Amanda Leigh

Listeners are advised to ignore the authenticity issues and focus on Moore's catchy tunes and warm voice on Amanda Leigh.

Moore's sincerity and her pleasant vocals bring a great deal of charm to the project as well, and that goes a long way toward overcoming production that is perhaps a bit too slick to recall the homespun appeal of her favorite records.

Mandy Moore faces the same challenge any other singer-songwriter does: delivering songs that are consistently compelling. She does a decent job of it on Amanda Leigh.

Power-pop guru Mike Viola, of the Candy Butchers, is the album's producer and main co-writer, and the collection (recorded at Ducky Carlisle's Ice Station Zebra in Medford) is filled with his sweet, skewed melodies and smart, infectious choruses.

Everything about Amanda Leigh is just a shade too precise--the production too transparent, the singing too on the nose, the mood too subdued--to achieve the homespun quality Moore so cherishes, but a large part of Mandy's appeal is her good taste and her clean way with a song, something that is readily apparent and often winning on Amanda Leigh.