Jump to Content

Not Fade Away - Reissue Review from Issue #63 May-June 2006

Bettye LaVette

Child Of The Seventies (Rhino / Atco)

By Author’s blog »

It is argued, in David Nathan’s liner notes and elsewhere, that if this 1973 Betty (she changed it to Bettye later) LaVette album, recorded at Muscle Shoals but shelved at the time, had seen release before now, she’d have been a star. Well, maybe. But what seems most clear is that she had a wonderful, powerful, expressive voice, and that nobody could quite figure out what to do with it. It may simply be my rockist sensibility, but the best tracks here set her loose in full voice, notably on (of all things) Free’s “The Stealer”. Ballads such as “Fortune Teller” and the progressive “All The Black And White Children” are less magical. Some good and time-stamped material mixes in; there’s a small suite of strong but forgiving woman songs including “Ain’t Nothing Gonna Change Me” and “Outside Woman”, which, at least in tempo and heart, might’ve had a chance. Bonus tracks include an unnecessary single of Neil Young’s “Heart Of Gold” (perhaps nobody but Neil need sing his songs, maybe that’s the new rule) and four exceptional early ’60s tracks: “Here I Am”, “You’ll Never Change”, “My Man — He’s A Loving Man” and “Shut Your Mouth”. Somewhere between jump blues and early Motown, those songs should’ve made her a star.

Enjoy the ND archives? Consider making a donation. Advertising helps defray our basic expenses, but doesn’t touch the over $150,000 invested to get this content online. Just $10 (or more!) from 15,000 of our fans and we will reach our goal. Thanks for your support.

Or send a check to: No Depression, PO Box 31332, Seattle, WA 98103

Discuss

Did you enjoy this article? Start a discussion about it, or find out what others are saying in the No Depression Community forum.

Join the Discussion »

Find out what's going on in roots music. Share concert photos and videos, learn about new artists, blog about the music you love.

Join the No Depression Community »

Originally Featured in Issue #63 May-June 2006

Cover of Issue #63 May-June 2006

Buy this issue

More articles from this issue:

  • Rocky Votolato

    Rocky Votolato - Making his mark • Rocky Votolato was as surprised as anyone at what happened when his song "White Daisy Passing" was showcased on a recent episode of "The O.C.", sandwiched between numbers from the…

  • Blind Corn Liquor Pickers

    Blind Corn Liquor Pickers - The other kind of jug band • Though the Blind Corn Liquor Pickers -- four Kentucky natives who play mandolin, guitar, banjo and upright bass -- fleetingly give the appearance of a traditional bluegrass band, …

  • Sugar Pie Desanto

    Sugar Pie Desanto - If the shoe fits • As is often the case with veteran R&B artists, details concerning Sugar Pie Desanto have been embellished over the years. For instance, although the Bay Area singer is petite -- s…

Buy our history before it’s gone!

Each issue is artfully designed and packed full of great photos that you don‘t get online. Visit the No Depression store to own a piece of history.

Visit the No Depression Store »

From the Blogs

  • Stackridge, Farncombe Music Club (UK, 5/18/12)
    I first started going to live gigs in my early teens. I was underage. I lied about my date of birth so that I could become a member of Friars, a music club based in Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire. Life membership was 25p. I still have my member’s card. Wild Turkey in June 1971 was the first live band I saw and some forty one years later I am still occupyin […]
  • Bonnie Raitt, John Prine & Tom Waits at Opryland (circa '74)
    Bonnie, Johnny & Tom Visit Opryland, USA — an interview-article by W. Conrad for Buddy Magazine (March, 1976)

 
 
Backstage and on stage at Nashville's Opryland, Ben Fong-Torres, rock journalist from 
Rolling Stone, was shadowing Bonnie Raitt, the star of the evening's attraction. In the shadows, lurking inside his cheap suit and a cloud of to […]
  • The Last Time I Saw Gram Parsons
    By Bill Conrad (His Prep School Pal)

 Summer of 1969, I was in London when I saw a flyer advertising the Byrds at Royal Albert Hall. Melody Maker, the local music news, suggested that a few Beatles and Stones might attend. That was incentive enough for me.
  The Byrds took the stage and launched into "Turn, Turn, Turn."  Other than band leader Rog […]
  • Davina and the Vagabonds at Newcastle Cluny II
    The Cluny, Newcastle Thursday 17th May 2012 Alan Harrison One of my greatest pleasures is discovering new music any of its shapes and forms and tonight was a bit of a revelation as I had only ventured out of the house because there was nothing on TV. As the support act finished there were only about 30 people scattered around The Cluny and perhaps 75 were sc […]
  • Lee Ann Womack Helps Houston's Homeless
    As founder and president of Healthcare for the Homeless -- Houston (HHH), Dr. David Buck (left with country star Lee Ann Womack at First Lady's Luncheon, Washington, D.C) is a busy man. So busy, in fact, he was taken aback when his office got a voice message from U.S. Representative Gene Green's wife Helen saying that she would like Dr. Buck to att […]
  • TPR#88 Addam Scott - Interview and Music
    On episode 88 of the Taproot Music Show, Addam Scott, the musician, not the actor, talks to Calvin about his latest CD, San Diablo. He discusses the concept of conflict that runs through the CD and how he likes ““I like to move forward that contradiction and show the best of who we are as people and the worst of who we are as people.” He discusses his musica […]

Shop Amazon by clicking through this logo to support NoDepression.com. We get a percentage of every purchase you make!

Subscribe To the No Depression Newsletter

Subscribe to the No Depression Newsletter

Network With Us