For singers better known for performing their own material, the choice to cover another songwriter's words usually rings with a meaning. For this reason, Shawn Colvin's very pretty, all-cover Cover Girl – though heartfelt – is mistimed. With only Steady On (1989) and Fat City (1992) to her credit, it's still too early in Colvin's career for this recorded diary to make the emotional impact it might have had a few years down the line.

Understanding the artist's body of work helps as well. Morrissey's ironic crooning of Henry Mancini's "Moon River" or Bruce Springsteen's hammering of Edwin Starr's hit "War" were dynamic, necessary covers, driven by a specific purpose. By virtue of Colvin's remarkable but developing talent as a singer/songwriter, Cover Girl seems a hurried move, acknowledging her vocal ingenuity more than her artistry or message.

Still, Cover Girl is an appealing album. Colvin's sinewy strength as a singer is pushed and pulled by the odd demands of her choices. With a gender adjustment, Sting's "Every Little Thing (He) Does Is Magic" is delivered like a folky bearhug, giddy and irrational. The unfamiliar beauty of Greg Brown's "One Cool Remove," sung with Mary Chapin Carpenter, breathes with strange reserve.

A good deal of Cover Girl was recorded live at New York's Bottom Line club and revels in the clean love affair between Colvin's acoustic guitar and the edgy sigh of her voice. She cradles the Talking Heads' "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)" as if it were a small child, rocking it in a lullaby. Bob Dylan's "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go" and Willis Alan Ramsey's "Satin Sheets" play especially well to Colvin's simply embroidered fire-and-ice arrangements.

Shawn Colvin is one of the new breed of tough folkies; there's usually salt lending tang to her sugar. Unfortunately, Cover Girl acquiesces to Colvin's sweeter side and ultimately feels like the result of a record-company suggestion; it's poised more as a breakthrough album than another leg on an artistic journey. Releasing a Police cover as a single to sell Shawn Colvin seems a compromise, an uninspired, even calculated move to repackage a hit song, not develop a songwriter. (RS 697)

KARA MANNING