Hearts & Minds
Singer Susannah McCorkle's intelligence has long made her one of America's most honorably perceptive interpreters of popular song.Hearts and Mindssuffers only in comparison with McCorkle'sSongs of Johnny Mercer,Let's Face the Music: The Songs of Irving Berlin, andEasy to Love: The Songs of Cole Porter. While it contains her familiar touchstones of wistful ballads, wry humor, and Brazilian rhythmic seasoning, the material almost necessarily doesn't measure up. Three songs apiece fromDave FrishbergandFran Landesman, plus McCorkle's own "The Computer Age (In Motion)," tilt the scales a little too heavily toward a more jaded modern sensibility. With 18 records and knowledge of some 3,000 tunes under her belt, McCorkle has every reason to want to stretch beyond the classic American songbook. Yet despite all the wit and savoir faire she invests in "My Attorney Bernie" and "Feet Do Your Stuff," what lingers is the way she revels on the extended notes of the Gershwin brothers' "Love Is Here to Stay," sliding her voice into the lyrics as if they were a fur coat.--Britt Robson