Wynonna What The World Needs Now CD

2003 album includes the hit single, 'What The World Needs', 'Flies On The Butter (You Can't Go Home Again)' feat. a special appearance by Wynonna & Naomi Judd (The Judds), 'I Want To Know What Love Is' feat. a special appearance from Jeff Beck, 'Burnin' Love' from the film 'Lilo & Stitch', & 'You Are' from the film 'Someone Like You'. 14 tracks. Curb.

Personnel includes: Wynonna (vocals); John Willis (acoustic guitar, banjo); Don Potter, Biff Watson (acoustic guitar); Dan Huff, Jerry McPherson, Tom Bukovic, Gordon Kennedy (electric guitar); Paul Franklin (steel guitar); Jonathan Yudkin (mandolin, violin, fiddle, penny fiddle, viola, cello, harp); Stuart Duncan (mandolin); Tim Akers (accordion, keyboards); Matt Rollings (keyboards); Steve Mackey, Willie Weeks, Jimmy Lee Sloas, Glen Worf, Oscar Meza Jr. (bass); Steve Potts, John Robinson, Mike Brignardello (drums); Eric Darken (percussion); Lisa Cochran, Chris Rodriquez, Robert Bailey, Kim Fleming, Vicki Hampton, Perry Coleman (background vocals); Narada Michael Walden.
Producers: Dan Huff, Wynonna, Gordon Kennedy, Wayne Kitzpatrick, Narada Michael Walden.
What the World Needs Now Is Love may be titled after a Burt Bacharach and Hal David song, but it as far away from that song musically as one can get and still remain popular music. On her alleged return to her country roots, Wynonna Judd cannot resist the temptation to allow many forms of pop and rock into her sound. But that's fine; just fine. On her first studio outing in three years, Judd turns in a performance that is consistent all the way through, and one that seamlessly blends that astonishing voice of hers with banjos, strings, electric guitars, mandolins, pedal steels, pianos, and lots of drums. In addition to the heartbreakingly beautiful reunion of the singer with her mother Naomi ("Flies on the Butter"), Wynonna also collaborates with überguitarist Jeff Beck on the shimmering country version of the Mick Jones pop classic "I Want to Know What Love Is." This version may replace the original as its emotion is honestly wrought and pouring over the brim of the track's arrangement. Also featured here is her version of "Burning Love," the old Elvis nugget from the film Lilo & Stitch, and "You Are," from the Someone Like You soundtrack. There are contemporary arrangements galore, but Judd's voice carries them into the realms of history as one can hear voices as diverse as Connie Smith's and Aretha Franklin's in her delivery and phrasing. Tracks such as "Sometimes I Feel Like Elvis," and the rollicking barnburner "(No One's Gonna) Break Me Down," which could have been written by Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds, deliver intensity, honesty, and theatrics seamlessly. What the World Needs Now Is Love is a stellar outing from one of the most singular talents in the country music pantheon. If this doesn't cross over, then radio really is dead. ~ Thom Jurek
By the time of this album's release, the world had already become accustomed to (ostensibly) country singers mixing their Nashville twang with rock, pop, and more. When Wynonna Judd started her solo career, though, she was something of an anomaly in the mainstream country world for doing just that. So while WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW IS LOVE might not sound particularly groundbreaking among its contemporaries, it's just following through on a thread Wynonna started quite a while before. When she breaks into a near-rap on the break of "It All Comes Down to Love," or comes off like a quirky, female John Parr on "Sometimes I Feel Like Elvis," it's an eclecticism well-earned. And when she takes the Elvis thing a step further by updating the King's classic "Burnin' Love," or gives Foreigner a soulful treatment with the help of Jeff Beck on "I Want to Know What Love Is," she gives a hint of where contemporary country might be headed.

Rolling Stone (8/21/03, p.76) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...The perfect honky-tonk angel--she's tender enough to let a little a humor [in] and tough enough to shut down a biker bar..."