Bettye LaVette - Scene of the Crime
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Free Music Notes for Scene of the Crime
Free Music Review: Sparse, Stripped down Soul, Superb!!
Hit: 5 Stars
There's a focus throughout this set of THE VOICE, and the voice is Bettye LaVette. Recorded in Muscle Shoals and produced by her, together with David Barbe and Patterson Hood there's a sparse stripped down feel to the set which allows plenty of space for her to show off what fantastic condition the voice is in. Add to that the sinuous keyboard work of Spooner Oldham, together with a fine performance by Drive-By Truckers who wrap their sound around her voice, and Oldham's keyboards.
There's not a horn section in sight, and performance is probabaly better for the sparsity that it encourages. The excellent sleeve notes by Patterson Hood (whose father David Hood from the original Fame session band appears on the album as well) suggest that the musicians and the artist found the whole experience cathartic and the intensity of the end produce suggest that it was.
It's one of those albums that is best heard as a whole rather than trying to pick out specific songs, but I'd agree that the reading of Elton John's "Talking Old soldiers" is an unexpected and brilliant reading of an unlikely tune to be recorded in the set.I also like the version of Ray Charles "They call it love" and Ed Petterson and Kim McClean's " I guess we shouldn't talk about that now".
It's an album recorded by an artist who at 61 years old appears to be at the very top of her form, and leads to speculation as to "What next?". Before there's an answer to that is the opportunity to enjoy this fantastic album.
Free Music Review: Bettye LaVette: "Talking Old Soldiers" -- A Masterpiece!
Hit: 5 Stars
Without a doubt, Bettye LaVette is among the very best singers performing today. Much has been written about her astonishing "comeback," which, when compared to others who had big records years ago, came back onto the scene with a hit and then vanished again, there is no "comparison." LaVette is now where she should always have been -- with her peers, the greatest of singers. "When The Money Came" tells it all. I can't get enough of that one.
This new CD really grows on you. That's the case with every album I purchase because usually, I get stuck on one or two tunes that I can't leave alone. On SCENE OF THE CRIME, I became mesmerized by "Talking Old Soldiers," which I listened to 12 times straight before I could pull myself off the floor. Another recent LaVette recording did the same thing to me, her version of Bruce Springsteen's "Streets of Philadelphia," which one critic noted, "doesn't belong to Bruce any longer." Well, "Soldiers" is now Bettye LaVette's.
It's been said, "don't let Aretha Franklin get near one of your songs," well, the same can be said of Miss LaVette. Not only have Bettye's records catapulted her towards the heavens, her electrifying stage performances have "time-traveled" people back in time -- a period when singers didn't need 20 dancers prancing behind them, pyrotechnics and other special effects. LaVette is from the school of "hit the stage, grab the mic and sing your butt off."
With the Grammys being handed out to "artists" of questionable talent and abilities, who just happen to sell a lot of records, wouldn't it be refreshing to see some REAL ARTISTS win for genuine QUALITY work?
Note: Bettye just picked up a Grammy nomination for this album for Best Contemporary Blues Album of 2007.