Meredith Brooks is a fine performing artist. She puts on a decent concert. She was in a band in the 80’s, which lends plenty of credibility to someone the next time they are proclaimed a 1 hit wonder. She plays all of her own guitar, which was a major selling point for her. Meredith went so far as to criticize female artists like Patti Rothberg who played all the guitars on their albums but didn’t often appear in promo material with guitar in hand. That’s not to say Meredith’s album is all amazing guitar technique, but it is solid and it belongs to her. Or, at least it partially belongs to her. Meredith co-wrote every song on the album (ah, try to critcize Patti now, “Bitch”), which always leaves me wondering how much of a musical or lyrical talent an artist is. I never bought the second Meredith Brooks album, nor did i ever hear a song from it. I think Blurring the Edges was the perfect halfway point between Alanis (edge and angst) and Nina Gordon (fun and gut). I don’t know if that will ever matter, but it’s true.