With her newest release The Tigers Have Spoken, New Pornographers femme fatale, Neko Case, shows how a great live album is supposed to be executed. With a backing band that is equally great in their own right, The Sadies in tow, Case and company deliver a handful of cover tunes, originals, and new yet-to-be-released tracks all in just under a breezy 35 minutes.

The unreleased tracks such as 'If You Knew" and the self-titled track are meant to keep fans patient until Case releases her new studio album in 2005. Thankfully they do just that; and they're every bit as good as anything she's done in the past. Re-recording such classics as "Favorite" off the criminally hard to find Canadian Amp EP and "Blacklisted" from her last studio album - she breathes exciting new life into them, and in a live setting, give Case's sultry country croon an added kick.

The real pleasures of The Tigers Have Spoken though, are Case's prime choice in covers. Buffy Sainte-Marie's terribly overlooked "Soulful Shade Of Blue" is given a good home here. The same goes for The Shangri-Las rollicking "Train From Kansas City." Case also has a sly wit about covering the superb "Loretta" by the Nervous Eaters, and then following it two songs later with "Rated X" by Loretta Lynn. Simply genius. Tigers closes out strongly with a knee-slapping hoedown version of the traditional "This Little Light" and a banjo strummed, backing-vocal-heavy rendition of the even more traditional "Wayfaring Stranger."

Some Case fans may see The Tigers Have Spoken as a ploy for Neko to delay her next solo release for whatever reason, but true music fans won't be fooled. Treasure this album, because live records this good don't come along all that often.