MUSIC: BREAKING UP IS GOOD TO DO...

...AT LEAST WHEN IT INSPIRES AN ALBUM AS FINE AS THIS ONE, LYLE LOVETT'S FIRST SINCE THE COLLAPSE OF HIS MARRIAGE TO JULIA ROBERTS

It was the most improbable celebrity match of the '90s: Hollywood's pretty woman Julia Roberts and lizard-visaged country singer Lyle Lovett. Yet when they wed after a month-long, blinders-on courtship in 1993, Lovett's admirers were the ones to ask, What does he see in her? Wasn't he the more courtly, substantial, vulnerable of the two? After their bust-up 21 months later, the uncouple remained tantalizingly mum. But Lovett, a caustic songwriter, could be expected to have the last words.

Here they are, in 12 choice cuts of The Road to Ensenada (MCA). Listen for the testimony and you may be persuaded...

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