It took Bettye LaVette more than 40 years to get the record deal she had chased since she was a 16-year-old; her second album in three years shows why that tenacity wasn't misplaced. Her voice has matured to a crackling growl, rich in colour and fierce emotion. It's particularly effective on a heartrending cover of Elton John's Talking Old Soldiers, and on the country lament Choices. Not all her song selections are this astute: much as the self-righteous, take-me-as-I-am lyric suits her, it's a road she screeches down too often. Still, its magnetic moments make you glad she didn't just give up and get a day job.