Eleanor McEvoy
Album: Stuff
Label: Moscodisc
Tracks: 14
Website: http://www.eleanormcevoy.com

What do you get the Eleanor McEvoy fan who's got everything? It's going to be a much tougher question to answer once they get their hands on Stuff, the aptly named compilation of bits and pieces, odds and sods, flotsam and jetsam she's pulled together from b-sides, other people's records, alternate mixes and from generally rummaging down the back of the metaphorical sofa.

Of course when you can turn a tune like McEvoy and bring a characterful voice to bear on covers, you can be sure such tracks are much more than mere leavings.

For your money you'll pick up an arrestingly sombre reworking of Memphis Tennessee that rediscovers the bluesy back seat in Chuck's rock 'n' roll classic. On first listen it's a toss up between that and the reworked Rodney Crowell co-write Please Heart You're Killing Me, with its sweet and dour observations for track of the album.

Then again, Lovers Chapel co-written with Dave Rotheray for the Homespun album Stories from East Yorkshire, is a peach as is the single mix of the other Rotheray collaboration, The Night May Be Young, But I Am Not. (The winner of title of the album, by a mile.)

Things get more complicated when the magical mysteries of Ms McEvoy's return to Take a Little Look with Polish a cappella group Banana Boat are revealed. It's a stirring piece of songwriting in its initial incarnation, but stripping it this far back reveals even greater depth. Which is more than can be said for the cover of The Fratellis' singalong romp Whistle for the Choir - it is no more or less than it appears to be.

Elsewhere, Milord is included in tribute to Edit Piaf, there's a re-recorded Take You Home and a few other single mixes that don't really shed any new light.

Inevitably then, Stuff is a mixed bag that'll thrill completists, but it will also move many more of the simply curious than you might have previously thought.

Nick Churchill
www.thegranvillechambers.co.uk