After a few bland movie roles during the late '80s,
Danielle Brisebois went from a sweet child actress to a tigress singer/songwriter with a strong disposition. Her debut
Arrive All Over You has both pop magnificence and '70s funk flair, along with fragile and thinly veiled emotions. It's unfortunate that this album went largely unnoticed during the reign of gangsta rap and grunge, for
Brisebois' heartfelt songwriting is hauntingly similar to the subsequent confessional catharses of
Alanis Morissette.
Arrive All Over You, issued a year before Morissette's 1995 pinch-hitting Jagged Little Pill, is a soul-oriented album with its share of glossy, light, and playful lyrics from
Brisebois. Songs such as "Middla My Heart" and the cover of
Brenton Wood's "Gimme Little Sign" capture
Brisebois' childlike sassiness, but such ear candy isn't representative of the album in its entirety.
Brisebois had collaborated with producer/songwriter Gregg Alexander for several years, and he brings her anguish to life, especially on the tracks "What if God Fell From the Sky" and "Ain't Gonna Cry No More." Both tunes are outstanding lovesuckers, and fine examples of what was to come from females in rock during the '90s. Too bad
Brisebois' work was lost in the shuffle, for
Arrive All Over You is an earnest and impressive effort. ~ MacKenzie Wilson