Customer Reviews

A Woman Like Me

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Start right now, folks. Spell this great diva's name correctly. It's "Bettye LaVette" with a capital "V". When I first heard "A Woman Like Me," I said, "she's singing hard...Bettye is not leaving ANYthing for her stage performance!

I must admit, Bettye LaVette has always sung 'hard'... Other adjectives to describe her style are abrasive, sexy, brutal,exhuberant and gutsy. She is often compared to Aretha, Tina and Mavis; LaVette sounds like none of them but possesses the fire and urgency of those legends.

Most listeners assume that Bettye LaVette had to have been brought up in a black Baptist church. Not true. She grew up as a "child of the blues." Yes, the blues IS gospel's twin sister, so LaVette got the same soul as the Holy rollers. No wonder she stole the 2002 Chicago Blues Festival with her electrfying, revival-like stage show, and had them cheering at the Poretta Soul Festival in Italy recently. I saw her at the prestigous Columbia University in New York and she had the packed house screaming for more.

"Serves Him Right" tells her man, "you can go to hell for all I care..." Bettye's voice is fill with hurt and sarcasm. I loved (We're Not Gonna Make It) "Through the Winter." It meanders and builds to a dramatic fade with Bettye holding nothing back.

I fell out when I heard (Close as I'm Gonna Get to) "Heaven" especially when that lush viola section swooped in without warning. Bettye [sings] "Salt" and wails with the title cut, "A Woman Like Me" with the Tonight Show horn section giving LaVette kicking support.

"Forcast" was one of the songs that I felt Bettye went all the way and back again. Most voices would have given out half way through this one, but Bettye kept pushing her voice and got stronger...even I was exhausted when she finished. Bettye, after being "held back" vocally at Motown, has said, "I get emotional when I sing and sometimes, I feel like hollering!"

Two of the tunes remind me of other favorites of mine, "When A Woman's Had Enough" is pure Ann Peebles and "When the Blues Catch Up With You" conjures up visions of blues guru, B. B. King.

If this CD doesn't make Bettye LaVette a major star in the USA, nothing will. With the mediocrity that has taken over the music business, this brilliant CD is a dream come true for lovers of good music and great singers. PURE SOUL...not an ounce of effort has been spent jumping on the hip/hop bandwagon, and why should it? This is great SOUL music, genuine soul.

It's nice to hear a record with real session musicians, not synthesizers. These are real horns (Tonight Show), drums, keyboards and strings. Enjoy the show!

If you like to listen to blues with lost of electric guitar and a woman with a beautiful soulful voice singing the lyrics. Then you'll probably rate this album 5 stars.
A little bit less of the electric guitar would have been my preference, hence the 4 stars.
Nevertheless, this is a great album.

Most of the songs were (co)written by Dennis Walker who also worked with Robert Cray. A version of Right Next Door is on this disc I haven't been able to make a dicision yet as to which version I like best.
The songs all have their own caracter. You won't get bored feeling they all sound alike.

One last comment, the album is called: A Woman Like Me

It's hard to believe that a singer as great as Bettye Lavette, who has done a lot of recording since her first r 'n' b hit in l962, could be so little known in America. Maybe it's because until recently hardly any of her music was available on cd. Equally at home singing r 'n' b, blues, jazz and even rock, Bettye is the greatest unrecognized soul singer of the past forty years. Her vocal quality may remind you of Tina Turner or Mavis Staples and sometimes she sings like Ann Peebles or Etta James, but in the end she's an original, incredibly expressive and powerful.
This new album, her first American release since her l982 album on Motown, is a stone winner for anyone who likes classic soul music or soulful blues. Produced by Dennis Walker, who produced and wrote some of Robert Cray's greatest recordings, "A Woman Like Me" is a no-frills, straight-to-the-heart killer. The soul ballad, "Through The Winter" is incredibly moving, a song and performance worthy of Otis Redding's best. "Serves Him Right" may be the nastiest pay-back song you ever heard (lyric: "brotherman got bit by his own snake")laid over a Memphis groove; "Thinkin' Bout You" is a sexy mood piece, "It Ain't Worth It After Awhile" is a heart-rending jazzy torch song she closes out the album with a feisty blues she wrote herself.
There's not a weak track on the album, although the playing and arrangement on "Right Next Door", a tune recorded by Cray, is a little limp in comparison to her ferocious vocal. Throughout there's plenty of hot blues/rock guitar soloing from Alan Mirikanti. With this album, Bettye Lavette is the blues/soul discovery of the year.

If you have wondered where the great voices have gone, get a hold of this CD and wonder no more. Bettye LaVette sounds better than ever and the years have only served to give her greater command of what has always been a great set of pipes. Her voice is a magical mix of silk and sandpaper that grabs you and hits you deeply. The arrangements and productions are top notch, with nothing superfluous, and they serve as the perfect setting for the stunning vocals.

This is not a "soul" CD. This is not an "R&B" CD. This is a simply a GREAT CD.

This is this best recorded work yet by this veteran artist.Check out the track "Thru the Winter". This gives me goose bumps every time I hear it Most of the songs on the CD were written especially for Bettye by the producer Dennis Walker and they are a perfect fit This album simply oozes SOUL and. I'm so happy that after almost 40 years of recording Bettye is finally getting the recognition she deserves.

This is Bettye's best work in years - and anyone familiar with her all-too-sparse recordings will know what that means. Real musicians, good songs and Robert Cray's producer merely enhance an artist at the top of her game. Buy this and then search out the French Art & Soul label reissue of her lost Atlantic/Atco LP and you will have some of the most potent Soul ever recorded. (Will Universal PLEASE now reissue her Motown LP on CD...) Bravo to everyone involved in this CD, especially the Blues Express label for doing it and doing it right!

I was lloking at Blues Divas, and heard this little bitty women rocking, "It serves him right". I had never heard of her, but am glad that I tuned in to hear her blow. You don't hear voices like hers anymore. We continue to hear what I call the screaming me mes, Mariah, Janet, etc. This wpman can truly sing. If you have never heard this songstress sing, you haven't heard the blues. If you are feeling low, she will make you feel that she understands your pain. Give a sister a listen as this sister can truly sing. Yea.

This has got to be one of Bettye's best releases. It is very seldom I like every track on a disc. There isn't one song I'm not happy with. Of course, I do have a few favorites: Forecast, Serves Him Right, and When the Blues Catch Up With You...WOW!

Great soulful blues. This woman just sings her heart out in the tradition of classic urban blues singers like Coco Taylor, but she has her own style and voice. The title song is a strong statement of a woman's needs.

Like a lot of people, I first hear her sing with Jon Bon Jovi at the inagural celebration. She is classic old school blues, with a great growl and a lot of emotion. Interesting version of Strong Persuader from the female POV.