Duffy - Cover Versions, Volume 1: 2004-2009

A couple of days ago, I posted two albums of Adele rarities, most of them covers. Now I'm going to do exactly the same for Duffy, with two albums of rarities from her, except they're all covers.

The similarities between Adele and Duffy are many. They're both British female soul sing-songwriters who hit it big with debut albums in 2008. Neither of them have released much music since their debut albums, with Adele releasing two more studio albums since and Duffy only one. Both of them have put out almost no new music in the last five years in particular. 

But while Adele has gone on to sell over 100 million copies of her three albums, Duffy has pretty much disappeared. It seems that at some point in the early 2010s, Duffy was kidnapped and sexually abused for about a month, leaving her psychologically scarred. Yet it also seems both singers may be making comebacks soon. Adele apparently was going to release a new album in late 2020, but it's been pushed back to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. And Duffy has released two new original songs on-line in 2020, a promising sign that she may be close to restarting her music career.

All but two of the songs here are officially unreleased ("Please Stay" and "Live and Let Die"). But the sound quality is consistently high throughout. The first two songs are unreleased studio recordings from 2004, way before the rest. The other unreleased songs all come from radio or TV shows. Four of those were recorded in front of studio audiences, but the clapping noise is minimal.

Since Duffy is a soul singer, it makes sense that most of the songs she covers here are soul classics. But she has a few surprise choices as well. I particularly like her version of "Borderline," even though I'm not much of a fan of the original by Madonna.

Here's a list of the original artists for each song:

01 I Melt - Lucia Cordaro
02 I Wish I Was a Single Girl Again - Eva Cassidy
03 Cry to Me - Solomon Burke
04 The First Cut Is the Deepest - Cat Stevens / Rod Stewart
05 Bring It on Home to Me - Sam Cooke
06 Please Stay - Burt Bacharach / Drifters
07 These Arms of Mine - Otis Redding
08 Ready for the Floor - Hot Chip
09 Tainted Love - Gloria Jones / Soft Cell
10 Borderline - Madonna
11 Wonderwall - Oasis
12 Live and Let Die - Paul McCartney

Here's the usual song list:

01 I Melt (Duffy with the Invisible Wires)
02 I Wish I Was a Single Girl Again (Duffy with the Invisible Wires)
03 Cry to Me (Duffy)
04 The First Cut Is the Deepest (Duffy)
05 Bring It on Home to Me (Eddie Floyd & Duffy)
06 Please Stay (Duffy)
07 These Arms of Mine (Duffy)
08 Ready for the Floor (Duffy)
09 Tainted Love (Duffy)
10 Borderline (Duffy)
11 Wonderwall (Duffy)
12 Live and Let Die (Duffy)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15110777/Duff_2004-2009_CovrVersionsVolume1_atse.zip.html

I chose this 2008 photo of Duffy in concert for the cover art because I like the way a pink light frames her like a halo. I didn't alter that original in any way. Also, she's used the same cursive writing of her name on all her material, so I used that too.