JUDY COLLINS "Judy Collins Sings Lennon & McCartney" Wildflower

JUDY COLLINS"Judy Collins Sings Lennon & McCartney"Wildflower

JUDY COLLINS'S BREAKTHROUGH album was her 1966 title, "In My Life," a decisive split from her folkie past. But while her fellow ex-folkies were moving to folk-rock, Collins moved to a cabaret sound featuring stylish string and woodwind arrangements by Joshua Rifkin as she tackled songs not only by Leonard Cohen and Randy Newman but also by Jacques Brel and Kurt Weill. This odd folk-cabaret fusion worked because Collins's alto was so lustrous and controlled that it could be conversationally understated and still shine.

"In My Life's" title track was one of only two Beatles songs that Collins had recorded before this year. She revisits that songbook and that folk-cabaret sound on her new album, "Judy Collins Sings Lennon & McCartney." It doesn't work nearly as well, for the folk aspect of her singing has atrophied to a negligible presence, leaving an art-song formalism that does this catalogue no favors.

There's a stiffness to the phrasing and a transparent calculation to the timbre shifts. Instead of always singing the familiar melodies, Collins often sings harmony notes to those tunes -- a clever idea but not a very satisfying listening experience.

Like most pop singers, Collins emphasizes the McCartney songs rather than the Lennon ones: Eleven of the 12 numbers on the album were primarily composed by McCartney; only "Norwegian Wood" is by Lennon. Her backing band (anchored by King Crimson bassist Tony Levin and Bob Dylan's longtime guitarist, Larry Campbell) is terrific, but its instinctive folk-rock is often at odds with Collins's cautious, thought-out approach.

-- Geoffrey Himes

Appearing Sunday at Wolf Trap's Filene Center.