Coverage (2003)

Perhaps in an effort to shed her bubblegum-blond image, the now-brunet Mandy Moore has decided to devote an entire album to interpreting a dozen pop gems, including unjustly obscure ones by XTC (''Senses Working Overtime'') and the Waterboys (''Whole of the Moon''). Coverage earns points for good taste; Moore also covers master songwriters such as Joan Armatrading and Joni Mitchell. But she doesn't have the courage of her convictions, gussying up a dozen good-to-great tunes with production so overblown with strings, turntable scratching, and arena-rock pomp that her perkily utilitarian voice, and the songs themselves, become an afterthought.