Fontella Bass - The New Look (1966/2019)

Like many LPs of the mid-'60s issued in the wake of an artist's first big hit, Fontella Bass' New Look seemed like a hurriedly recorded exercise, surrounding that big hit ("Rescue Me") with a bunch of filler. Here the filler mostly consisted of covers of soul-pop hits ("Our Day Will Come," "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'," "Come and Get These Memories," "I Know," "Gee Whiz," "Oh No Not My Baby") and mainstream pop standards ("Since I Fell for You," "How Glad I Am," "Impossible"), as if it were more important to showcase Bass' versatility than supply her with interesting original material. She sings the covers competently, but they're neither a match for the well-known source versions nor particularly imaginatively arranged. It's not all routine filler: the reading of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller's "I'm a Woman" is pretty good, as is "Rescue Me"'s B-side, "The Soul of a Man." All of the album's songs, as well as 13 additional tracks from singles not included on the LP (including a few duets with Bobby McClure), are on the 2006 U.K. compilation The Very Best of Fontella Bass, which is a recommended alternative to searching for The New Look on vinyl.