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The migration of rock singers into the 1940s has become something of a seasonal event.
It's become sort of a semiannual audio Quantum Leap. Last year, there was "Red Hot and Blue" in which various folks like Neneh Cherry and Annie Lennox took a pass at Cole Porter. Before that, Dionne Warwick, Carly Simon and Barbra Streisand all took excursions back into classic pop. And, of course, the Godmother of Retro is Linda Ronstadt, whose several excursions with Nelson Riddle launched the musical archeology craze.
One of the sundry talents on "Red Hot and Blue" was that fierce waif Sinead O'Connor.
O'Connor obviously liked rummaging in the past, because now she's returned with an entire Chrysalis album of vintage pop tunes, called "Am I Not Your Girl." Among the influences cited in the liner notes are Doris Day, Marilyn Monroe, Julie London, Sarah Vaughan, Loretta Lynn and Ella Fitzgerald. That's an interesting lineup, but not necessarily one that appears to share much kinship with the dark-eyed, close-cropped O'Connor.
O'Connor has earned just praise for the searing...