On her sophomore recording, The Enemy Of Love, Annie Hayden wears her folksy heart on her sleeve. “Hip Hurray,” “Your Carnival” and “Wait For Returns” find Hayden casting herself in the mold of ’70s singer songwriters like Joni Mitchell and Carole King, while “Anytime,” “Money Trouble,” and “Boos” sound similar to simple, lo-fi artists like Lois Maffeo and Mirah. “Weather” adds a dash of twang, but for the most part Hayden and her backing band stick to a prescription of straight folk-pop rendered with acoustic and electric guitars, piano, drums and bass. Sometimes Hayden sounds like Mary Lou Lord might if she wrote decent songs, other times she sounds like Julie Doiron if she were more concerned with crafting poppy hooks. The danger that Hayden’s music faces is the same one that challenges “nice girls.” In a world where so many women are willing to tart themselves up shamelessly to get noticed, the quiet, naturally beautiful ones often go unnoticed. It’s the same in music; style usually trumps substance. At first, The Enemy Of Love may sound quite plain but, after repeated listens, certain details emerge that reveal how good an album it really is: like the dreamy cascading harmony vocals on “Cara Mia” or the jazzy beats and swinging rhythm of “Willie’s Fortune.” Hayden also delivers a sublime cover of the Replacements’ “Swingin Party.”

If nothing else, the title of this new collection of Warren Zevon material was well chosen. As he was largely known for the sardonic nature of his song-writing, one might not initially think of Zevon as a particularly romantic balladeer. Yet as The Wind, his final album, proved, Zevon’s writing style was frequently as deeply soulful as it was sarcastic. Since Zevon lost his very public battle with cancer in 2003, even those unfamiliar with his music have become aware of his persona (thanks to a heightened television exposure towards the end of his life that the songwriter undoubtedly found ironic). As such, Reconsider Me is a decent introduction to the songwriter for those not yet ready to hear “the hard stuff.” That is not to suggest that the material that comprises this collection is in any way soft. Indeed, while the tone of the bulk of the songs on this CD is gentle, the subject matter often makes for troubled sailing. For example, songs like “Please Stay” and “Reconsider Me” are heartbreaking in both their honesty and delivery. Alternately, Zevon’s famed wit and skilled tongue-in-cheek wordplay pop up frequently on this collection. Take the song “For My Next Trick I'll Need A Volunteer,” which contains the opening lines: “I can saw a woman in two/But you won’t want to look in the box when I do/I can make love disappear/For my next trick I’ll need a volunteer.” To be sure, this is not your standard romantic couplet. If there’s a fault to be found in this collection, as is often the case with this type of release, it lies in the fact that the material is gathered largely from one period of the artist’s later career—mostly representing the three records he recorded for Artemis towards the end of his life. While a truly career-spanning “Love Songs” collection of Zevon’s material would be a delight, it is doubtful that it could be contained by a single disc.