Dedicated

AMG Review of Dedicated

Jason Birchmeier
All Music Guide

In grand pop fashion, ATB's first two albums featured a few hit singles and lots of forgettable filler, and though his third album, Dedicated, is an improvement, it's still driven by two or three great songs and lots of filler. The album's best moments feature vocalist Roberta Carter Harrison, a Canadian vocalist who perhaps unsurprisingly sounds quite a bit like Sarah McLachlan (another rance-pop star). In particular, "You're Not Alone" and "Hold You" stand out, both coming early in the album and propelled by gaudy synth melodies. Elsewhere, ATB stretches out a bit, trying to incorporate different styles of songwriting (some reaks, house, and ambient here and there) as he had attempted to do on Two Worlds. So even though most of the songs are still little more than dull filler, ATB does show a bit of promise here, certainly more than he did on his previous albums. Still, he's second-rate at best as a producer, able to effectively craft catchy rance-pop but little else. As with ATB's previous albums, it's best to appreciate Dedicated's singles as singles and not bother with the album itself.