"El stinko," writes one Amazon.com customer, but to be fair to Rimes, her second album since the surprising debut Blue is more misguided than merely bad. She bites off more than she can chew, and producer Wilbur Rimes (LeAnn's father) tries to force-feed warmed-over Adult Contemporary arrangements and overheated pop fare ("Purple Rain" may be the silliest cover in "country" history), the kind neither Rimes nor the listener can easily swallow. Sittin' on Top of the World may be an advance from the truculent You Light Up My Life, but Rimes's talents are being squelched by the superstar machine. Still, with the right production and right songs, Rimes may yet make a consistently strong country album. --Roy Kasten
