Wildest Dreams (Lyric Street, 1999)

Disney's Lyric Street label is making a habit out of taking good singers who release good music, but have fallen on hard times at radio and turning them into good singers who release bad music and still can't get a hit. (Does anyone remember Lari White?)

John Berry's debut had the funky "Kiss Me in the Car," the simmering "What's in It for Me," and the soulful "Your Love Amazes Me"? Six years later, the best he can do is the cute and slightly grooving "Power Windows." Other than that, the album is full of saccharine mush and country-pop arrangements, with a strong emphasis on the "pop." The most telling song is "You'll Be in My Heart." Title sound familiar? Probably not, because it's a generic title for a generic love song, but it's a hit from the recent Disney movie "Tarzan." Phil Collins performed the movie version, so we have a country singer whose popularity has waned covering a song written and performed by a pop singer whose popularity has waned. This doesn't sound like a recipe for success.