Artist: Mandy Moore
Album: Coverage
Release Date: October 21, 2003

1. Senses Working Overtime
Moore starts off her cover album with this upbeat song. I’m not quite sure if she pulled it off, though. The song is there, but I don’t find that her breathy tone works with this song all that well. Either way, it’s not a bad cover as Moore sings well, with confidence and with energy. It opens the album with power, and a lot of fun.

2. The Whole of the Moon
I don’t exactly agree with some of Moore’s artistic choices in her delivery; I find it a bit too over-sung at times. However, I still find that she does an excellent job with this song considering its repetitiveness. I personally would have liked a bit of vocal variety throughout the song as she mostly sings the song the same way throughout, but she emphasizes well throughout. I especially love the arrangement of this song with the brass throughout.

3. Can We Still Be Friends?
Moore is immensely good at slower songs, and this song shows her interpretation skills. She uses her breathy tone to her advantage, so makes this song really pretty to listen to. The higher notes seem a bit sharp in the pre-bridge when the vocal layering comes in with the “lala”s, but she carries her voice very well for the majority of this song. I love her voice without the breathiness in the bridge though. Her tone is so clear and so well-supported.

4. I Feel the Earth Move
This upbeat song, amusingly, covered well by Moore and with so much energy. I love the strings in the background of this song, as well. Her voice is strong throughout, but again, I don’t completely agree with some of her vocal style choices at points of the song. The song is pretty awesome, though, and I really enjoy the arrangement with the dramatic strings.

5. Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters
This is another mid-tempo song with some of Moore’s well-sung vocals. The song is accompanied with piano at the beginning before she goes into the chorus where other instruments and back-up vocalists come in. The song is sung with sensitivity and power. This is the kind of vocal variety that I know Moore is capable of.

6. Drop the Pilot
This next song is probably on of my favourite upbeat songs from this album. Moore’s vocals are just excellent throughout, and sung with such conviction and energy. The arrangement is rock-ish and immensely fun to listen to. Both Moore and the accompanists perform with emphasis and energy.

7. Moonshadow
I absolutely love this cover. The lyrics are pretty repetitive, and I really like Moore’s use of her lighter voice here for the majority of the song. The acoustic sound of this song works so well with the type of melody it is. It’s simplistic, yet beautiful. By the bridge, Moore goes to the chest voice for more power, and it works well without overwhelming the simplicity of the earlier parts of the song.

8. One Way or Another
I’ve always found this song slightly on the corny side. My dislike of this song aside, Moore performs well here with a lot of attitude that fits the style of the song. It’s not particularly eventful, however, but it works well enough.

9. Breaking Us in Two
The next song is a dramatic mid-tempo song. It’s quite a pretty song, and Moore sings well. I especially like the use of flute in this song. There’s a sense of a kind of dreamy atmosphere in this song that I really like.

10. Anticipation
This next song is a mid-tempo acoustic song, with an emphasis on the acoustic guitar accompaniment. Again, I absolutely adore how Moore delivers this song. Her tone is gorgeous, emotional and shows much more variety than in some of her other songs on this album.

11. Help Me
Moore uses her lighter, breathy head voice in this next song, and it works quite well. I like how she starts off this song, and the breathy quality of her voice works with the rest of the song quite well. I love the part where she starts off as “didn’t it feel good when we were sittin and talkin” with her chest voice, and she quickly switches back to her head voice as she goes back into the song.

12. Have a Little Faith in Me
I fell in love with this song the first time I listened to it on the TV. There’s a sense of simplicity with its focus on lyrics and vocals rather than music. I love Moore’s delivery of this song; it’s absolutely delicious. An excellent ending to such a beautiful cover album. Love the use of brass, here.

Overall -
Favourite Track: Moonshadow, Drop the Pilot
Coverage marks the first album where Mandy Moore starts to rebel against her previous teen-pop idol image as she covers songs from the 1970′s and 80′s, against the wishes of her label. As the first album where Moore takes completely control over her material (she financed this album herself, and recorded it in her own), I’m impressed. Sure, I find she oversings some of her material a bit, but overall, she sings with such confidence, musicality and energy. For a cover album, this is pretty good, despite Moore’s vocals being a bit overbearing at times.