Bettye LaVette - The Scene of The Crime (2007)

Bettye LaVette - The Scene of The Crime
WAV | CUE | 300DPI | 450 MB
SOUL | ANTI 2007

"I've got my mem-mor-eehees," sings Bettye LaVette at the chilling finale of her version of Elton John and Bernie Taupin's obscure "Talking Old Soldiers," holding the last syllable as it fades into a hum while Spooner Oldham's ghostly piano underpins the pain. The singer's whiskey-stained voice infuses those words with a fierce mix of pride, hurt, resignation, sadness, strength, and humility--traits that make her one of the finest R&B singers of her generation. There are other riveting moments rivaling that from this deeply moving set that finds her recording once again at Muscle Shoals' FAME Studios, the same place she created an album in 1972 that Atlantic inexplicably never released. Accompanied by Oldham and the swampy, tightly wound Drive-by Truckers, LaVette digs into material from John Hiatt, Willie Nelson, Frankie Miller, Eddie Hinton, and Don Henley, among others, finding the hidden soul in songs as she rips them apart from the inside out. It's a magnificent performance from a singer who shoots straight, especially on her autobiographical "Before the Money Came (The Battle of Bettye LaVette)," this disc's sole original. The Truckers dial down their raunchy Southern rock, concentrating instead on rugged R&B and creating a greasy collaboration that's as inspired as it is unlikely. Lavette grinds out the intensity, alternating between ballads and roots rockers on a set that never lets up for 40 passionate minutes. Soul music just doesn't get any more fiery, as Bettye Lavette creates indelible images of loves and lives with the voice of one who has walked the talk.

--Hal Horowitz, Amazon.com

~ TRACKLISTING ~

01. I Still Want to Be Your Baby (Take Me Like I Am)
02. Choices
03. Jealousy
04. You Don't Know Me at All
05. Somebody Pick Up My Pieces
06. They Call It Love
07. The Last Time
08. Talking Old Soldiers
09. Before the Money Came (The Battle of Bettye Lavette)
10. I Guess We Shouldn't Talk About That Now



Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4


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