Phoebe Snow
I Cant Complain (House of Blue/Platinum Entertainment) (star) (star) (star)
Anyone seeking relief from girly-voiced waifs will find it on Snow’s first album since 1989. Snow is in robust, compelling voice on this flawed collection of covers from the rock, folk and soul canons. Though producers Joel Moss and Jimmy Vivino strike a balance between the steady rocking and easy rolling cuts, they drop the ball on Snow’s sensitive rendering of Van Morrison’s “Madame George,” which gets slathered in studio processing. Likewise, the excessive reverb applied throughout pushes this disc — full of earthy, exuberant performances — toward slickness. Snow fares best on less obvious covers such as Joni Mitchell’s “A Case Of You,” a ballad she nails with pleasing restraint. On “Right to the End,” a duet with Michael McDonald, both singers push each other to the expressive limit without sounding maudlin or melodramatic.