Paloma Faith, Spiteri and Covers Rant

Paloma covered Billie's "Don't Explain" at last month's Jazz Cafe (Feb 11th):

Wouldn't mind a studio version of that. Here is Billie Holiday's version to compare:


Meanwhile Sharleen Spiteri has managed to get to #13 on the UK album chart with an cd of covers (some cheesy and really awful! Xanadu for goodness' sake!). The album is called the The Movie Songbook and some of it is just plain embarrassing. I was really impressed with her really underrated recent album "Melody" because it had a vintage feel. There are a couple of gems on this Movie Songbook but most are awful to listen to IMHO.

The point being I'd love some modern Jazz covers by some vintage-sounding artists like Spiteri and Paloma Faith. It's about time in my opinion. Nothing wrong with covers if they aren't done in a lazy cheesy way (no offence Sharleen but I reckon most of yours fit into that category.)

My favorite on Spiteri's Movie Songbook album is "This One's From the Heart":


But the worst is a toss up between Xanadu, What's New Pussycat and Pretty Woman. Check them below. :-[




According to some interviews with Sharleen Spiteri, the Movie Songbook happened because she did some covers like this one below back in 2008. She enjoyed them and they appealed....

Well maybe they did appeal to some radio 2 listeners....

The sad thing is that since Spiteri went to #13 with this album she can't be too far off the mark with what people expect of her. She's certainly acting her age. IMHO if a young and upcoming artist had've released the 2008 album Melody it would have done better than it did. Pure speculation I know. But it was a good album with vintage appeal, perfectly fitting with the times. The title rack Melody is one of my faves:


Here's anotehr track from Melody.


Where did it all go wrong? Well maybe it's just that you can't separate the face of Texas from Texas and since Texas fans must be getting on a bit now then I suppose the thinking was they'd appreciate some cheesy covers... and in that respect the label was spot on. Perfect timing for Mother's Day.

#13 with an album like this is an achievement indeed. Well done Sharleen.