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Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook
Bettye Lavette
Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook
Genres: Pop, R&B
 
  •  Track Listings (13) - Disc #1

Bettye LaVette brings the British Invasion home to its American R&B roots on Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook. Produced by Bettye, Rob Mathes and Michael Stevens, the album is a 13 song journey through compos...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: Bettye Lavette
Title: Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook
Members Wishing: 9
Total Copies: 0
Label: Anti
Original Release Date: 5/25/2010
Release Date: 5/25/2010
Genres: Pop, R&B
Styles: Classic R&B, Soul
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 045778702923

Synopsis

Product Description
Bettye LaVette brings the British Invasion home to its American R&B roots on Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook. Produced by Bettye, Rob Mathes and Michael Stevens, the album is a 13 song journey through compositions by the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd among others, concluding right where the very idea for Interpretations started: Bettye s visceral rendition of The Who s Love Reign O er Me from the 2008 Kennedy Center Honors, which appears here as a bonus track. That performance which first brought Bettye together with Stevens (the event s producer) and Mathes (its musical director) showcased for a national television audience what her devoted fanbase already knew: Bettye LaVette is without parallel as an interpreter of popular song. The success of this performance lead to another astonishing moment on the national stage, her duet of Sam Cooke s Change Is Gonna Come with Jon Bon Jovi at the Obama Inaugural Concert.

Now comes Bettye LaVette s first release since those extraordinary performances. Finding new excited fans at her shows, Bettye decided to explore more of the repertoire that had brought her all this attention. From the wistful naiveté of The Moody Blues Nights in White Satin, which Bettye matures into a deep and unshakeable lament, to the funky workout of Ringo Starr s It Don t Come Easy, Bettye inhabits these songs, revitalizes them and exposes the humanity that makes these 13 tracks not just pop songs, but enduring works of art.

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CD Reviews

An astoundingly cool collection of cover songs
gbear | St Paul, MN | 05/27/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)

"I was browsing at an honest-to-god record store when The Word came on over the stereo and I thought 'who IS this?', when Traffic's 'No Time To Live' (also covered wonderfully by Brian Auger) came up, I swooned and asked the clerk for a copy. Listening to the album in the store was fun because it's not always readily apparent who's songs she's covering: it took me a few minutes to realize she was covering Led Zeppelin. Both the store manager and I were getting ready to cringe as Nights In White Satin approached, but she made that song new too. Others are going to write in more detail about the individual performances but I'd just like to say that I cannot believe that anyone could take this list of incredibly familiar songs and just take them all home and make them her own from start to finish. Brilliant. I think it may be one of my favorites for a while."
Stellar soul take on UK favs.
Philip Bradshaw | toronto canada | 06/03/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)

"First off, Bettye LaVette sure has a wonderful voice - all earth, gravel and feeling. However, as viewers of Idol and other programs or visitors to African-Americans places or worship can attest, there is apparently an infinite supply of black Americans with great pipes. What differentiates the great soul singer from the mundane are, for me, just two things. First there is soul - not the appearance of soul - but the genuine article. The myth that only black Americans can sing soul or rhythm and blues is if course as preposterous as the presumption that a singer has soul simply because he or she is of colour. Bettye has soul in abundance! Second there is the material. The songs chosen for this collection are an interesting bunch. Led Zeppelin to Moody Blues to Ringo to Floyd to Stones. I like some of the originals much more than others. Bettye makes them all her own and therefore I find myself really admiring her take on Ringo Starr's It Don't Come Easy, not a song I've played five times in my life!



Some have complained that, for the most part, the songs here are slower than the originals; that there is an unfortunate sameness infecting the disc. There is some truth to this observation. After an exuberant gospel inspired The Word (from Rubber Soul) most of the recording is very slow-paced. In lesser hands this could have been disastrous - boring and repetitive music - music that you'd play once or twice and then discard. In this case I think that the deliberate nature of the pacing allows the performer to shed new light on the material. It's great stuff and I know that when I play it for friends they will turn to me (we all love this don't we?) and say "Phil, who's this?" I'll reply "Bettye LaVette" and they will look puzzled and wonder how on earth this 63 year old escaped their radar.

"
Soul from the Soul
William M. Hamby | California United States | 05/26/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)

"I've heard of Betty LaVette and put her in the company of Lena Horne,Etta James and even Eartha Kitt. I bought this CD mainly for curiosity to see what magic she has spun on some of Rock's greatest songs. I'm now on my 4th rotating spin on my CD player. Each time I here these songs it takes me away from the original artist and places me in the soulful "soul" of Ms. LaVette. Her magical touch is fantastic. The British Rock Songbook speaks very humbly of her take on these songs. Give it a spin, sit on the couch with your feet up and enjoy the wonder that is Ms. Betty LaVette."