Ann Wilson

Immortal BMG

Heart singer’s second solo album and second covers one.

With Heart on seemingly permanent hiatus after 2016’s Beautiful Broken, and Ann Wilson closing in on her 70s, less dogged souls would surely put their feet up. Instead, Immortal, handled carefully by Dreamboat Annie producer Mike Flicker (there’s even a sprinkling of flute to solidify the link), showcases a voice which remains as rich and wounded as it was in

Heart’s pomp, and a catholic selection of mostly dead songwriters, from George Michael and Leonard Cohen to Tom Petty and Chris Cornell.

She doesn’t quite get Michael’s A Different Corner, and setting Cohen’s wry A Thousand Kisses Deep in a bar was so misguided that she gives up on the notion halfway through, but she brings all sorts of new depth to Amy Winehouse’s Back To Black. Showing that an album of old songs can have new meaning, she’s bolshy and paranoid on David Bowie’s I’m Afraid Of Americans and oozes bluesy menace on a sprawling redrawing of Cream’s Politician. Best of all, though, is a busy, raspy, saxophone-free reinvention of Baker Street, which swaps Gerry Rafferty’s rue for delicious disdain.