Love Is Everything: The Jane Siberry Anthology

Eschewing strict chronology, this 20-year Jane Siberry retrospective leans toward more thematic concerns with compelling results. Thus 1996's whimsical flying-cow tale "Bessie" is paired with "The Mystery at Ogden's Farm," its '81 inspiration from the Canadian chanteuse's self-recorded debut; her '99 live song "Mimi Speaks" retorts "Mimi on the Beach" from her '84 major-label bow No Borders Here; and the epic, transgenre cycle "Map of the World"--including a newly recorded "Part IV"--spans virtually her entire career. While "Temple" may draw an easy comparison to Kate Bush, there's a deceptively effortless sense to much of Siberry's ethereal musical adventures that only underscores their power; jazz, folk, classicism, and techno inform her work, yet seldom call attention to themselves. Following When I Was a Boy, her successful collaboration with Brian Eno and Michael Brook that yielded the enduring "Calling All Angels," Siberry further insulated her work by taking over sole production chores on her recordings, then launching her own indie label. This 30-song, double-disc set serves as an appetizing sampler to her rich, evocatively unfettered body of music. --Jerry McCulley