Pauline Henry - Do Over flac album

After the stellar album with the Chimes, Pauline Henry's solo career never really took off. The first album "Pauline" showed a lot of promise but didn't repeat the success. Henry followed with a covers album – which as a concept is always risky. On the other hand, after the huge success of the U2 cover "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" with the Chimes and the moderate hit Henry enjoyed with the remake of Bad Company's "Feel Like Making Love" (from "Pauline"), the choice was hardly surprising. But they set the expectations high – and unfortunately Henry doesn't quite manage to make the songs her own on "Do Over". The song choice was apparently by Henry herself. Six of the (only nine) songs were also relatively recent, from the 80s. They probably hadn't earned classic status by 1996. Neither had enough time passed that the songs would automatically sound fresh on "Do Over" – and no big attempt was made on "Do Over" to break new ground. Case in point is "Happy". It rolls on very nicely but it's quite close in sound to the original (by Surface, 1987). It's also very hard to surpass Diana Ross's sublime "Love Hangover" and Henry's version sounds a bit harsh. On "Sugar Free", Henry does add much-needed soulfulness to the song."Do Over" was repackaged with a bonus disc due to the original edition apparently not selling well. The 5 remixes make a nice addition, but the whole contents of the 2xCD set would have fitted on one disc (75 mins). It is not claimed on the release that CD2 is a "proper" remix album – but it could have been one. It's a shame a remix album wasn't released because the bonus disc is short (barely over 30 minutes) and the mixes chosen are not even the best ones. Furthermore, "Revolution" comes from Henry's first album and is the exact same remix that was already included as a bonus on the CD and cassette versions of "Pauline".What could the remix album have been like then? Most notably, no remixes of "Happy" are included. Granted, that single probably wasn't yet released at the time... But great mixes by Danny D, Maurice Joshua and Blacksmith were released. The "Happy" CD also includes the non-album track "Somewhere", which would have made a nice addition. "Somewhere" is not the Sondheim song or any other cover, however, but a Henry original. Another no-show is Ashley Beedle's remix of "Love Hangover". Since "Do Over" is a covers album, "I Still Haven't Found" and "Feel Like Making Love" would have fitted here well. The Chimes track had already been included on earlier Henry singles, so it's not like there was any contractual reason preventing it. This would have been the perfect opportunity to release some of the vinyl promo only remixes on CD.If a 'special edition' of "Do Over" album ("Do Over Over"?) would be released now, I would be tempted to include the 1998 Henry one-off single, too. The title "If I Can't Have You" suggests it's a cover of the Bee Gees song, which would fit the covers album idea perfectly – but it's not. Still, great remixes were released on the single, by Eric Kupper, Stonebridge and Phat 'N' Phunky – and no one would mind them being added on the bonus remix disc. "I Still Haven't Found", "Somewhere" and the regular "If I Can't Have You" (and why not even "Feel Like Making Love") could be added on CD1, to add more content to the 43-minute album.