Heart Strings
Bonnie Tyler
(CMC)

Bonnie Tyler, Welsh scratchy-voiced chanteuse, has released this covers album. And like any of the other myriad of artists who have done the same, this is very mixed bag. This is closer in quality to Toto's effort (ie great playing and singing but still nothing special) than to Helloween's Juke Box, which was good and rather amusing. Bonnie's voice is in fine fettle, and when she does something that works its durn good. Why she chose the excretable 'Human Touch" by the Boss and the far worse 'Everybody Hurts' by REM is beyond me. Lonestar's 'Amazed' comes across best of the first lot, and clearly should have been the lead-off track. Her voice works well with the tune. It's just a shame that the first two tracks are so shite. She also tries her hand at a few classic soul tracks like 'Lean on Me', with less than stellar results. Surely Michael Bolton demonstrated that honkies covering 'classic soul' tracks are a disaster. She again shines on 'I Can't Make You Love Me', a Bonnie Raite cover. What amazes me is that the producer did not direct Ms Tyler away from tracks clearly not suited to her voice or vocal style, one which I rather like. Her version of the Traveling Wilbury's 'Learning to Fly' isn't bad, either. It's shame that some of these tracks did not find their way to a collection of mostly new material. There are several gems here but, this CD is only for those with a dab hand at the forward button. I do hope that we will soon hear Ms Tyler on a collection of new material.

Rating: 2.5