Part of ' ongoing celebration of their 50th Anniversary, has current recording artists covering songs from classic recordings artists -- i.e., following the rubric set by , the 1990 compilation that had current artists covering classic artists. was always a weirder label, always reflecting its independence, while always was a bigger label -- the quirkiest and strangest of the majors, particularly during their glory days of the '60s and '70s, but still a major label with no overruling identity, a situation that is especially true in 2009, where the -affiliated labels boast a roster heavy with active rock bands and anonymous singer/songwriters. Both camps are represented here on , but the producers have gone out of their way to showcase 's more interesting acts, some of which actually do some interesting work: the twist into their own image, not necessarily an easy thing to do, the turn 's inside out, while come close to giving a clenched revamp, perhaps ratcheting up the grind just a notch too tight. While does her best to strip the sensuality away from turning it into a breathy triple-A ballad that makes ' version seem muscular, and ' into a garish car wreck, the rest of finds artists treating the originals as sacred texts. In the case of and the fidelity is embarrassing; in the case of it's just bland. fares a bit better with giving it a little bit of heartland soul, but should have known better than to replicate ' one-take wonder And that just leaves the most bewildering track here, 's mimicking of plays it straight, never cracking a joke, and it's not just unintentionally funny, it's just fascinatingly odd -- and in that oddness, it has a leg up on much of the rest of , which is faithful and forgettable. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine