Hatfield's collection solid gold

Long before Alanis and Jewel and the seemingly endless stream of pop divas they begat, Juliana Hatfield was struggling to be viewed as an equal in a male-dominated business. After leaving the groundbreaking but underappreciated Blake Babies, she joined the Lemonheads, playing bass and backing up boyfriend Evan Dando. But she couldn't remain in such a supporting role.\nAnd take, for example, how she describes her solo debut, 1992's Hey Babe, in an autobiography posted on the Zoe/Rounder Web site: "It was an earnest plea to be accepted into the rock and roll boys club continuum. And I thought I had made a rock and roll record. 'Hey babe,' sang Lou Reed. 'Hey babe,' sang J. Mascis. I was just trying to continue the tradition but I knew that as a girl it was hopeless and that I would never be accepted on equal terms."\nIt's ironic, then, that Hatfield would include covers by two male acts -- the Police's "Every Breath You Take" and Neil Young's "Only Love Can Break Your Heart," both of which are inspired and fresh -- on Gold Stars, a 20-track collection spanning the first decade of her solo career. But it's such contradictions that have endeared Hatfield to her audience.\nHer words can be in turn inspirational ("We Will Rise Again"), elegiac ("My Sister" ), bitter ("My Protégée") and poignant ("Everybody Loves Me but You"). Lyrically she can be dark and brooding or optimistic and wistful, while the music can run schizophrenically from raw to elegant in the space of two tracks.\nIn the end, Hatfield turns out to be much more important and influential than the legions of less talented but better marketed female stars that have populated the charts over the last 10 years. In an unpredictable, sometimes unsettling, sometimes energizing way, Gold Stars reflects that talent.