All That We Let In  (Audio CD) 
by Indigo Girls

Some 20 years into their career, the Indigo Girls continue to work the same protected turf they staked out with their first album, building on their strengths--gorgeous melodies, teardrop vocal blends, and the occasional poetic insight worth jotting on the back of an envelope. But on their ninth album, their irritating habits remain as intractable as ever: must every romantic spat be framed against saving the whales (okay, the shrinking water supply) and the fight for clean air? And why not put all that randy energy to good use? On "Tether," a Joan Osborne-fronted song that would have aired on progressive rock stations in the '60s and '70s, the three need to kick it up a notch and set a match to those dueling, gasoline-powered guitars. Yet when the chips are down, both Emily Sailers and Amy Ray turn out inspired songs, especially "Something Real," in which a long-awaited reunion with a friend leaves Sailers full of regrets, and "Cordova," a haunting eulogy in which Ray's choices in lust and liberal causes start to blur. --Alanna Nash