• "It makes fine, mood-setting background music, but ultimately it does feel as if there is no real point to this record. Johansson, as in her acting roles, struggles to connect with a deep enough range of emotions. Waits documents ugly, messy emotions, and this is what makes his songs so moving. Johansson too often just sounds pleased with herself for being so clever and cool." [The Telegraph]

• "Every song is like every other song, even the ones that sound different (such as the exercise in Spector-y early '60s pop 'Fannin Street') or have David Bowie on them ('Falling Down'). There's a strange flatness, a dislocated, underwater quality to these songs that seems to subvert their original intent, that's as far from Waits's swallowed gravel delivery, his exaggerated sentimentality, as it's possible to get and still be in the same universe." [Washington Post]

• "Musically the album is a mixed bag. The title track sounds like it was preprogrammed on a department-store keyboard. Other songs, though, have more interesting stylings, such as the music-box introduction to 'I Wish I Was in New Orleans' and the Waits-ian clang on 'Green Grass.' David Bowie also lends his vocals to two tracks. But none of it is enough to save Johansson's voice or convince listeners that this is more than a vanity project." [San Francisco Chronicle]

• "With her low monotone, ScarJo aims for Nico but comes off like Sinéad on sopors—never more so than on the zombielike 'I Don't Wanna Grow Up.' In burying Johansson's vocals so deeply in the druggy ambiance, producer David Andrew Sitek (of TV on the Radio) means well but ends up obscuring Waits' great tunes." [Entertainment Weekly]

ONE-LISTEN VERDICT: As an album of Tom Waits interpretations, this is really weak—Johansson's flat, vacant voice is so buried in the mix and covered in echo that often you can't even make out the lyrics. Had it not been sold as such, I'd never guess that this was a Waits tribute album, and the original "Song For Jo" is hardly discernable in the dreamy stream of it all. As a TV On The Radio spin-off, however, Head is pretty enjoyable, full of grand backdrops guaranteed to make a 4AD devotee's day. While the album's male background vocalists sound awfully familiar, only on the closing "Who Are You?" does the music achieve TVOTR's usual turgidity.

Most of the tracks slowly swoon, with ScarJo happy to ape Hope Sandoval and other sleepy-effect pedal sirens, though the uptempo drum machine track on "I Don't Want To Grow Up" makes it sound as dated as a Four-Calendar Cafe outtake. Proof of the singer's secondary status is offered by an organ-led instrumental of "Fawn" that builds to a ridiculous saxophone solo worthy of Curtis Stigers. (Then again, maybe ScarJo was playing the sax.) Dave Sitek's arrangements may not do justice to Waits' songwriting, but they make the album frequently gorgeous, if unaffecting.

Not much to say about this cover, except to note that if ScarJo was trying to torpedo any "this album looks a lot better than it sounds, nyuk nyuk nyuk" reviews, she probably still didn't succeed.

2008 Is The Year Of Fugly Album Covers [DListed]

Scarlett Johansson to play Courtney [Mirror]
[Photo: AFP / Getty]

- Robots' innards: A lot more interesting than Scarlett Johansson. [Boing Boing]
- Bjork gets political. [eBlips]
- Crowded House's set sounds like it played host to every "Hey, Asshole!" submission we've received, ever. [Because Lisa Said So]
- Getting sick in the desert: A first-hand account. [skeet on mischa]
- The fifteen-minute clock on this festival may very well be at 14:59. [Teddy & Moo's Celebrity Pictures And Gossip]
- How do Coachella attendees afford their rock and roll lifestyle, anyway? [Useless Things]