Tracks: 1) Gimme A Pigfoot; 2) Baby Doll; 3) On Revival Day; 4) Money Blues; 5) I Ain’t Gonna Play No Second Fiddle; 6) Back Water Blues; 7) Empty Bed Blues; 8) There’ll Be A Hot Time In The Old Town Tonight; 9) Nobody Knows You When You’re Down And Out; 10) After You’ve Gone; 11) Young Woman’s Blues; 12) Preaching The Blues.
Pretty much on point here with why this album gets a bit overrated in some circles. Bessie's true gift was her humanism: she could grab at the deepest core of our emotions and embolden and nourish them, which is why so much of her music hits so deeply. Like you said in your Bessie Smith reviews, you get an "awesomely humanlike" showbiz with Bessie, which with most other performers you just get showbiz. Building on your point, I have two more complaints:
1. The arrangements are just tonally all wrong, and I find this to be just as big of an issue as LaVern's inadequacy to take on the Empress. Is it just me, or do all of the arrangements just sound too loungey? Like there is just too much of a show-tuney sort of vibe to this material that I find almost sacrilegious for someone like Bessie. I NEVER get that vibe from Bessie's material because even her session musicians even properly understood Bessie's vibe well enough. Even Louis Armstrong, who many people like you have complained never gelled with Bessie, I feel even understood it, which is why I actually really love the call-response between him and Bessie on "You've Been A Good Ole Wagon". Yet, anytime I hear this, I get the same vibe that I get from Frank Sinatra, which is why this album just feels wrong to me. Don't get me wrong, the grit of LaVern's voice still makes me feel it rises above that level, but the fact that I get that vibe means maybe there is something wrong.
2. I actually somewhat disagree with this album being an onslaught because, for my money, she sounds less aggressive than Bessie to me. Like to my ears, LaVern does not unleash her full vocal potential on either "Gimme A Pigfoot" or "Empty Bed Blues" (two of my favorite Bessie songs), which is strange because "Pigfoot" is a song she really could have nailed. Really, I am not sure why she doesn't fully let it loose on these songs because if it was an onslaught, it would be more listenable. Yet, most of her performances here are just not very engaging especially compared to the originals.
But all and all, really good analysis. I think this album does show you why LaVern never really became a first-rate R&B queen: even if she was given the same level of material as Ruth Brown, I somehow can't believe she has enough dynamic emotional range to truly spice up the material the way Ruth did. Still, I quite like (and even love) many of her big hits, and this album sort of confirmed for me that maybe I should really just stick to the hits rather than look deeper.
Que tal. No soy Estadounidense para poder Criticar lo que escribiste porque no tengo raíz musical del Blues o Jazz ya que también es un ADN el Folklore Musical Latino por la Música Regional Mexicana o La Cumbia Colombiana o Salsa de Cuba pero, a muy mi manera de escuchar el Disco de Lavern Baker cantando canciones de Bessie Smith, aunque a ti te parezca Aburrido y "lo mismo" en cada Canción del Álbum, para mi es FASCINANTE escuchar el mismo timbre y música que escuchar un disco Completo de Jimmy Hendrix con sus "apuestas" de excelsas melodías que solo terminan siendo RUIDOS en lugar de llevar una armonía. Aquí no MAGNÍFICAS el ritmo de la conjugación de los sonidos y solo te enfocas en determinar que todo es igual cuando la verdad prefiero un RITMO EXQUISITO PURO Y DEDICADO que un Sin fin de RUIDOS pesimamente armónicos y pésima y horrible voz sin afinidad de un Hendrix. Siento que te falta SENTIR con el ALMA que más que CRITICAR con tu Cerebro 🧠
Hello. You must be new to this website, because, for all the (sometimes quite justified) criticism I take, I know of nobody who, after having spent some time on it, would dare to accuse me of "criticizing with my brain rather than listening with my soul". I suggest, therefore, that you familiarize yourself with the site/blog a little more before going on to write more comments.
As to the matter at hand, I have no idea why, all of a sudden, this conversation should be involving Hendrix, who represents a completely different aesthetic paradigm. I also resent the implication that, apparently, those who love Hendrix only do it through their "brains" rather than their "soul". Finally, I despise the logic that says "I hate heavy metal, but I like Hank Williams, so give me Shania Twain over 'Master Of Puppets' any day". If there are millions of records based on "pure and dedicated exquisite rhythm" out there in the world, this does not mean I have to admire all of them just because they exist.
Pretty much on point here with why this album gets a bit overrated in some circles. Bessie's true gift was her humanism: she could grab at the deepest core of our emotions and embolden and nourish them, which is why so much of her music hits so deeply. Like you said in your Bessie Smith reviews, you get an "awesomely humanlike" showbiz with Bessie, which with most other performers you just get showbiz. Building on your point, I have two more complaints:
1. The arrangements are just tonally all wrong, and I find this to be just as big of an issue as LaVern's inadequacy to take on the Empress. Is it just me, or do all of the arrangements just sound too loungey? Like there is just too much of a show-tuney sort of vibe to this material that I find almost sacrilegious for someone like Bessie. I NEVER get that vibe from Bessie's material because even her session musicians even properly understood Bessie's vibe well enough. Even Louis Armstrong, who many people like you have complained never gelled with Bessie, I feel even understood it, which is why I actually really love the call-response between him and Bessie on "You've Been A Good Ole Wagon". Yet, anytime I hear this, I get the same vibe that I get from Frank Sinatra, which is why this album just feels wrong to me. Don't get me wrong, the grit of LaVern's voice still makes me feel it rises above that level, but the fact that I get that vibe means maybe there is something wrong.
2. I actually somewhat disagree with this album being an onslaught because, for my money, she sounds less aggressive than Bessie to me. Like to my ears, LaVern does not unleash her full vocal potential on either "Gimme A Pigfoot" or "Empty Bed Blues" (two of my favorite Bessie songs), which is strange because "Pigfoot" is a song she really could have nailed. Really, I am not sure why she doesn't fully let it loose on these songs because if it was an onslaught, it would be more listenable. Yet, most of her performances here are just not very engaging especially compared to the originals.
But all and all, really good analysis. I think this album does show you why LaVern never really became a first-rate R&B queen: even if she was given the same level of material as Ruth Brown, I somehow can't believe she has enough dynamic emotional range to truly spice up the material the way Ruth did. Still, I quite like (and even love) many of her big hits, and this album sort of confirmed for me that maybe I should really just stick to the hits rather than look deeper.
Que tal. No soy Estadounidense para poder Criticar lo que escribiste porque no tengo raíz musical del Blues o Jazz ya que también es un ADN el Folklore Musical Latino por la Música Regional Mexicana o La Cumbia Colombiana o Salsa de Cuba pero, a muy mi manera de escuchar el Disco de Lavern Baker cantando canciones de Bessie Smith, aunque a ti te parezca Aburrido y "lo mismo" en cada Canción del Álbum, para mi es FASCINANTE escuchar el mismo timbre y música que escuchar un disco Completo de Jimmy Hendrix con sus "apuestas" de excelsas melodías que solo terminan siendo RUIDOS en lugar de llevar una armonía. Aquí no MAGNÍFICAS el ritmo de la conjugación de los sonidos y solo te enfocas en determinar que todo es igual cuando la verdad prefiero un RITMO EXQUISITO PURO Y DEDICADO que un Sin fin de RUIDOS pesimamente armónicos y pésima y horrible voz sin afinidad de un Hendrix. Siento que te falta SENTIR con el ALMA que más que CRITICAR con tu Cerebro 🧠
Hello. You must be new to this website, because, for all the (sometimes quite justified) criticism I take, I know of nobody who, after having spent some time on it, would dare to accuse me of "criticizing with my brain rather than listening with my soul". I suggest, therefore, that you familiarize yourself with the site/blog a little more before going on to write more comments.
As to the matter at hand, I have no idea why, all of a sudden, this conversation should be involving Hendrix, who represents a completely different aesthetic paradigm. I also resent the implication that, apparently, those who love Hendrix only do it through their "brains" rather than their "soul". Finally, I despise the logic that says "I hate heavy metal, but I like Hank Williams, so give me Shania Twain over 'Master Of Puppets' any day". If there are millions of records based on "pure and dedicated exquisite rhythm" out there in the world, this does not mean I have to admire all of them just because they exist.