Maria McKee: Late December (Cooking Vinyl)

The former singer for Lone Justice has long given up any sense of being a country-rock or alt.country singer, she is out there on her own and her many solo albums have been wayward affairs which seem to follow whatever mood she is in, which means from song to song she can find a new genre.

So it is not surprising here to find her opening what what sounds like a streetwise Dionne Warwick song, then peeling off some Motown soul, singing A Good Heart (which she wrote and was a hit for Feargal Sharkey about 20 years ago), ploughing through some declamatory Bowie-esque material, and indulging in some melodrama in Destine which sounds like a rock-opera out-take written by Kate Bush for Meat Loaf.

Yes, McKee is again all over the place -- My First Night Without You is her soul-country ballad of the old style -- but that has always been her appeal for some of us.

So while this will baffle some it will also delight longtime followers who love hearing this woman unleash her Motown style before inviting in some Queen-style backing vocals for the following track, then coming off as a damaged chanteuse.

Lotta wayward fun.