning Manic, which buzz with big guitars. She's great at both of her poles, but it's the ballads that hit the high points here, especially when they zoom off into the orchestral sweep of Only One Option and Touch Greenstone which has the album's best opening line ("Save your prayers for someone who needs them").

Her vocals have increased in confidence too - to the extent that she can expose her once shaky pipes to a sensitive voice-and-guitar effort like Thinking and come out shining. If that first album was great, this one is even better.