Mended

1	Love Won't Get Any Better 3:38
2	She Mends Me 3:18
3	I've Got You 3:51
4	I Need You 4:13
5	Tragedy 4:09
6	I Reach for You 3:27
7	I Swear 3:46
8	Don't Tell Me It's Love 3:36
9	Do You Believe in Loneliness 4:04
10	Give Me a Reason 3:11
11	I Wanna Be Free 3:59
12	Everything You Do 3:24
13	Te Tengo Aquí 3:50

Barnes & Noble

"Mended" is right -- with his second English-language album, part-time salsa star Marc Anthony fine-tunes his Latin pop formula, joining the fiery vocal presence of his Spanish-language hits with the street-smarter R&B of his debut. Pop fans found plenty to like in Marc Anthony, but salsa fans knew the Nuyorican crooner could do better. So he does on Mended, reversing his debut's ratio of acoustic-guitar kissed ballads to harder-edged material, such as the winning "Tragedy," a kissing cousin to his previous hit "I Need to Know," filtered through Bon Jovi stadium pop. It's not the only bit of déjà vu listeners may feel -- "I've Got You" raises the shade of Bad Company's "Feel Like Makin' Love," of all things, and opener "Love Won't Get Any Better" might be a rewrite of Madonna's "La Isla Bonita." The Latin-pop signifiers of acoustic guitar, R&B beats, and occasional timbales roll feel like theme and variations after a while, but Marc's energy level more than makes the difference -- and his solid partnership with producers/songwriters Dan Shea and Cory Rooney (Jennifer Lopez, Celine Dion) is a rarity in the studio-swapping world of urban pop. The end result is that anyone hooked by the album's strongest cuts will find more of the same inside -- with boosted Timbaland beats on "Give Me a Reason" or pumped-up guitar on "Don't Tell Me It's Love." Marc doesn't even indulge his Air Supply fetish until the last track, the throwback "Everything I Do." For that alone, fans torn up about their hero's weakness for the sappy stuff should feel Mended indeed. Mark Schwartz

All Music Guide

After several release date shuffles, Marc Anthony issued his sophomore English-language set, Mended, in 2002, shortly after issuing Libre, another excellent Spanish-language salsa album. (Note that both album covers are from the same photo shoot.) Mended delivers more of Anthony's passionate, urgent songs of love and betrayal, destined for mass consumption, which is what his English-speaking fans have been clamoring for. Shining moments include the fiery and exotic single "I've Got You," which also closes off the album as the Spanish-language track "Te Tengo Aquí," the sexy, mid-tempo "Love Won't Get Any Better," and the album's true highlight, the gutsy, electric, and relentless "Tragedy." That song, incidentally, was slated to be the album's first single, and had begun receiving radio play in the U.S., but was pulled after the events of September 11th. Despite these surefire hits, the album is weighted down by quite a bit of unremarkable material, including "I Reach for You" and "Give Me a Reason," the latter of which seems borderline listless. And the ballads -- oh, the melodrama! None of the many ballads come close to the soaring heights of "You Sang to Me," the closest of which, "I Wanna Be Free," still doesn't match the beauty of that earlier hit. The lyrics are gooey, and the songs seem quite middle of the road, although "Everything You Do," which could have easily come off as pure schlock, winds up being quite likable. So, despite some remarkable moments and Anthony's always excellent singing, the almost too exquisitely produced Mended seems somewhat anticlimactic, which is a shame, considering the breadth of Marc Anthony's undeniable talent. ~ Jose F. Promis, All Music Guide

Vibe

After another detour into salsa with last year's adequately fiery Libre, [Marc Anthony] returns to the format that suits him best: the R&B blockbuster. A sensible choice, since Mended is the most satisfying album of his career. Ernesto Lechner

Billboard

An absolutely gorgeous collection that confirms his position as one of this generation's great male vocalists.