(24 January 2003) Love Her Madly New Women Artists Cover The Doors (Skipping Discs (USA) SKD002, 2002) is a nineteen track collection, as the title implies, of classic tracks written by the Doors performed by a wide range of established and rapidly emerging female vocalists. It is the perfect compilation for Musical Discoveries visitors. Skipping Discs is proclaimed to be a covers-only label and future releases are likely to be of equal interest to our visitors.

"The idea for a covers-only label came about last December," says Rick Schober, Skipping Discs founder and one-time musician in the now-defunct obscure Boston-based Dislocated Hipsters. "While listening to the radio during Christmas dinner with some friends, we wondered why nobody had ever recorded klezmer versions of traditional holiday tunes for the Jewish listening audience. As it turns out, a band called the Klezmonauts had already released a CD entitled "Oy to the World!" in 1999, but it got us thinking about what other cross-genre cover songs might work."

Love Her Madly includes recordings by widely-reviewed Musical Discoveries artists Rachael Sage ("Twentieth Century Fox") and Bernadette McCallion ("Love Me Two Times") and a bevy of other highly notable singers. For long-time Doors-tune affectionados, new recordings of the band's classic tracks female vocalists is a rare treat.

The covers vary from respectible reproductions of the Doors original intentions to more radical re-arrangements. Certainly Simon Stinger's (Alicia Perrone) version of "Love Her Madly," Krank's (Ginger O'Day) version of "I Looked At You" and Amy Ketchum's "Unhappy Girl" fall into the latter while Rachael Sage's rendition of "Twentieth Century Fox" and D'or Lata's version of "The Spy" lie between the two extremes. "Touch Me" by the May Hart Band, "Alabama Song" by Mars Arizona (Nicole Storto), "Love Me Two Times" by Bernadette McCallion, "The Soft Parade" by The Saucers (Mere) and "Take It As It Comes" by 2 Tone Blonde (Heide Schauer), with its excellent guitar solos, are examples of accurate reproductions.

One of the most stunning and strongest tracks on the album is "Summer's Almost Gone" by Evelyn Downing. Vocal layers perfectly blend with instrumentals and a stunning flute solo by the singer in this absolute knock-out. Additional album standouts include "People Are Strange" by the Cyndi Lauper-sounding Wendy Ip and the faithful yet brief cover of "Hello, I Love You" by Joe K's Kid (Justine K) with vocal harmonies, shimmering guitar and richly arranged keyboards. The Julee Cruise-style Lazy (Lily) Lane rendition of "Indian Summer" is lovely. Superb instrumentals in "Riders On The Storm" by Essra Mohawk make it a delightful conclusion to the album.

In addition to being an album of superb tracks in their own right, this collection exposes artists to new listeners. In addition to Rachael Sage and Bernadette McCallion, singers not previously reviewed at Musical Discoveries to be further explored include Evelyn Downing, Amy Ketchum and D'or Lata.

Clearly an album made for Musical Discoveries most frequent visitors, Love Her Madly is worth a trans-Atlantic journey and is a must listen! The album is presently available through the label's website. We eagerly await their next project!