Search - Patricia O'Callaghan :: Real Emotional Girl

It was just a matter of time before some canny chanteuse seized onto Randy Newman's 1983 tearjerker "Real Emotional Girl." The song's simple, direct sentiment, coupled with one of the singer-songwriter's most supple melodies, make it a natural for interpretation, and on this set of covers, Toronto singer Patricia O'Callaghan does the song justice. Yet the 16-track disc is something of a hodgepodge of selections that don't always gel. The classically trained O'Callaghan clearly has a way with the street drama of the Kurt Weill compositions, and finds common ground with those songs and a number of Leonard Cohen tunes. These sit somewhat uncomfortably alongside the more pop-oriented offerings, including a rendition of "Like a Rolling Stone" that is a piano tinkle away from a Holiday Inn lounge version. On the other hand, O'Callaghan does things with Pearl Jam's "Better Man" that gruff-voiced singer Eddie Vedder could only dream of. A victim of its ambitions, Real Emotional Girl never really coalesces into a completely satisfying disc, but it does contain several full-blooded moments in which O'Callaghan's powerful, authoritative instrument finds the core of the song and brings the material home. --Shawn Conner