Cover Girl
Whether because of a creative impasse or a return to her club roots, Shawn Colvin opted to pass some of the time between her breakthroughSteady Onand later, more mature efforts with this 1994 collection of cover songs. Paging through a latter-day Great American Songbook, Colvin acquits herself well enough on a selection ofBob Dylan,Jimmy Webb, andTom Waitssongs. Less successful are her rewordings of thePolice's "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" (Colvin preserves traditional family values by switching the "she" to a "he") andTalking Heads' "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)," neither of which benefit from the stripped-down approach. This is a pleasant enough album for fans, but newcomers are advised to start with Colvin's excellentA Few Small Repairs.--Bill Forman