DON’T TOUCH THAT DIAL

It took an album to make me realize that the best singles or at least, the most interesting ones, so far this year have been by women.

Despite some of my colleagues’ flights of fancy, I don’t think Anne Murray or Helen Reddy are all that talented, or even bearable. “Ruby Red Dress” is a seventh-rate take-off on the “Delta Dawn” idea in the first place, and Anne Murray’s “A Love Song” — which is at an advantage because Murray can sing, and Reddy can’t — is plain pablum. Pure button push.