I think it goes along with my feeling that on the whole Horizon’s arrangements and performances are by and large bloodless, likely due to their total exhaustion. Believe me I want to love any vocal of Karen’s, but of the ballads the only two that feel essential are Desperado and Solitaire. Something’s happening in her interpretation with these that feels complex and connected. I know the latter has some nonplussed but it’s just way more compelling to me than “Love Me…”.Our ears are telling us something different with regards to Karen's interpretation. My ears tell me she's all the way into it. You could very well be right and she was just so good that she could phone it in and make it seem like she was involved - we may never know. I get why it could bore you. It is very slow and by the time we got that tune, most of the other eight are already pretty "draggy."
Ed