Sweet Children O'Mine Shione Yukawa (CD)

In 1988, Guns N' Roses released the legendary track Sweet Child O'Mine. Now, 20 years later, we have Sweet Children O'Mine, Japanese artist Shione Yukawa's homage to rock and pop icons of recent decades.

The album consists of eight tracks remade and sung in English. Remakes being a dime a dozen these days, an entire album devoted to 'retouching' old classics might seem unoriginal. But overall, Yukawa injects enough of her unique voice to make it worth listening.

Yukawa mixes mellow vocals with her own folkish flavour. Her 'Engrish' accent comes through, but in a pleasant, kawaii ('cute') sort of way.

The first song, Don't Look Back in Anger, breaks into a short interlude towards the end, reminiscent of a marching band, a nice twist to the original by English rock band Oasis.

The almost-title track is a slower rendition of the Guns N' Roses classic. Her squeaky voice in this song resembles that of Axl Rose.

Other tracks include Bobby McFerrin's Don't Worry, Be Happy, and the Jackson 5 standard I Want You Back.