Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great voice meets a great band, 6 Oct 2007
Bettye Lavette's excellent "I've Got My own Hell To Raise" showed how a solid, sympathetic backing band could showcase her superb phrasing and kickass vocals. For her follow up her record label asked loud, raucous and exuberant Alabama rockers - the Drive-by Truckers to provide the backing. They took Ms Lavette back to Muscle Shoals Alabama, where her lost classic 1970s album was cut for Atlantic Records and then shelved, hence the title.
The Truckers Patterson Hood and their cohort David Barbe take the production duties as Muscle Shoals sessioneers Spooner Oldham and David Hood (Patterson's father) join the Truckers to add further layers of meaning to the sessions. The Truckers sound nothing like the Truckers, they sound like a great R & B backing band. This is Ms Lavette's album and they kepp in the background bringing her gritty, emotive voice to the fore and filling in the spaces.
It is an album full of great interpretations of songs but the one original song, the autobiographic "Before the Money Came (The Battle of Bettye LaVette)" is a highlight. What an achievement!
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Strong Musicianship; Weak Songs, 24 April 2008
There's one thing lets this record down.
It's not Lavette herself: She has the quintessential R'n'B voice and knows how to use it.
It's not musicianship: The undercover Drive By Truckers are magnificent, and the drop-ins like Spooner Oldham and David Hood give the project some added kudos, too.
It's the songs: You have the lyrical muscle of DBT, including the Dirtroad Dylan himself, Mike Cooley, and the best song on the whole album is written by Elton John, who I'm afraid lost me shortly after Tumbleweed Connection.
Despite that it's a good record, but it most definitely ain't a great record.
You can feel it's good from the start as the guitars kick in with an irresistible riff and some addictive hooks, and then you feel the emotional pull of Lavette's gravel-honed tonsils. On that score she would give Cooley more than a run for his money. The guitars of DBT are well complemented by Oldham's keyboards, and on several tracks include John Neff's pedal steel which gives an interesting country flavour to a definitely not-country record: DBT truly are undercover stylistically but demonstrate their R'n'B chops to the max.
But as I say, the songs themselves are disappointing overall lyrically, there is little by way of a memorable tune, and my overall feeling is that it's pretty well a dead cert that I wouldn't have bought the record had it not been for the presence of DBT.
Honestly. I've listened a dozen times at least, and can't get excited, and I'm being generous with four stars.
Is that another crime?
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Great Discovery, 7 Jan 2008
I first read about this album on the Drive By Truckers site when they covered their forthcoming projects. I thought I would get it even though I had not heard of Bettye before. What a fantastic suprise! A real pleasure from beginning to end with, to me, the stand out track being her interpretation of Elton John's Talking Old Soldiers. Great sleeve notes from Patterson Hood giving a picture of a diva with attitude and soul. As you would expect great backing from the DBT band with added musicians who dropped in when they found out she was recording back in Muscle Shoals including Spooner Oldham.
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~ Bettye LaVette
~ Drive-By Truckers
~ Bettye LaVette
~ Drive-By Truckers
~ Drive-By Truckers
