*** Judy Collins, “Forever: An Anthology,” Elektra....
*** Judy Collins, “Forever: An Anthology,” Elektra. Here’s another case of when consumers should read the contents carefully. For the average pop fan, it’s another case of a possible four-star single-disc collection being turned into a less essential three-star, two-disc package.
Collins has a marvelously appealing voice that is especially effective on the kind of wistful, questioning, folk-based material that graced her early albums--songs such as Sandy Denny’s “Who Knows Where the Time Goes,” Leonard Cohen’s “Suzanne” and Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now.” She also gives us moving versions of Stephen Sondheim’s “Send in the Clowns” and a few of her own compositions, including “My Father.”
But Collins is a generally conservative and often uneven interpreter, as she shows on some less-than-inspired tracks--including her versions of the Eagles’ “Desperado” and the Rolling Stones’ “The Salt of the Earth”--that have been included to fill out the second disc.
*
Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).
The biggest entertainment stories
Get our big stories about Hollywood, film, television, music, arts, culture and more right in your inbox as soon as they publish.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
