The all-or-nothing record is a staple of the music scene. It’s either spawned from bands that stopped giving a shit or from record execs still looking to squeeze that extra dollar out of an artist. Jessica Simpson’s latest album, Do You Know, seems to have materialized from the latter category, as it’s debatable whether she ever cared in the first place given her catalogue.

That being the case, Know plays like Simpson was pushed in this direction rather than choosing it herself. This makes for a very impersonal country album, a seemingly morose oxymoron.

It’s no surprise, then, that the usual suspects of the country scene like session-men Tom Bukovac and Shannon Forrest are here as well as popular songwriters including Victoria Banks, who co-wrote the single “Come on Over,” and Hillary Lindsey. Basically, like most contemporary country albums, this core group of musicians and songwriters act like an updated, countrified version of The Corporation.

Unfortunately, the thing about having the same group of songwriters found all over modern country radio is that there is nothing special or, more importantly, unique about the arrangements of songs on any given country album. Do You Know suffers from this same problem.

On the whole, the record does not contain anything that wouldn’t be found on any number of country albums. Typical quasi-rock choruses dominate the faster-paced songs like “Come”, and banjos and strings dominate the slower ones like “When I Loved You Like That.” Also, like many other country albums, there are too many ballads. The up-tempo songs are where Simpson’s personality — however calculated (and weak) it may be — shines through the music.

If the songwriting all sounds the same, the only way for a country singer to rise above the rest is through his/her voice. Simpson certainly tries to do just that, but with very mixed results.

When she’s employing her middle-of-the-road vocals either just below the arrangement or within it, she’s able to fit into the song as a vital feature to this disc. However, when she tries to actually rise above the music and belt out a chorus, bad things happen. Her voice isn’t strong enough to compete with Carrie Underwood, and the production can’t hide her listless voice like “Mutt” Lange did for Shania Twain. The result is a flat voice that floats in the air about as well as a brick.

Lyrically, the album deals with typical country fodder: love (“Still Don’t Stop Me”), God (“You’re My Sunday”) and a positive outlook (“Still Beautiful”). Like the music, nothing special or out of the ordinary is found here, which is both a safety net for country fans and an irritation to those outside its city limits.

The only thing that qualifies as a surprise here is the title track, a duet with Dolly Parton, who also wrote the song. As a result, the song does stand out from the rest of the collection here, albeit only slightly. It is undoubtedly a nice break to hear someone besides Simpson on the album, and “Do You Know” is a great way to sum up this (flawed) record.

Despite the fact that Jessica Simpson really can’t sing and the fact that the compositions are rather bland, Do You Know comes surprisingly close to not totally sucking.

1 out of 5 stars