Jukebox Jury
Lynne, Moorer, and Cat Power tap classic songs of the past for bold statements of their own
By Chris Morris
Some people detest albums of cover versions; I love them. They’re a nice measure of a singer’s prowess and a gauge of their interpretive skills, and they open a window into the music that inspires their own work. Three female vocalists currently have cover albums on the table, and they’re all revealing in their own right.
Despite winning a best new artist Grammy early in the decade, Shelby Lynne has languished near the bottom of the charts. If there is any justice in the world, Just a Little Lovin’ (Lost Highway), out last week, will change her commercial fortunes. It’s a beauty. “Inspired by Dusty Springfield,” and suggested to Lynne by her admirer Barry Manilow, no less, the album features nine songs associated with the late English diva and one crushing original, “Pretend.” Besides an inherent soulfulness, Springfield and Lynne share little as vocalists; Dusty tended to charge into a song with all stops out, while Shelby caresses the material. Here, the acolyte strives to replicate the effect of the master’s music, not its force. Produced with clarity and simplicity by Phil Ramone, it’s a subdued but subtly compelling opus.
There’s a lot of smart, enveloping singing here. Lynne slows the title song to a creep, dropping in some unexpected rests that leave the listener quivering with anticipation. She ratchets down the brassy “I Only Want to Be With You” to a seductive invitation. She’s strong on embraces like “The Look of Love” and “Breakfast in Bed,” but she shines on the songs of romantic uncertainty that were Springfield’s emotional hallmark – “Anyone Who Had a Heart,” “I Don’t Want to Hear It Anymore, ” “How Can I Be Sure.” This is superb stuff for hours when lights are low.
Coincidentally, Lynne’s sis Allison Moorer has a covers set, Mockingbird, due February 19 from New Line Records. Moorer pays tribute to several other female singer-songwriters, a trick that worked for Bettye LaVette on her 2005 collection I’ve Got My Own Hell to Raise. The present album isn’t in that league, but sports its own pleasures.
Moorer is a more powerful singer than her sister, but the higher temperature of the performances doesn’t always bear fruit. The better tracks find her laying back, and opening up when the song demands it. She’s at her best on Gillian Welch’s “Revelator” (I love the way she drawls, “Fuckin’ out of sight”), Anna McGarrigle’s “Go, Leave,” and Jessi Colter’s “I’m Looking For Blue Eyes.” One full-bore outing that works is a surprising rendering of Patti Smith’s “Dancing Barefoot,” perfectly in tune with the singer’s feisty sensibility. But Buddy Miller’s production is uncharacteristically overripe at times, and a couple of the compositions are too familiar – in particular, “Both Sides Now” should be permanently retired. Call this one a near miss.
Cat Power’s “Where is My Love” gets a lush reading from Moorer, and Power – a.k.a. Chan Marshall – recently stepped up with her second album of covers, Jukebox (Matador). Unlike 2000’s unadorned The Covers Record, this album features a full band of garagey players from the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, the Delta 72, and the Dirty Three, plus Memphis’s Teenie Hodges and Muscle Shoals’ Spooner Oldham. But Marshall is such an intimate singer – a performer so capable of invoking her interior world – that the new record plays as intensely as its stripped-down predecessor. At times listening to it feels like an invasion of privacy.
She transforms Hank Williams’s “Ramblin’ Man” (here “Ramblin’ [Wo]man”) as deftly as she once did the Stones’ “Satisfaction,” meanders disarmingly through James Brown’s “Lost Someone,” writes a breathy mash note to her idol Bob Dylan in the original “Song to Bobby,” and reaches the piercing core of Billie Holiday’s “Don’t Explain.” Nearly all the album’s 17 songs reflect Marshall’s musing, uniquely spellbinding approach to vocalizing. This is one Jukebox you should plug with a few dollar bills.
Chris Morris hosts Watusi Rodeo every Sunday at 9 a.m. on Indie 103.1.
2008-02-07
Published: 02/06/2008
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