Customer Reviews

The Chain

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Prime Cuts: Crying, Swinging (with John Anderson), Love is Like a Butterfly (with Dolly Parton)

What you see may not be what you get when it comes to Deana Carter's sophomore CD for Vanguard Records. Dressed in her white pseudo-lingerie in her cosmopolitan glamour, Carter's alluring sex-kitten image could rival the best of the Britney Spears or Paris Hilton. However, song wise, some of these covers are relics reaching back to the bygone era of Spears' grandmother. Yet, Carter does not merely dust off these sonic dinosaurs and recycles them note for note. Rather with her feathery and coquettish voice surrounded by a tight almost acoustic ensemble there is an intimate and surprising country feel to these re-makes. Surprising because unlike Carter's previous records which lean towards rock this is perhaps her most rustic effort. Further, for an added sentimental touch these songs were specifically chosen in honor of Carter's dad Fred Carter, Jr. As a record label executive, musician and producer Fred Carter, Jr. was somehow involved in the original renditions of these selections.

Stripping off Roy Orbison's rockish overtones and geared at slower tempo, Carter transforms the Big O's "Crying" into a plaintive ballad starting off with just the guitar before some brushes of strings and drums. While the religious theme of the sonic travelogue of the Band's "The Weight" is rendered with a seasoned maturity importuning the lyrics demand. Add to this confection is a rousing popish version of Bob Dylan's "Lay Lady Lay." On the other hand, Paul Simon's "The Boxer" receives a slight bluegrassy feel only to be let down by Simon's somehow weary and at times out of tune vocals.

Besides Simon, Carter also has a line-up of superstars to duet with her. Dolly Parton adds her crystalline vocals to a revved up version of her hit "Love is Like a Butterfly." In terms of the most extreme makeover has to be Carter's take on John Anderson's "Swinging." With her sensuous purrs and the electronic-like ambiance, Carter (together with Anderson) almost delivers a ribald version of this former number 1 hit. Jessi Colter and Carter reprises Colter's career hit "I'm Not Lisa" in a way that's far too abreast to its original version. Unfortunately Willie Nelson who tags along at a beat too slow, sounds out of place with Carter's slightly more sped up version of Nelson's "On the Road Again."

After years since Carter first hit the top of the charts with "Strawberry Wine," she's one of the few artists who not only kept her figure but she still sings without any signs of aging. Still as sprightly and coy, Carter is a delight to listen to. Further, with a star-studded list of duet partners and well-chosen covers, "The Chain" ought to make her daddy proud.

Some people can't stand cover versions although the excuses given vary from one critic to another. The commonest excuse is that you can't beat the original, which is not always true, but sometimes prefer the familiarity of the original even if other versions are actually better. They also conveniently ignore the fact that many recordings that they think are originals are, in fact, covers. Did you know that My way (Frank Sinatra), Without you (Harry Nilsson), Love letters (Ketty Lester) and Those were the days (Mary Hopkin) are all cover versions. And those are just the tip of the iceberg. I did a series of lists on Amazon.com that included these and many other examples. OK, so those songs were mostly not well known before those people recorded them, but there are plenty of other examples where covers of famous songs have been popular. Unchained melody (a song from the fifties) has been a number one hit for four completely different artists in four different years, including one in the new millennium. I won't be surprised if a fifth version hit's the top spot again in the next twenty years although I'm not expecting such an event. Yes, there are bad or indifferent covers but there are bad or indifferent original songs. The reality is that quality cover versions allow good songs to remain popular with successive generations. So we come to Deana Carter's covers album.

Deana is a great songwriter and a great interpreter of other people's original material, so after doing several albums containing only a few covers between them (her Father Christmas album excepted), she was entitled to record a covers album. Deana chose to focus on the period when her father, Fred Carter, was heavily involved in the music business from the sixties to the early eighties, and to select songs that he in some way contributed to the original recordings. Now, I've long been aware that he an important figure, albeit mostly in the background, so it would have been helpful (since this is the album's theme) if notes had been included explaining Fred's role in each of the original recordings. Still, the quality of the music more than makes up for the absence of such comments. Many of the songs are performed as duets, either with the original singer or (in a couple of cases) with a son of the original singer. In most cases, the duets are of the alternate singing variety with Deana and the guest taking turns, so you won't hear much harmonizing here.

The selection of songs mostly (but not always) avoids those that have been recorded by countless artists. The set opens with Crying (one of the most frequently covered songs among those featured), a cover of the classic Roy Orbison song that Don McLean covered and had a huge international hit with (number one in Britain). I guess I didn't really need another version of Help me make it through the night, performed here as a duet with Kris Kristofferson, but I don't mind because Deana and Kris do it so well. Next comes Love is like a butterfly, the Dolly Parton classic, here performed with Dolly. I was particularly pleased that Deana chose this song, because it's always been one of my favorite Dolly songs and there aren't that many covers of it. The boxer (a Simon and Garfunkel classic) has always struck me as a strange song for a woman to sing, but Deana isn't the first woman to sing it as Emmylou Harris included it on her 1980 album, Roses in the snow. Emmylou didn't gender-adapt the lyrics in any way and nor does Deana, who performs the song as a duet with Harper Simon. Two solo tracks follow, these being Lay lady lay (another odd choice for a woman, but an excellent song from Bob Dylan's Nashville Skyline album) and The weight (originally written by a member of The Band, it may be that Jackie DeShannon was the first of many other singers to record it).

Jessi Colter, long-time wife of the late Waylon Jennings, had only limited success as a singer in her own right but she scored a number one country hit with I'm not Lisa. Appropriately, she joins Deana for a duet version of the song here. John Anderson, who had a number one country hit with Swinging, joins Deana for a duet version here; actually Deana sings the first half of the song then John sings the second half. Willie Nelson joins Deana for a brilliant version of his classic On the road again. Nevertheless, I cannot hear any version of this song without remembering a very funny Jerry Reed song (The bird) in which he sang a chorus of the song trying to sound like Willie as he supposedly ran off with somebody else's money. Good hearted woman (a duet with Shooter Jennings) and He thinks I still care (a duet with George Jones) are both impressive, but maybe the best (with the possible exception of Love is like a butterfly) is saved for last as Deana closes the album with a solo cover of Old man. This Neil Young classic first appeared on his most famous album, Harvest (which also included Heart of gold), but later appeared on Decade (a compilation of his first ten years of recordings, which included several tracks from Harvest). Great as Neil's original version of the song is, Deana really made me take notice of the song in a way that I had never quite done before.

Well, considering that this is (as some would put it) merely a collection of covers, I've expended a lot of time on this review, but I love this album and have no hesitation in recommending it to anybody who doesn't insist on original material all the time.

Well done. It is hard to cover classics like The Weight. And kudos to Ms. Carter for involving legendary artists.

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Tracks:
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» Crying
» Help Me Make it Through the Night (with Kris Kristofferson)
» Love is Like a Butterfly (with Dolly Parton)
» The Boxer (with Harper Simon)
» Lay Lady Lay
» The Weight
» I m Not Lisa (with Jessi Colter)
» Swingin (with John Anderson)
» On the Road Again (with Willie Nelson)
» Good Hearted Woman (with Shooter Jennings)
» He Thinks I Still Care (with George Jones)
» Old Man

I enjoyed all the selections on this CD. She collected all my favorites both songs and singers to sing with. I recommend it.

I agree with the last review. Deana's got a right to do an album of covers. Practically EVERYONE in the music business has done covers of other artists songs at some point. This is Deana's first and she does them very well. My only complaint is I would have preferred LESS duets and MORE of Deana singing on her own. She does'nt need the help. In fact, they would have been better solo.

Most creative artists have run into a creative roadblock. They take the easy way out and release boring cover tunes instead of rleasing good quality music. I don't like to buy cover tune albums. They shown no creativity. don't waste your money