Good - no, great - things do indeed come in small packages.  Such is the case with the new collection from Cherry Red's 90/9 imprint.  Beverley Craven's Memories: The Complete Epic Recordings 1990-1999 rounds up all three of the British singer-songwriter-pianist's major label albums, as well as a generous host of bonus tracks.  Though Craven's catalogue is a small one - this 3-CD set represents roughly half of her released output - it's one rich with melodic charm and often exquisite songcraft that extends well beyond her two signature hits, "Promise Me" and "Holding On."

Inspired by artists from Kate Bush and Judie Tzuke to Billy Joel and Elton John, Craven worked London pubs in a variety of bands as a background vocalist while honing her chops as a songwriter.  She was in her mid-20s when she snagged a publishing deal from Warner Bros. that, in turn, led to a development deal with Epic Records.  After abortive LA sessions with producer Stewart Levine (Randy Crawford, Simply Red), Beverley returned to the U.K. where she enjoyed a more felicitous partnership with a producer better accustomed to singer-songwriters: former Yardbirds bassist Paul Samwell-Smith, whose credits included Cat Stevens and Carly Simon.  Samwell-Smith was careful not to overpower the intimacy inherent to Craven's distinctively delicate vocal instrument on her 1990 self-titled debut.  Though a top-notch band accompanied her on the album, her voice and piano remained out front.  The sound might have been contemporary but the feel was very much in the mode of the singer-songwriter movement that had inspired Craven in the first place.

Beverley Craven, on CD 1 of the new set, is top-loaded with movingly performed pop.  The U.K. top five success "Promise Me," an ode to a distant lover, established the artist's warm and romantic style.  Though still crisply polished, "Holding On" upped the soft rock quotient.  Craven's only U.S. hit (No. 30 on the AC chart), its irresistible melodic hook and direct, straightforward lyrics should have propelled Craven to further chart entries stateside.  ("There's a sort of simplicity about that early stuff, and a naivety as well," Craven comments in the superlative liner notes by compilation producer Adam Mattera (Cherry Pop's recent Sheena Easton reissues, SoulMusic's Weather Girls collection) .  "That's very difficult to capture when you're older and more experienced and you know a lot of words.  You can lose that clarity and go up your backside a bit.")

Throughout this inviting debut, Craven stuck with the tried-and-true of pop, exploring love and relationships in their various permutations.  She reflects on a female friendship (the upbeat "Woman to Woman"), sisterly love (the tender "Memories"), and even a pet (the jazz-flecked "Joey," which isn't nearly as mawkish as one might think).  Samwell-Smith surrounds her vocals with elegant strings on "Castle in the Clouds" and the moody "I Listen to the Rain," and opts for brass on the rousing "Two of a Kind," assertive "You're Not the First," and melancholy "Missing You."

Terry Staunton of NME called Craven "the '90s Brit [Joni] Mitchell," and if that's a bit of a stretch, she shared with Mitchell an ability to share her innermost feelings with her audiences, allowing those audiences to recognize a bit of themselves in her music.  Beverley Craven is expanded here with two B-sides as well as Stewart Levine's three-song West Coast Session.  The singer's discomfort with the producer's bigger, glossier productions is almost palpable, even if the strength of her songcraft remains in evidence on these three intriguing cuts (originally issued on singles).

The lead single "Promise Me" (which preceded the LP's original release) was a slow starter, but a little less than a year after its initial issue - and thanks to a relentless promotional schedule for Craven - the song had made it to No. 3 on the U.K. Singles Chart; Beverley Craven went double platinum in Great Britain and sold strongly throughout Europe.  A little more than three years later, during which time the artist had given birth to her daughter Mollie, the follow-up Love Scenes was released.  That title, of course, could have adorned her first album; for her second outing, Craven concentrated on another batch of heartfelt, romantic vignettes including two songs previously released as non-album B-sides.  Presented here on CD 2, Love Scenes picks up where Beverley Craven left off.

Naturally, the birth of Craven's first child inspired material on the album - most notably on "Mollie's Song" (part-lullaby, part-stream-of-consciousness rumination on new motherhood, and all apt to tug at one's heartstrings) and "In Those Days" (a reminiscence of the narrator's own childhood days).  The title track, released in advance of the album, found Craven giving voice to a woman who imagines what's playing out between her former lover and his new paramour.  With its waltz flavor and stately strings, it wasn't as immediately commercial as "Holding On" or "Promise Me," though it respectably placed just outside of the top 30 on the U.K. Singles Chart.

Perhaps the most surprising part of Love Scenes is the participation of Jeff Beck on three tracks.  The late guitar god supplied the typically searing solo on "Love Is the Light," a co-write between Craven and her then-partner Colin Campsie which isn't the pat affirmation the title might indicate, but rather a sad reflection on something, or someone, missing ("Love is the light/That filled my life with dreams/When it used to shine on me/Finally, the spark has faded...").  Similarly, the surprisingly political "Hope" paints a bleak picture: "The martyrs of democracy are lying in the street/People with the power kill to keep their piece/A string of lies justifies whatever they decide will be/And steal the right of liberty."  Sadly, Craven's words ring truer today than ever.  She offers a sliver of the title sentiment with the repeated prayer for the young, "I hope they're gonna be alright..."

Paul Samwell-Smith again handled the classy, just-right production.  A light reggae lilt supports Craven on "Look No Further" (which dated back to 1990) while the smooth shimmer of "Promise Me" and "Holding On" recurs on "Feels Like the First Time" (the second of the two cuts from 1990).  "Lost Without You" is a more austere but no less beautiful love song.  A slinky jazz vibe and insinuating brass infuse an edgier admonition about "Blind Faith."  A rare cover from Craven of ABBA's showstopping "The Winner Takes It All" with a reggae-esque beat rounds out Love Scenes; it closed the original LP on a dramatic high note.

Five further B-sides have been added to Love Scenes including live performances of "Lost Without You," "Look No Further," and "Love Scenes."  No less an eminence than Sir George Martin helmed Beverley's whole-hearted rendition of the traditional lullaby "Hush, Little Baby," originally recorded for a charity project.  The liner notes reveal that "Call Me" was written before Craven rose to fame; it's a bubbly cut that would have felt out of place on the album but sits comfortably among the bonus material here.

Beverley's third Epic LP, Mixed Emotions, didn't arrive until 1999.  In the interim, she had become a full-time mother to Mollie and her sisters Brenna and Connie.  With Paul Samwell-Smith having retreated from the music biz at that point, she produced the album herself - largely in her own home studio.  She didn't stylistically veer too far from Samwell-Smith's production style, though, surrounding her piano and voice with impressively stacked vocals and tasteful orchestration when necessary.

The opening track, the sweeping, piano-driven ballad "I Miss You," was issued as a promo single but never on a commercial single release.  It did, however, climb all the way to No. 1 in Poland.  Without Epic's support, the album stalled at No. 46 in the U.K. but today it's ripe for a revisitation.  She hewed closely to matters of the heart on "Come Home to Me," the slick soul-pop of "Move On," the searching "We Found a Place," "Say You're Sorry," and the reggae-tinged "Talk to Me."  The empathetic "She Doesn't Need Saving" and encouraging "Phoenix from the Fire" imbue Mixed Emotions with great positivity.

"Tick Tock," about the pressures of a woman facing her biological clock, has an amiably breezy, Burt Bacharach-esque lilt although the lyric ("But she's a career girl/Who knows her own mind/She's not prepared to make a compromise") may raise some eyebrows.  The album's closing track is seemingly its most personal.  "Afraid of Letting Go" was inspired by Craven's parents' divorce; it distills her gift for affectingly communicating a story with emotion and a quiet power.

Two live mini-sets are included on the Mixed Emotions disc - five songs from Birmingham Symphony Hall recorded in 1991 which were originally released on home video and three more live tracks from London's Royalty Theatre in 1992 (where two of the cuts on CD 2 were recorded).

Since the period covered on this collection, Beverley has released just two more solo albums: 2009's Close to Home and 2014's Change of Heart.  But she's hardly been out of the spotlight.  In recent years, she has joined forces with her contemporary Julia Fordham and early inspiration Judie Tzuke for a series of successful Woman to Woman tours, the most recent of which welcomed Rumer as a special guest.  These spirited celebrations of all three artists' songbooks simultaneously indulge in nostalgia and speak directly to the moment with joy and vivacity.  The Woman to Woman trio of singer-songwriters released a studio album in 2018 and a live set in 2022.

Memories: The Complete Epic Recordings 1990-1999 has been beautifully remastered by Ted Carfrae.  The 24-page booklet within the eight-panel digipak includes Adam Mattera's definitive liner notes drawing on a fresh interview with Beverley, whose candor throughout is striking.  (Fans should seek out her autobiography Truth Be Told for more.)  Whether you're a longtime fan of Craven or new to her music, these Memories are well worth exploring.

Beverley Craven, Memories: The Complete Epic Recordings 1990-1999 (Cherry Red/90/9 NTNT006, 2023) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

CD 1: Beverley Craven (Epic U.K. CD 467053 2, 1990)

1. Promise Me
2. Holding On
3. Woman to Woman
4. Memories
5. Castle in the Clouds
6. You're Not the First
7. Joey
8. Two of a Kind
9. I Listen to the Rain
10. Missing You

Bonus Tracks

11. It Doesn't Have to End This Way (from Epic single 656323 3, 1990)
12. Everything But the Blues (from Epic single 656234 7, 1990)
13. Holding On (West Coast Version) (from Epic single 656550 6, 1991)
14. Joey (West Coast Version) (from Epic single 655943 5, 1991)
15. Memories (West Coast Version) (from Epic single 656550 6, 1991)

CD 2: Love Scenes

1. Love Scenes
2. Love Is the Light
3. Hope
4. Look No Further
5. Mollie's Song
6. In Those Days
7. Feels Like the First Time
8. Blind Faith
9. Lost Without You
10. The Winner Takes It All

Bonus Tracks

11. Hush Little Baby (from Epic single 659813 2, 1993)
12. Call Me (from Epic single 659813 5, 1993)
13. Lost Without You (Live at The Royalty Theatre) (from Epic single 659813 2, 1993)
14. Look No Further (Live at The Royalty Theatre) (from Epic single 659595 2, 1993)
15. Love Scenes (Live at Lyndhurst Hall Studios) (from Epic single 660967 2, 1994)

CD 3: Mixed Emotions

1. I Miss You
2. Tick Tock
3. Come Home to Me
4. Move On
5. We Found a Place
6. Say You're Sorry
7. Talk to Me
8. She Doesn't Need Saving
9. Phoenix from the Fire
10. Afraid of Letting Go

Live at Birmingham Symphony Hall, September 1991 (originally released on SMV VHS 200002 2, 1992)

11. Memories
12. I Listen to the Rain
13. Holding On
14. You're Not the First
15. Castle in the Clouds

Live at The Royalty Theatre, December 1992

16. Two of a Kind (Live) from Epic single 660967 2, 1994)
17. Joey (Live) from Epic single 659595 2, 1993)
18. Promise Me (Live) (from Epic single 659813 5, 1993)