I've grown to like her. Maybe she was wrongly produced, or sounded too hard, in the beginning. I have the Mobile fidelity LP box version of Cafe blue and the sound is great although the performance is somewhat icy. Mythologies is an interesting album. And the sound and music is more warm and relaxed on Live A fortnight in France, and The Cole Porter mix.
Patricia Barber - Cafe Blue is an effects album
Drives me a little nuts how many still praise this album as the end all Jazz album for audiophiles.
Mind you, I really like Miss Barber's music, and some tracks on Cafe Blue, but Cafe Blue, the darling of many an audiophile, isn't even close to her best album. At best its Audiophile bait. At worst it's preternaturally sterile and lab grown.
Live at the Green Mill for instance is just such a better album to listen to.