Bettye LaVette (2010) -Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook

Artist: Bettye LaVette
Albums: Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook
Released: 2010
Quality: mp3 CBR 320
Size: 184 MB

At first glance, Bettye LaVette’s new album Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook, would appear to be just another collection of song covers. But “interpretations” is the key word here, because LaVette, a Detroit soul veteran and a contemporary of more famous peers like Aretha Franklin and Smokey Robinson, is no run-of-the-mill singer, and she takes these classic British Invasion tracks and gives them new dimension, making them in every sense and nuance her own. That’s not an easy task, since every one of these tracks is a well-known song, seemingly immutable in the original version, but amazingly, LaVette steals each and every one of them. John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s “The Word,” which leads things off, for instance, becomes the gospel stomper the Beatles always intended it to be, while Ringo Starr’s “It Don’t Come Easy” becomes a swampy, haunting, and profoundly wise blues song in LaVette’s capable hands. And she’s not afraid to make changes to these classics, either, updating the Rolling Stones’ “Salt of the Earth” to include references to the HIV epidemic. She rearranges things in song after song here, moving choruses, swapping out verses, all in the name of claiming the song and placing it in new emotional territory. The idea for this album came after she performed the Who’s “Love Reign O’Er Me” in 2008 at the Kennedy Center Honors ceremony for the band, and her version that night (it is included here as an extended bonus track) is nothing less than stunning, pulling a depth of emotion from the song that the Who could only dream of, as fine as the band’s original version was. Now in her mid-sixties, LaVette is singing better than ever, and if she isn’t a household name, she ought to be. This is a remarkable album because this lady is a remarkable singer -- that’s the bottom line. ~ Steve Leggett, All Music Guide.




Tracklist:
01. The Word (John Lennon/Paul McCartney)
02. No Time To Live (James Capaldi/Stephen Winwood)
03. Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood (Bennie Benjamin/Gloria Caldwell/Sol Marcus)
04. All My Love (John Baldwin/Robert Plant) (David Gilmour/Roger Waters)
05. Isn't It A Pity (George Harrison)
06. Wish You Were Here (David Gilmour/Roger Waters)
07. It Don't Come Easy (Richard Starkey)
08. Maybe I'm Amazed (Paul McCartney)
09. Salt Of The Earth (Michael Jagger/Keith Richards)
10. Nights In White Satin (David Hayward)
11. Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad (Eric Clapton/Bobby Whitlock)
12. Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me (Elton John/Bernard Taupin)
13. Love Reign O'er Me (Peter Townshend) (Live from the Kennedy Center Honors)

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