Tori left her covers album until way too late in her career. Earlier stabs at covering songs originally by male artists - "Ain't No Sunshine", "Smells Like Teen Spirit", "Purple Rain", et cetera - were excellent. She could very easily have cranked out a great covers album in, say, 1995. But by 2001, things were different. Why that is is something of a mystery, but there are weak spots dotted through this album - "Real Men", "Strange Little Girl", "Rattlesnakes". Yet the highlights are impressive enough makes this worthwhile for fans. "'97 Bonnie & Clyde" is actually among her best songs, and while she arguably doesn't add much to either song, "I'm Not In Love" and "Enjoy The Silence" are simply great pieces of writing and Tori performs them with respect and aplomb. "Raining Blood", the album's key talking point, is good, if over-rated. It's inconsistent, like a lot of covers albums, but there's some great songs on here at least. And there's only 12 tracks! How about that for a latter-day Tori album?
2 Bumps | Bump |
