Easing us into proceedings is the intro 'Black Star' - a title that also happens to be the name of her perfume - and clocking in at 1m34s, it seems to serve as a rather shameless advertisement for it. "Be whatever you can be" she says wistfully, which, given the subject of track two - the trailer single - includes people who aspire to fool around with men and generally put it about - if that's not girl power folks then what, may we ask, is?
First impressions aside, what follows sounds a lot more plausible from the 26-year old divorcee. "I can be tough, I can be strong/ But with you it's not like that at all," she admits on 'Wish You Were Here'. The frank and unashamed honesty continues throughout the lion's share of the LP - from the simply titled 'I Love You' to the raw acoustics of 'Darlin''. In fact, 'What The Hell' appears to be the only 'gimmicky' song to have made the final cut.
Production-wise, Goodbye is another straight-up pop-rock affair. It's a formula that shows little progression from her 2002 debut, and as such starts to wane towards the back-end of the album, particularly on cuts 'Not Enough' and '4 Real'. That said, the strings, drums and acoustics remain slick, polished and thoughtfully assembled throughout.
Possible future singles? We'd put money on any of the following: 'Wish You Were Here', 'Smile', 'Stop Standing There' and 'Remember When' - though truth be told, we wouldn't cock a snook at eight of the album's 11 remaining tracks.
Avril may have taken the 'if it ain't broke...' approach to Goodbye Lullaby, but the result remains a solid collection of tunes that neatly ties together the sounds of her last three records: the angst of Let Go, the raw emotion of Under My Skin and the pop hooks of The Best Damn Thing are all seamlessly interwoven here. It might make for an album that breaks little ground stylistically, but continues to keep Avril at the forefront of the brat-pop movement.
Credit : Digital Spy
