Indigo Girls (Expanded Edition)

iTunes Review

The Indigo Girls self-titled 1989 major label debut album came to represent a renewed interest in acoustic music after a decade when the music industry served up large-scale pop, metal, and dance productions. This Georgian duo of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers wielded their acoustic guitars, earnest lyrics and sympathetic harmonies for maximum effect, yielding the immediate coffeehouse folk classic “Closer to Fine.” The two singers compose separately, providing a built-in diversity. Ray is the dark horse: “Kid Fears” with a backing vocal from R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe, and “Blood and Fire” slow the euphoric pulse with a hypnotic, obsessive flow of reflective balladry while “Land of Canaan” sports a country-rock side and “Tried to Be True” revels in a pop jangle. Saliers’ ballads, “Love’s Recovery” and “History of Us” offer a softer touch. Members of Hothouse Flowers and R.E.M. support without taking the focus away from the aromatic blend of the two gifted voices. The expanded edition includes the radio single remix of “Land of Canaan” that brightens the song incrementally, and a live version of “Center Stage” that strips the duo to its barest essence.