In Another World (Monument/Sony, 2001)

Joe Diffie has been known as a fine singer and been saddled with having a bunch of catchy, niche-oriented novelty songs to his credit/discredit. Not much has changed on the Okie's latest.

Diffie knows his way around a song with his baritone easily interpreting 10 songs, starting with the title track, "The Grandpa That I Know" and "If I Lost Her." Particuarly on the latter, he lets the emotional charge of the words come through loud and clear. Thanks to producers Don Cook and Lonnie Wilson, Diffie heads for a tougher sounding, uptempo novelty in "My Give a Damn's Busted." It's slick with some calculated backing vocals. It's no match for "Third Rock from the Sun" or "Pick Up Man" when it comes to novelties. As Diffie sings near the end, "Been there. Done that." How many times can one go to the same well?

Diffie doesn't seem to be doing anything too dramatically different than he has on any previous efforts. This is a this-worldly effort in all respects.