At least I can say it's not a bad album, but I'm not going so far to say it is a great disk either. It's no 'Wrecking Ball' or 'Red Dirt Girl'. Heck, it's not even a 'Cowgirl's Prayer'.

It seems when it was released a few months back, every reviewer heaped nothing but praise on it. That's hard to live up to. And in my opinion, it doesn't.

As expected, there is nothing wrong with Harris' voice - it is still crystalline and unique as always. And though it was recorded over a three year stretch with her ex-husband as producer, it still has decent flow and consistency. A little too much consistency, where to a point there seems to be little deviation in the song style.

Maybe it's the material. But whatever it is, it is just not firing on all cylinders for me.

That's not to say it is bad - as I said earlier. It's fine, but it doesn't have too many stand-outs and that is usually what I love about Emmylou - she has plenty of them. But compared to anything else out there, it's a very good disk, but compared to some of her other works, it is just very middle of the road.

As usual, I just purchased her without listening to it, as you usually get a quality disk. Technically it is - I was just expecting so much more.

I loved this CD.
As if there was any chance that I would not.

The reason that I gave it 4 stars
is because I am comparing it to her
other collections of songs released
over the decades, on the EH scale
if you will. Very few, if any, other
folk musicians can even qualify to
be rated on the EH scale.

I wasn't expecting a sort of return
to somewhat traditional Americanish
folk music,
but I'm not disappointed because
she is particularly good at that
whatever-you-call-it type music.
What am I saying ?!!! She's the best.
The truth is, after all this time,
one might as well call it
Emmylou Harris music. She owns it.

You will hear and like a number of songs
written by herself
and other great song writers.
And, as usual, she is accompanied
by the best of the best of musicians.

The cardboard packaging is pretty lame.

It's a new Emmylou Harris album!!!
Get it and listen to it alot!!!

Emmylou never fails to deliver and on "All I Intended To Be", she continues to use that magic voice, beautiful melodies and a heart-crippling "All That You Have Is Your Soul".

I would suggest buying this album if you are a long-time fan....see the change Emmylou has made from the 70's until now, she is truly a rare gem.

I absolutely love this cd... it was worth the wait. Personally think it's her best since Wrecking Ball, but then again I love everything she does. If you love Emmylou you must add this to your collection.

Emmylou Harris may be so good, she is at her penultimate for most of her career. I admit, I enjoy her soulful voice and spare orchestrations so much that I really cannot claim to have a favorite CD from her releases.

This 2008 release was produced by her former husband, Bruce Ahern. You'll hear old friends on this CD, including Dolly Parton (backup on "Gold") and Buddy Miller. The 'songfinder' has snagged some great music, too, from the likes of Tracy Chapman and Kate McGarrigle.

"Broken Man's Lament" talks about not messing with someone else's dreams. When the subject married a bar singer, he asked her not to sing.

"Gold" talks about the human failings in all of us:

"no matter how bright I glitter, baby, I can never be gold"

Probably my favorite song of this collection is "All that you have is your soul" by Tracy Chapman. This song contains some of the best life advice you can get.

In this case, I think a lot of this CD was gold as soon as it was released.

Rebecca Kyle, August 2008