While most of the late-'90s gaggle of girls with guitars want to whisper secrets in your ear, Beth Hart is more likely to grab you by the lapels and
shout her innermost thoughts straight into your face, decorum be damned. Descended pretty directly from singers like
Janis Joplin -- whom she recently portrayed in "Love, Janis," a stage musical that's soon to begin a national tour -- the rail-thin, railin' Angeleno is at her best when she eschews subtlety
altogether, something she did more often on her major label debut than on this followup. Even so, Hart manages to cut to the quick on a passel of
SCREAMING FOR MY SUPPER's best songs, most notably the cutting "L.A. Song (Out of This Town)." Hart's more over-the-top instincts are tamed a bit by a fastidious production job that pushes some tracks ("Delicious Surprise," for one) into Sheryl Crow territory, but when her own personality shines through, it's the real deal.
