Annie Lennox was always a spectacular white-soul singer from the very start but her legend was cemented in 1980s during her "Eurythmics" day and I never found her solo career particularly inspired. Both she and Dave Stewart got lot of attention for their solo debuts because media was curious what they will come up and naturally focus was more on visually attractive Lennox who always knew how to use her androgynous image, though I always thought her solo music was too similar to that previously done, icy sound backed with synthesisers.
I clearly remember this album being a turning point where for the first time I started to think that Lennox was not so impeccable after all - up to that point everything she did was quite spectacular (I even convinced myself that her solo debut was not so bad) but this all-cover collection was really just trading a water. In theory I have nothing against covers and Lennox sings well as always, its just that it looks not like step forward but standing in one frozen spot, not really any artistic improvement on what she had previously done. Compare this to her covers of "The Doors", Lou Reed and The Beatles (recorded a decade ago while she was still in "Eurythmics") and its basically same thing.
Listening now, almost a decade later I enjoy it probably slightly more than during original release, it might be that either I got used to it or her music needs some more attention. However I would never call it essential.
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