While, as a past VMD winner (thank you, thank you!) I was tracking the fine print, I'd still gleefully accept any of Uncle D's collection run-off!
This album is a funny nexus for me. I tend to be ambivalent toward covers and there are few instances where I like the cover more than the original. And, then, there are some songs so entwined with the cover artist that they eclipse the original and I forget they are a cover (e.g. All Along the Watchtower).
Then, I have very few live albums in my collection. I really like the vision and art of a well recorded, sequenced, and beginning to end great album.
So, here we have a live album of all covers. And it works. Very well. Eva Cassidy has an undeniable voice that is always imbued with so much soul in it. Her reimagining of songs like Bridge Over Troubled Water is a wonderful bluesy rendition that breathes freshness into it even if you've heard the original countless times. Same with Stormy Monday - I've heard that song done a hundred times over by countless artists (and it's hard to compete, IMO, with the Allman Bros Filmore version or the Albert King/SRV In Session) but there is such an intimacy in the venue it is performed and from Eva Cassidy that it carves out its own niche and purpose.
A true highlight for me was People Get Ready. No shade on the Curtis Mayfield/The Impressions, but I have always enjoyed live versions by Jeff Beck and just like hearing him emote with his guitar absent of vocals. But, man, Eva sells it.
As for the live part....well, I think it translates well to a recording being from what I can only assume is an intimate venue. In the end, this album swam mightily against the dual currents of my general disposition toward covers and live albums.
The previous album I rx'd from VMD was Moon Duo - Escape. It was another project i had never heard. I like it and dig listening to it. HOWEVER, Eva Cassidy speaks to my deeper self and is right up my alley (no pun intended or maybe it is).
Now...I'm inclined to listen to more Eva Cassidy.
By the way, I am listening to the album as I type this and I have to comment because it is playing now......Tall Trees in Georgia......phew!
All in all, if I had to give it a knee jerk outta 10 rating, I'd go 7.8/10.