Review: Corinne Bailey Rae - 'The Love EP'

On her latest project, Corinne Bailey Rae, the English singer with the light, beautiful voice, tries her hand at covering some of her all-time favorite love songs. On the five song The Love EP (released in the U.S. on Jan. 25, 2011), Corinne has some big shoes to fill vocally: she channels Prince, Paul McCartney and Bob Marley, among other legends. The results vary; her remake of Marley's "Is This Love" is a lusciously warm and romantic offering, but on the other hand, her cover of Prince's "I Wanna Be Your Lover" is pretty lackluster.

Of all the cover songs on The Love EP, the one that seems to make the least sense for Corinne Bailey Rae to cover is the very first one, Prince's lusty "I Wanna Be Your Lover." It's not your traditional love song; in fact, it's not really a love song at all. It's actually about longing and desire. And for Corinne, who's know for soft, romantic material such as "Put Your Records On" and "Like a Star," it's apparent that she's very much out of her element on the song. Her version basically mimics Prince's, but she might have been better off slowing the tempo down and making the arrangement more romantic or seductive to better fit her vocal strengths.

But a beautiful rearrangement is exactly what she gives us on the EP's best song, a remake of Bob Marley's "Is This Love" Corinne's stripped-down, soulful version removes the reggae elements, but still manages to pay homage to the original's sweet brilliance. She also fares well on her tender, acoustic cover of Paul McCartney & Wings' 1973 hit "My Love," which, like most of the albums songs, was released before Corinne was born. And her live version of "Que Sera Sera (Whatever Will Be Will Be)," is an interesting choice. The original was recorded in 1956 by Doris Day, but thankfully this version, which was recorded in mid-2010 at the 9:30 Club in Washington DC, is more reminiscent of Sly & the Family Stone's 1973 soul/funk version. The reason why the choice is so interesting is not just because of the song's length (13-and-a-half minutes), but because Corinne basically plays a supporting role vocally. The main singing duties are handled by guitarist John McCallum. He does an excellent job, but it's a little odd hearing Corinne as basically a backup singer.

The Love EP isn't likely to convert non-fans into Bailey Rae devotees, and it does have it's flaws ("Que Sera Sera" could have easily been split in half to make room for another song, for instance), but overall, if you're a devoted Corinne Bailey Rae fan, this is a collector's item you'll want to pick up.

Disclosure: A review copy of the EP was provided by Capitol Records. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.