Phyllis Hyman

April 4 - 11, 1 9 9 6

*** Phyllis Hyman

I REFUSE TO BE LONELY

(Zoo/BMG)

The title attached to Hyman's last session seems almost cruel when you consider the loneliness that likely occasioned her death last year by what the newspapers called "apparent suicide." Except it's the singer herself who's being cruel. She plunges her voice into 10 songs so dark in mood and hopeless in outlook that none of the showy vocal tricks that moved her from disco-dreamy music to quiet-storm ballads to buxomly-diva blowouts over the 20 years of a cult-status career apply. Profundity, she had none; and she paid the price by never rising above a cult. This time, though, she sings profoundly indeed of her determination to face love and life on her terms, and to draw a conclusion. Her steady-riding alto imposes itself on romantic melodies like "Back to Paradise," "I'm Truly Yours," and "It Takes Two," and her insistence on independence batters down the hard indifference of songs like "Waiting for the Last Tear To Fall," "It's Not About You (It's About Me)," and "Give Me One Good Reason To Stay," the CD's final word. And hers.

-- Michael Freedberg