Having fallen in love with Eder's voice back in her Jekyll & Hyde days, I was very pleased to hear this new, refreshing recording, including a collection of covers and original pieces sung as only Linda can. With a voice I find more powerful and resonant than Barbra's, she delivers a knockout with every single track on this CD (although I also highly recommend It's No Secret Anymore and It's Time). Any connoisseur of fine music and vocal stylings should get this recording-it quickly became one of my most listened to albums. From the perfectly-timed, poignant If I Had My Way and the well-arranged Here Comes the Sun to the stunning title track, this is a gem of an album. In case you couldn't tell, this is a CD I think highly of. :) It has touched me very deeply and will touch you too.

I didn't know Linda Eder had released a new CD until I heard her sing on July 4th with the Boston Pops. My wife and I both enjoy her work, so buying this latest effort of hers was a "no brainer". She and I listened to it yesterday, and found that Ms. Eder has retained the high quality of singing and composition that mark her previous efforts. Once again, most of the CD contains songs composed by her husband, who has a definite flair for putting out the type of song perfectly suited to her vocal talents. There is a cover song from an old Dusty Springfield standard, which she does superbly, and a few others that were recognizable. It's the perfect CD to listen to when you want to spend some "quality time" relaxing with your special someone. Linda Eder sets the mood, and delivers another wondeful compilation for lovers everywhere!

Over the years, Linda has played with her studio production style a bit, from the classic sound of "And So Much More", to the wonderful big-band sounds of "It's Time" and "It's No Secret Anymore". Her Christmas album even has a tribal, Lion-King Choir sound to it at times. With "Gold" she again takes on a new production style, with emphasis on strings, a slight country flair, and absolutely no vocal enhancements. Yet what remains on this Album, as in all her others, is the best voice I have ever heard. I have seen her live, and own all of her albums, and her voice is so amazingly strong and beautiful that it seems like it comes from another planet. With that talent, Linda can afford to experiment a little bit with production. Her best songs on "Gold" are the title song and "If I Had My Way", since they grab you and won't let you go. Though the bare-bones country sound of many songs on "Gold" isn't her best production style, this woman can sing the phone book and make it sound good. So "Gold", like all her other albums, lives up to its title.

The great voice, which reminds me more of Judy than Babs, takes a different track on this CD. The variety of songs is ok, but too much of a pop orientation for my taste. Some gospel hints in here as well, and she performs with her ususal stunning capabilities. If you don't own her CD's start with And so much more if you like ballads, or It's Time if you want to hear her do what almost nobody else can do like her (including Man of LaMoncha, wish I could spell).

I own every c.d. of Linda's and eagerly looked forward to this one. I'm sorry to say I was rather disappointed; unlike her other c.d.s, which are terrific and exciting, this one will just be sitting on my shelf. "Son of a Preacher Man" and "Drift Away" are unworthy of her wonderful talent; she does do a rather nice arrangement of "Here Comes the Sun", but this is a monotonous, boring song, again, not worth wasting time on. The title song is gorgeous, the only great cut on the c.d., and she sings it fabulously, but the other material is mostly forgettable. It seems as though now that Linda's becoming more popular and gaining a larger audience, she feels she has to lower her standards to please everyone. BIG MISTAKE!!! I'm just going to sweep this one under the rug and hope that in her next effort Linda returns to her usual level of excellence and impeccable taste.