I was wiki jumping the other night, just kind of trying to kill time before passing out, and though I can't justify where I ended up, I eventually found myself staring at a list of Cher albums, the bulk of which have long since been forgotten. In fact, you could easily say about 60% of her musical career as been nothing but a gigantic disaster, releasing a string of flopped records and failed singles. Up until this point, I have never bothered to review a Cher CD, even though I will admit that I can't rise completely up out of the gay stereotype: In 2002, I bought Living Proof, a purchase which just about solidified any questions anybody ever had about me ever ever ever. With the 90s to a close and her previous monster hit Believe finally just getting off the radio, Cher "came back" (again), with another stab at the dance market, something she's apparently been doing since the disco era.

Cher is a woman who comes off as being real, blunt, and, above all, a bitch. Nobody could have failed so many times, succeeded so many times, and still look too cool for school. The world could be falling down around her, and the only thing this woman would do is shrug her shoulders and reach her hand back into the potato chip bag. Early millennium dance music, for all intensive purposes, wasn't terrible. With that super-cheesy house sound finally leaving clubs, any other was a redeeming breath of fresh air. The woman, at this point, could have done anything she wanted to on this record and it would have been a success (when compared with her other albums, that's not a high-set bar), as she was promoting the record with a "farewell" tour that would ultimately be eclipsed by a three year stint in Las Vegas with Bette Milder and Celine Dion (good God, this review couldn't get any more stereotypical, could it?)

Song For the Lonely was a semi-successful single for Cher in the US and provided September 11th victims with a very decent anthem. Though it slightly sounds reminiscent of U2 in parts, it's a very nice way to start out this CD. The beat is nice and her voice, though singing in her usual Kermit-key, is powerful enough: And this is a song for the lonely; can you hear me tonight? (Through the darkest night, you're gonna see the light...) This wasn't the main reason I wanted this record, but it's definitely a cool track for a cool chick. Unfortunately, though, any hopes for not hearing that Cher-vocoder effect we heard on Believe is dashed immediately with the raging club-thumper Different Kind of Love Song and the power-house Real Love, both of which make use of that robotic sound effect. Honestly, though, I don't mind someone of Cher's caliber using such a trick. We all know she can hit these notes; it's not like she's Britney Spears or Lindsay Lohan. It's like the basic rules of grammar: if you know the rules, you can break them.

Living Proof, from start to finish, is a dance album. There is no room for the 80s arena rock sound she sported for a time or the hippie bongo-beats of her early work with the late Sonny Bono. On the bright side, it's got a quality production to it, though some of the songs weren't able to be saved from the initial demo stage. Body to Body, Heart to Heart is crap, plain and simple; for starters, it's a cheap Spanish-inspired pop song I'd expect to hear on a Folger's commercial as this 60 year old piece of plastic bounces through a meadow. It also sounds quite a bit like a certain Jennifer Lopez song that came out the year before. The generic sound and lame lyrics make this one a track to be skipped. If Cher's flopped albums from the 60s and 70s sounded like this, I can understand why they didn't even crack the Top 100 (it takes a lot to be one of the most of famous people on Earth and still have largely failed projects due to "poor promotion"). The more interesting of tracks are the somber and pulsating The Music's No Good Without You and her cover of 90s dancestar Amber's Love One Another (though her vocals don't particularly match the song.) But then, once it's all over, does anybody really care?

JUDGING

Cher seems like a really cool person, but, unfortunately, her music isn't all that interesting. She's got an interesting voice, but her material as suffered over the years. If you liked 1999's Believe, this is a better stab at trying to do it again. It's a nice dance record; good for parties. But don't expect anything all that profound here. All in all, it's a rather boring way to wrap up your music career (as it stands, this IS Cher's last album, though there are rumors, apparently, of a(nother) come back).

Song For the Lonely (4.5 Stars)
A Different Kind of Love Song (4.5 Stars)
Alive Again (3.5 Stars)
The Music's No Good Without You (4 Stars)
Rain, Rain (3.5 Stars)
Real Love (4 Stars)
Love So High (3 Stars)
Body to Body, Heart to Heart (1.5 Stars)
Love Is a Lonely Place Without You (4 Stars)
Love One Another (3.5 Stars)
When You Walk Away (4 Stars)
When the Money's Gone (2 Stars)

OVERALL SCORE: 3 STARS (3.4-)

Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Hanging With Friends