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Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook

Bettye LaVetteAudio CD
3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)

Price: $12.09 & FREE Shipping on orders over $25. Details
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MP3 Music, 13 Songs, 2010 $9.49  
Audio CD, 2010 $12.09  
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Listen to Samples and Buy MP3s

Songs from this album are available to purchase as MP3s. Click on "Buy MP3" or view the MP3 Album.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Samples
Song Title Time Price
listen  1. The Word 3:37$1.29  Buy MP3 
listen  2. No Time To Live 4:28$1.29  Buy MP3 
listen  3. Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood 3:50$1.29  Buy MP3 
listen  4. All My Love 4:11$1.29  Buy MP3 
listen  5. Isn't It A Pity 4:19$1.29  Buy MP3 
listen  6. Wish You Were Here 3:49$1.29  Buy MP3 
listen  7. It Don't Come Easy 4:34$1.29  Buy MP3 
listen  8. Maybe I'm Amazed 3:50$1.29  Buy MP3 
listen  9. Salt Of The Earth 4:28$1.29  Buy MP3 
listen10. Nights In White Satin 4:23$1.29  Buy MP3 
listen11. Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad 3:57$1.29  Buy MP3 
listen12. Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me 5:36$1.29  Buy MP3 
listen13. Love Reign O'er Me (Live From The Kennedy Center Honors) 5:31$1.29  Buy MP3 


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I'm Not the One from "Thankful n' Thoughtful"

Biography

This is the moment—the record, the book, the culmination of a lifetime of near-triumphs. This is Bettye LaVette’s triumphant year, her 50th in show business.
“Miss LaVette now rivals Aretha Franklin as this generation’s most vital soul singer,” proclaims the New York Times.
“With a voice as powerful as Etta James and a story as compelling as Tina ... Read more in Amazon's Bettye LaVette Store

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Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook + Thankful N' Thoughtful
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Product Details

  • Audio CD (May 25, 2010)
  • Original Release Date: May 25, 2010
  • Number of Discs: 1
  • Label: ANTI
  • ASIN: B003A4IFDW
  • Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Music
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #45,521 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Review

She has a depth of emotional understanding that surpasses what many of those singers did in the R&B world back in the 60s and 70s. Bettye has brought the old methods of her genre into the modern world in a new way. --Pete Townshend

Bettye LaVette punched a hole right through her version of Pete Townshend s Love Reign O er Me, letting all the song s emotion pour out in a way that its creators never conceived. --The New York Daily News

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.

Customer Reviews

Well, IMO, all the songs are fantastic. BuzzGuy  |  4 reviewers made a similar statement
Others of course may disagree but that was my reaction. MT57  |  1 reviewer made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
29 of 31 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars an astoundingly cool collection of cover songs May 26, 2010
By gbear
Format:Audio CD
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.
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19 of 21 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Powerful, raw, emotional. May 26, 2010
Format:Audio CD
This is an interesting album based on an interesting idea.
In the mid-1960s, Brotish bands took their interpretations of American R&B back to the States in the so-called "British invasion".
On this album, the veteran, Detroit-raised blues diva ( and a contemporary of more famous peers like Aretha Franklin and Smokey Robinson) returns the compliment and goes the opposite route.
Well, we know, she has always done things her way, from her youthful excursions with James Brown and Otis Redding.
Decades on, her rocking, rip-roaring soul vocal style has established a broad fan base, and this latest album comes with endorsements from many of the artists she's covered, including Elton John, Pete Townshend and Keith Richards.
"Interpretations" centres on LaVette's charismatic takes on 1960s/70s British rock classics .
She has a rasping voice somewhere between Nina Simone and Tina Turner.
She is now turning to the great British rock songbook, reworking the back pages of The Beatles ("The Word"), The Stones ("Salt Of The Earth") and Pink Floyd ("Wish You Were Here") in a series of devastating melodramas.
LaVette's passionate vocals crackle with soul, raunch and innovation, and it sounds like the songs (originally inspired by US R&B) have come full circle.
This is no conventional covers album, it is more a showcase of extraordinary standards.
The accompaniments are of the tastefully restrained variety, with plenty o' Memphis folded in, and the tempos are at the slow end of the scale.
She has chosen songs that give her the most wiggle room -- the chance to strip the whole thing back and rebuild it.
Thus, we get Ringo Starr's "It Don't Come Easy".
The opening couplet is a bit of a throwaway when Ringo sings it, but it's a whole other matter when Lavette confronts you: "You wanna sing the blues? You gotta pay some dues. 'Cos it ain't coming easy".
"Yet, whether she's singing "Maybe I'm Amazed", "Nights in White Satin" or "Wish You Here", Lavette makes it sound effortless". - Mark Edwards
Raw, powerful, emotional.
If you like her style, you will love this album.

Scene of the Crime
I've Got My Own Hell to Raise
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9 of 11 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Stellar soul take on UK favs. June 3, 2010
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
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.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars My Personal Favorite
The other three albums I reviewed by Ms. LaVette were the same. I had little to add. This album I'd give six stars. Read more
Published 24 days ago by Charles A. Downs
5.0 out of 5 stars Great
Bettye LaVette..wow Her vocals and cover versions of classic british songs are timeless!!.The Beatles-The Word,Eric Burdon and The Animals-Dont Let Me Be Misunderstood,Led... Read more
Published 4 months ago by A. Valentino
3.0 out of 5 stars An Interesting Treat
Each of these rock classics becomes a LaVette original on this album. Some are almost unrecognizable when compared to the originals. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Ernest Bruns
4.0 out of 5 stars Her usual powerful self
Bettye Lavette is not to everyone's taste. We are the same age and I love her and have for years. But even I can only take her in small measured doses. Read more
Published 23 months ago by hbdawg
1.0 out of 5 stars Terrible
"All of My Love" is one of the worst covers I have ever heard. It is painful to hear. She sounds like someone is torturing her. Read more
Published on April 29, 2011 by Deb R.
5.0 out of 5 stars Bettye LaVette
Bettye LaVette brings extra soul to these classics. I love her voice. Buy this product and all her others. Read more
Published on March 7, 2011 by Michaela
4.0 out of 5 stars Interpretations - Different but Interesting
I first heard Bettye on the Kennedy Center Honors with a riveting performance of The Who's "Love Reign Over Me." I was spellbound by the arrangement and her approach to the words. Read more
Published on February 10, 2011 by Erin Henderson
2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing
The interpretations are a bit disappointing. I had heard the track of Love Reign O'er Me (Live From The Kennedy Center Honors)and had hoped to hear more of the same on the rest of... Read more
Published on January 13, 2011 by Gtbassdude
4.0 out of 5 stars Bettye Rocks!
If you've never had the chance to see Bettye Lavette live, you are missing one of the most electrifying spirits in Rock and Roll. Read more
Published on December 27, 2010 by kgindc
4.0 out of 5 stars Stirring covers of rock classics
Bettye Lavette has a powerful voice and she uses it well in this album of covers of British rock classics. Read more
Published on December 25, 2010 by Golden Rose
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