Wynonna's new album includes songs like "It All Comes Down to Love," "I Want to Know What Love Is," "It's Only Love," "Burnin' Love" and "Who Am I Supposed to Love."

Notice a pattern?

Although three years in the making, Wynonna's sixth release sounds like a direct reaction to recent world events - a call for faith, understanding and, yes, love to beat back violence and hatred. The Top 15 opener, "What the World Needs," states the case plainly: Let's come together, lay our differences down, spread it all around. At a time when gung-ho fightin' words are the country norm, that's practically a revolutionary notion.

To sell these sentiments, What the World Needs Now Is Love juggles country, rock, and pop in a mix held together by the sheer force of Wy's voice and personality. By the time rock legend Jeff Beck turns up to add razor-sharp guitarwork to a string-laden, gospel-touched cover of Foreigner's "I Want to Know What Love Is," any genre lines have been obliterated.

These 14 tracks add up to a call for the healing, uniting power of love in all its forms. Call Wynonna naive, but these days that doesn't sound like a bad idea.

SOUND ADVICE:

You need Love