Relations

Not quite all of Relations works. The version of Nirvana's "All Apologies" aims for deceptive innocence, but just sounds twee. The take on Lee Hazlewood's "Easy and Me" is a nice try, but hobbled by an annoying stop-start arrangement. For the most part though, Relations is a startling collection of things that just shouldn't work, but they do. Anyone attempting Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" is dooming themselves to toil in the shadow of Jeff Buckley's definitive version, but Williams, in a live recording, applies a slightly lighter touch with tremendous results. She performs similar small miracles with Neil Young's "Birds" and The Byrds' "The Ballad of Easy Rider". --Andrew Mueller