Mark Lanegan’s solo career has taken his voice to places The Screaming Trees could only have dreamed about. As King of the Pacific Northwest Blues Singers, he’s recorded with an impressive array of underground stars and has released several solo albums, only one of which (I’ll Take Care of You) featured a stack of covers. For Imitations, he goes back to his childhood and his parents’ record collection and finds Frank Sinatra’s “Pretty Colors,” Neil Sedaka’s “Solitaire," and three Andy Williams songs, including “Autumn Leaves.” Turning to contemporary songs, he opens with Chelsea Wolfe’s “Flatlands” and performs a restrained rendition of Nick Cave’s “Brompton Oratory”; he turns Cave’s bluster into a warm croon that outclasses Cave without the fussy suits. Lanegan’s talents as a singer have never been in doubt. That here he has arrangements that complement his interpretations makes Imitations the real deal and not an ironic indie rock knockoff.

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