Imagine
For anyone who suspects that record companies will soon be releasing Eva  Cassidy's voice mail messages, it's extraordinarily pleasing to note thatImagineis more than just a bottom-of-the-barrel-scraping exercise. All  of these tracks are previously unreleased and most are live recordings, but  listeners who already ownLive at  Blues Alleyknow just how refreshing Cassidy's live performances were.  Check out her take onSandy  Denny's "Who Knows Where the Time Goes?" to feel a shiver of delight at  another effortlessly ideal cover, or listen to her laid-back "You've Changed"  from theBlues Alleysessions to experience more of her soulful jazz.  Elsewhere, the solo acoustic reading ofGordon Lightfoot's "Early  Morning Rain" shows off her guitar skills, and if "Imagine" doesn't ever scale  the heights ofSongbird's  "Over the Rainbow" it still demonstrates how she always had something new and  uniquely compelling to say when performing a familiar standard. Studio  recordings "Still Not Ready" and "I Can Only Be Me" are, oddly perhaps, the  least successful cuts. Happily, the album concludes with another lovely solo  standard, "Danny Boy." The recording quality varies noticeably from track to  track, and there are a few awkward fade-outs--presumably to remove audience  noise--but still the sparkling music comes across quite vividly.Imaginemay not be the best way to discover Eva Cassidy for the first time, but  established fans will warmly welcome this new collection.--Mark Walker