The covers record is a grand art form, often abused, but with a conceptlike this one there's no way to go wrong. Sally Timms' latest soloalbum is primarily comprised of songs written by men, hence the title,and with anyone else some of the material might come off a bit tooforced. Timms takes these songs and, to her credit, does not change anywords or situations in the songs to make them work from a woman'sperspective. These performances are the original songs in newarrangements, brought about by Timms and the engineering/productionteam of Johnny Dowd and Justin Asher. The emphasis is on raw, however,with songs sometimes reduced in parts to just Timms' voice, aforeboding and sensuous being all its own. She has chosen some ratherinteresting specimens to emulate, from her other band the Mekons toMark Eitzel to Ryan Adams, and each interpretation bears a stamp thatwill never wash off in my mind. This makes it impossible to listen tothe original song without thinking of Timms' rendition, a testament toher artistry and originality when the tunes aren't even hers to beginwith. The two Mekons songs are especially moving, as her interpretationis informed by something deeper, so any changes could imply thatperhaps this is the way Timms always wanted the song to go; though theMekons are along for the ride, providing the music. Most of all, thisis a solo album of striking variation, with revealing and incrediblyprovocative imagery. The instrumentation involved alone is a wild ride,from musical saw to accordion to moog bass to strightforward guitar anddrums. Programming by Asher is never tiresome, and Timms' voice risingfrom a whisper to a plaintive wail and filling the room with nakedemotion is purely goosebump-inducing. By the time "Little Tommy Tucker"takes the speakers, I'm spent, and it's almost the bedtime story I needto fall asleep. It would be, that is, if it weren't so completelymesmerizing, with her frightening "none shall be married" refrainrepeating in my head so vividly that I may never sleep again. Read More
