Where Has Paula Gone?

After a seven year-plus hiatus, Paula Cole is back: Courage will be released on June 12, her first recording for Decca/Universal. For those who knew only the hits – “Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?” and “I Don’t Want To Wait” – that may not be earth-shattering news. But anyone who delved deeper into her work – the other tracks off This Fire and especially back to Harbinger, her 1995 debut – discovered an artist of unusual depth and complexity.

A graduate of the Berklee College of Music where she studied jazz singing and improvisation, Cole not only has a rich, beautiful and expressive voice; she is also a talented pianist and incisive lyricist. Cole channeled her inner Barry White on 1999’s Amen, but returns to a more pop-oriented style on Courage, including her signature style of shooting up and octave to then whisper something confessional.

It’s a lush recording, with multi-tracked vocals, yet relatively Spartan in places, too. A jazzy feel permeates “Lonely Town,” which begins with solo piano (courtesy of Herbie Hancock) that wouldn’t be out of place in smoky club. Strings and old-fashioned drums saunter in, supporting Cole’s retro vocals on a song of heartbreak. “Hard To Be Soft,” a samba-tempo meditation on celebrity, features Brazilian superstar Ivan Lins dueting with Cole. And there’s a welcome bit of funk on “I Wanna Kiss You,” especially in the loping bass line.

What’s missing, though, is the drama that propelled This Fire – the fiery screeds, the panting sensuality, the dynamic shifts in both volume and tempo. While Cole’s new material certainly offers rewards and just hearing her sing again justifies the price of the new disc, Courage moves along too calmly and evenly to ever be fully captivating.