Shawn Colvin - Uncovered

Rating: 2/5

Bland and samey

Shawn Colvin is a very good singer, but I'm afraid I didn't think a lot of this collection of covers.  It has it's moments, but overall it's a bit weak.

To be worthwhile, a cover version needs to bring something new to a song – a new musical perspective, an insight which you didn't get before, a different mood which shows the song in a new light or something similar.  This true of James Taylor's classic version of Handy Man, for example, or Bryan Ferry's more recent Johnny And Mary – there are a lot of great examples.  This album started so promisingly with a lovely reworking of Springsteen's Tougher Than The Rest as a rather tender, melancholy supplication that I had high hopes…but I'm afraid the rest was a disappointment.

The whole album has very a very similar feel throughout – minimal backing with sad, echoing vocals – so that it began to sound samey very quickly and some great songs just blended into the general "feel" with much of their individuality lost.  Some do have a different approach from the originals, but for me the general sameness of the album swamped anything in the way of new impact.  American Tune, a truly great song, just sounds like Colvin trying to do exactly what Paul Simon did but not as well, which is a cardinal sin in a cover.  Worse, she makes small changes to the lyrics; in the first verse "I'm all right…" becomes "It's all right, just weary to my bones," and in the last verse "…you can't be forever blessed – still,  tomorrow's going to be another working day and I'm trying to get some rest" becomes "…*and* tomorrow's going to be etc."  These are tiny but important changes; the superb precision of Paul Simon's lyrics is a significant part of his brilliance as a songwriter and altering them robs the song of some of its real insight and depth, showing an insensitivity to great lyrics which I find hard to forgive.

I'm sorry to be harsh about a fine artist, but as an album I don't think this adds up to much.  It's not offensive and it's decently performed but it's very bland and samey overall.  I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think Minnie Driver's album of covers, Ask Me To Dance, is significantly better than this for it's variety and insight into the material.  I know it sounds absurd to say that a Minnie Driver album is better than one by Shawn Colvin but I think it's true, and I'm afraid I can't really recommend Uncovered.