Bettye LaVette – Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook (Anti) – CD review –

Bettye is like a fine wine – she had to get good and old before people would start to enjoy her.  The singer, now aged 64, is having the biggest success of her career.  A video of her performing the Who’s “Love Reign O’er Me” at the Kennedy Center Honors became a Youtube sensation.  LaVette didn’t just sing the song, she reinvented it and made it her own.  Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook asks the question: “can she do it again”?

The answer is a resounding “yes”!  Interpretations is an excellent name for this collection, because of the 13 tracks, she rarely plays the arrangements straight.  If you don’t look at the track listing, you might find yourself going through half of the song before recognizing it.  To say that she breathes new life into these tired old rock classics is an understatement.  Bettye recreates these songs, often times singing behind the melody, turning every one of these into spine chilling soul classics.

The arrangements are sparse: slinky Stax-infused guitars, Hi-records strings and Lavette’s gravelly but powerful voice cutting through.  “It Don’t Come Easy” the jangly Ringo Starr song, is transformed into an acoustic-based blues, “Maybe I’m Amazed” becomes a sermon for her to sing from the pulpit, even Zeppelin’s “All My Love” becomes a soul shouter.  Plenty of artists have tried similar projects and wind up sounding like bad karaoke.  LaVette not only pulls it off, she begs the question: “where the hell has she been all these years”?  — Tony Peters