Three decades after Smith made the transition from poet to rock & roller, we still don't think of her as a singer, exactly — more a reciter who can carry a tune, kind of. So a covers album showcasing her interpretive gifts is a questionable vehicle. And like most such albums — there are dozens by now — it's somewhat hit-or-miss. But when Smith hits, it isn't just a bull's-eye — the arrow splits the apple and then brings down the bad guy hiding behind the tree. It takes a poet to extract the lyricism of Jimi Hendrix's "Are You Experienced?" from its guitaristics and an avant-gardist to validate a middlebrow tour de force like Paul Simon's "The Boy in the Bubble." And though other winners are more obvious, you'll be convinced that this woman felt "Gimme Shelter" very deeply — and many years later, "Smells Like Teen Spirit," too.

“Tonight's the Night”

The lead cut and title track from this girl group's debut album, "Tonight's the Night" was written by 19-year-old bandmember Shirley Owens, who sings lead, and producer Luther Dixon. The band from Passaic, New Jersey met in high school, first calling themselves the Pequellos. The song's frank thoughts about sexual and emotional surrender was racy for the time, but that didn't stop the Chiffons from cutting a similar version immediately after the original came out. "We were the first female group to write some of our own material," band member Beverly Lee recalls. "We did have some say-so in our writing."