Rachel Sweet’s ‘Fool Around’ Shows Her Promise

Fool Around suffers from its share of mistakes but, as a debut entry from a 17-year-old, it proves more than sufficient to whet appetites for whatever comes next. Demonstrating once again that experience can count less than instinct where rock vocalizing is concerned, Rachel Sweet combines unbounded enthusiasm with an extraordinary facility for interpreting a wide range of material. Highlights here run the gamut from Dusty Springfield’s vibrant “Stay Awhile” to Elvis Costello’s melancholic, country-spiced “Stranger in the House.” Granted, such tracks only hint at what time and better production will do to Sweet’s work, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t check them out.