Bettye LaVette...Interpretations; The British Rock Songbook(2010

2010 Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook CD Anti- 7029-2

1 The Word 3:37
2 No Time to Live 4:28
3 Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood 3:50
4 All My Love 4:11
5 IsnΓΓé¼Γäót It a Pity 4:19
6 Wish You Were Here 3:49
7 It DonΓΓé¼Γäót Come Easy 4:34
8 Maybe IΓΓé¼Γäóm Amazed 3:51
9 Salt of the Earth 4:28
10 Nights in White Satin 4:24
11 Why Does Love Got to Be So Sad 3:58
12 DonΓΓé¼Γäót Let the Sun Go Down on Me 5:37
13 Love Reign OΓΓé¼Γäóer Me 5:32

Betty LaVette is one of the great singers of our age, and no stranger to interpreting othersΓΓé¼Γäó work either. Her version of Lucinda WilliamsΓΓé¼Γäós ΓΓé¼┼ôJoyΓΓé¼┬¥, from 2005ΓΓé¼Γäós IΓΓé¼Γäóve Got My Own Hell to Raise, remains the definitive version of that song, and this from someone who thought the original couldnΓΓé¼Γäót be bettered. If youΓΓé¼Γäóve never heard it, look it up online, right now, and listen. WeΓΓé¼Γäóll wait.



Dolly Parton, Elton John, Willie Nelson, Sinead OΓΓé¼ΓäóConnorΓΓé¼ΓÇ¥when LaVette casts her net, she casts it wide, and more often than not, she manages to transform the song into something utterly newΓΓé¼ΓÇ¥recognizable, but deeper, darker, and often more powerful. Her last record, a 6-song collection of soul standards like ΓΓé¼┼ôChange Is Gonna ComeΓΓé¼┬¥ and ΓΓé¼┼ôAinΓΓé¼Γäót No SunshineΓΓé¼┬¥, was a logical extension of her 40+-year career.



Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook takes on somewhat different material: a set of classic rockers from the 1960s and ΓΓé¼╦£70s. Led Zeppelin, the Stones, Traffic, Pink Floyd, the Beatles (collectively and individually, except for JohnΓΓé¼ΓÇ¥go figure) and more. This is classic-rock radio fodder, and LaVette shows courage in taking on such venerable tunes and placing her own indelible stamp on the material.



For roughly half the tracks, her performances are revelatory. ΓΓé¼┼ôThe WordΓΓé¼┬¥ is transformed from a bouncy Rubber Soul pop song to a from-the-gut plea. Ringo StarΓΓé¼Γäós ΓΓé¼┼ôIt DonΓΓé¼Γäót Come EasyΓΓé¼┬¥ mines the blues for levels of resonance that the original never had, while ZeppelinΓΓé¼Γäós ΓΓé¼┼ôAll My LoveΓΓé¼┬¥ trades PlantΓΓé¼Γäós fey chirping for LaVetteΓΓé¼Γäós angsty howl, accompanied by a sexy piano undertone. ΓΓé¼┼ôWhy Does Love Got to Be So SadΓΓé¼┬¥, from Layla, brings in horns to point up the funk buried in the songΓΓé¼Γäós DNA, while ΓΓé¼┼ôDonΓΓé¼Γäót Let Me Be MisunderstoodΓΓé¼┬¥ lends emotional heft to an overly familiar song by the Animals.



Elsewhere, her reinventions are less successful, perhaps because the originals themselves are so perfect, or maybe because her go-to emotional stateΓΓé¼ΓÇ¥eyeball-scratching angstΓΓé¼ΓÇ¥isnΓΓé¼Γäót necessarily the perfect tone for ΓΓé¼┼ôWish You Were HereΓΓé¼┬¥ or ΓΓé¼┼ôNights in White SatinΓΓé¼┬¥. Both these songs are wistful and contemplative, wearing their darkness and sense of loss gently (well, as gently as Roger Waters could ever manage), and LaVette misfires with her turn-it-up-to-11 emotional intensity. Moreover, her bewildering decision to re-order the verse and chorus of the Pink Floyd song, so that she begins with ΓΓé¼┼ôHow I wish you were hereΓΓ鼪ΓΓé¼┬¥ before any of the powerful verses that lead up to that punchline, is both mystifying and unsuccessful.



Other songs, like the Rolling StonesΓΓé¼Γäó ΓΓé¼┼ôSalt of the EarthΓΓé¼┬¥ and TrafficΓΓé¼Γäós ΓΓé¼┼ôNo Time to LiveΓΓé¼┬¥, seem lightweight compared to other picks on the album, or even other songs by the bands themselves. (IΓΓé¼Γäód have loved to hear her take on ΓΓé¼┼ôDear Mr. FantasyΓΓé¼┬¥, for example, or ΓΓé¼┼ôWild HorsesΓΓé¼┬¥.)



The record closes with a live version of the WhoΓΓé¼Γäós ΓΓé¼┼ôLove Reign OΓΓé¼Γäóer MeΓΓé¼┬¥, recorded live. It is a fitting bit of bombast to end a record which might have benefited from a bit less of it. But hey, itΓΓé¼Γäós Bettye. No one else sings like she does, as this record once again indisputably proves.

cd ripped by dBpoweramp

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http://dickthespic.org/2010/12/02/bettye-lavette/