Sara Evans Album: “No Place That Far”

Sara Evans clearly displays her versatile singing style on this album. From emotion packed ballads like "No Place That Far" and "Time Won't Tell" to the more lighthearted "The Great Unknown" and "Fool, I'm a Woman", Sara touches a spot in the hearts of many. "No Place..." is especially recommended to those with a newly broken heart. I found that it's an excellent source of strength to get through the day when "memories are like mountains and each one gets harder to climb". "No Place That Far" is definitely Sara's breakthrough album. Her new and upcoming album, "Born To Fly" should exceed the success of "No Place That Far"--based on the first single, "Born To Fly". It's a great song!!

I have had the pleasure of seeing Sara Evans perform live on two occasions, and quickly realised her potential as a future star. This album is a worthy follow up, and shows her maturity in choice of music styles, and lyrical content. The album is extremely well balanced, and doesn't have a bad track. The other great thing about it is, it's flexibility, being equally at home as background music, or belting out at high volume on the car or home stereo. A truly powerful vocalist, who is fast approaching the league of Martina McBride, and even Reba McEntire, this singer is certainly one to watch, both now and in the future. My only hope is that she doesn't change too much, the more she gets established. Not quite a "must have", but almost.

Sara Evans and No Place That Far is an exceptional CD. Its one of my favorites to date. She does a great job both singing and writing the songs. My favorites on this CD are Fool, I'm a Woman with Martina McBride, These Days with Allison Krause, and I Thought I'd See Your Face Again. Sara's harmony vocals are outstanding! She has those songs that just make you want to crank the volume up and sing along!

After the failure of her debut album of traditional country music (Three chords and the truth), Sara added a contemporary edge to her music for this album. It still has much to offer fans of traditional country but this album enabled Sara's music to be heard on those all-important American country radio stations. The title track provided Sara with a huge country hit although the other two singles taken (Crying game, Fool I'm a woman) from the album were only minor country hits.

Sara co-wrote five of the songs here including the title track, often teaming up with Nashville's leading songwriters. Matraca Berg, Billy Yates, Tom Shapiro and Leslie Satcher are among her co-writers. This is one of those albums where it seems futile to pick out highlights because every track is brilliant. There is a star-studded cast of guests featured as backing vocalists including Vince Gill, Alison Krauss, George Jones and Martina McBride, though some ore less prominent than others.

The standard American version of this album was not released in Europe although that didn't stop me from importing it when it was released - I didn't know if it was going to be released in the UK. A different version was eventually released in Europe, with the packaging changed, some tracks re-mixed, a changed running order and two extra tracks. You'll easily identify the European version if you find it - the front picture just shows Sara's face (this picture appears on the back cover of the booklet in the standard edition). The picture on the front of the standard edition (showing Sara on a sofa) is relegated to the back of the booklet in the European edition. The two extra tracks are I only have eyes for you (a cover of the thirties classic later revived by the Flamingos in the fifties and Art Garfunkel in the seventies) and Almost new (described as an international remix version - I'm not sure where the original appeared). The other re-mixes are Crying game, No place that far and Fool I'm a woman. The re-mixes make for a slightly more contemporary sound but are not too dramatic. The European edition is long out of print but dedicated fans may be able to find used copies from UK sources. In attempting to locate the European edition, beware of the cover picture posted on a website - it may be wrong. Having originally bought the standard version, I didn't originally intend to buy the European version but I'm glad I did - it was worth it for Almost new (a superb ballad) and I only have eyes for you (an outstanding version of this frequently-covered song).

Following the limited success of this album, Sara committed herself fully to contemporary country with her third album, Born to fly - but that's for a different review. This Sara Evans album has something to offer all country fans, both traditional and contemporary. Whether you buy the standard edition or the European edition, you will surely enjoy this magnificent album if you enjoy country music at all.

Sara Evans' second album NO PLACE THAT FAR finds the singer pushing her vocals a little more, and making her sound a little more contemporary. Of course the breakthrough hit was the title track, a duet with Vince Gill, which helped put her on the map and in the hearts of country radio listeners. It's a great ballad and definately a signature song for her. The album opens with the honky tonk "The Great Unknown", which is a fun fiesty little song that would have been a good single. "Cryin Game" was also a single from the album, it's a charming uptempo number. The other single was "Fool I'm A Woman" which is a great song. None of the singles did as well as the title track, which was the only real hit of the album. There's some great songs here, such as "I Thought I'd See Your Face Again", "The Knot Comes Untied" and "There's Only One". A good album start to finish!