They say that no man ever steps in the same river twice. Well, it's been nearly eight months since we last heard from certified super-crooner Chet Baker—have the waters changed in the interim, or have we? As is so often the case, I think the answer is both.

She Was Too Good to Me, released in 1974, is often described as a comeback album. That's… surprising, given that our last Baker album was titled Chet is Back! and released some 12 years earlier, but there's no real contradiction here: Baker faced many setbacks in his life—almost entirely owing to his all-consuming heroin addiction—and, to his credit, he staged comeback after comeback in response. In fact, conceiving of Chet is Back! as a comeback seems quaint in retrospect; that release celebrated the end of roughly a year of jail time related to his drug use. The comeback behind She Was Too Good to Me was far more dramatic: a drug deal gone wrong in 1966 led to Baker losing his teeth, ruining his embouchure and temporarily estranging him from his beloved instruments;¹ She Was Too Good to Me was his major release after that extended hiatus.

She Was Too Good to Me is beautiful, sweeping, and at times a touch haunting—Baker's life was never easy, and the weight of that dull heartache comes through clearly on the album, particularly in the vocals. I generally prefer my jazz wordless, but Baker's singing is commendable: I find his phrasing compelling, and the lyrics, while simple, generally manage to steer clear of the overt kitsch that puts me off some other (particularly older) works.

Yet despite all that, I still prefer the instrumentals—particularly "Autumn Leaves," which pairs Baker with the ever-smooth Paul Desmond for a can't-miss combination. Interestingly, we've already heard Desmond himself cover "Autumn Leaves" on his solo album.² I prefer the partnership with Baker: Desmond's solo take is a bit dramatic and formal (in keeping with the overall style of that album—listen to the flute and woodwind play catch with a very classical theme around the 2:30 mark). The version with Baker is more fun: it has more strut and swing, not to mention a sweet keyboard solo—and of course it features the incredible tones of both Desmond and Baker, both of whom give great performances here.³

On the whole, I'd pick Chet is Back! over She Was Too Good to Me. The former is more muscular and energetic; there's still raw emotion on offer (just listen to Baker solo on "Over the Rainbow"), but it's not as much plaintive heartbreak. Plus, "Ballata in forma di blues" still hooks me in a way that no other track across those two albums can. Fundamentally, I suppose I prefer Chet's blowing to his crooning.

One final note for this week: we've seen many albums with great cover art, but this one mystified me; I could make neither heads nor tails of this blurry, abstract pointillism. Give it a go yourself, then click below for the real answer:

What the cover really shows

I said I couldn't make heads or tails of this, but as it happens, the correct answer is heads (well, just one head), which I learned from Doug Payne's wonderful article on the album. It becomes far more obvious when you abut the rear image against the front:

Favourite track: Autumn Leaves