Betty Harris – Invitation (Evidence Music).
60s legend, The True Soul Queen of New Orleans, Betty Harris has released a debut solo album filled with 16 original songs on Evidence Music. She is probably best known for her version of Solomon Burke’s Cry To Me and was under the wing of Big Maybelle in her early years. She recorded often with Alain Toussaint and toured with Otis Redding on what was to be his final tour. After a few years in retirement to raise a family her daughter found a number of internet sites devoted to her and coaxed her to start performing again.
Is It Hot In Here brings immediate comparisons to Tina Turner but this mid paced R&B/rock is good enough in its own rite. Isolation (Someone To Hold) is R&B/soul and nothing out of the ordinary. Intuition is slow but it’s certainly no ballad. Her vocal is deliberately slurred at times and the subject matter is certainly a bit different. Backing vocals from Bekka Bramlett, who wrote the lyric, are a welcome inclusion. Still Amazed is a raunchy R&B and a Rolling Stones song if I’ve ever heard one. It was written by the same team that wrote Midnight Train for Buddy Guy, Jon Tiven and Roger Reale. Buddy Miller lends his not inconsiderable talents on vocal harmony and lead guitar. Since You Brought Your Sweet Love is a duet with Freddie Scott and the Tina Turner likeness re-surfaces. A Fool Can Always Break Your Heart is another Stones style R&B and probably the strongest performance here. With lyrics by Keith Reid, who produced some of the most recognisable words in popular music history – A Whiter Shade Of Pale, how could it fail?
You Do My Soul Good is slow and soulful. Guitarist Jon Tiven goes off on a riff but the song doesn’t really go anywhere and there’s not enough variety. How To Be Nice is mid-paced R&B, Who’s Takin’ Care Of Baby is sultry R&B and Time To Fly is a Bonnie Bramlett written grinding soul/R&B with attitude. It Is What It Is – how philosophical! Written by Jerry Ragavoy, this needs to be paid attention to. Need, a collaboration with legendary songsmith Don Covay, is classic soul and I love the feeling behind it – take it and shove it! She Stays On is a tale of domestic abuse and a slow soul/R&B that a number of artists have tried to record but Betty is the only one to have nailed it. She did not want any Gospel songs on the album but Tell It To The Preacherman, although it flirts with religion and you would think from the title that it would be overtly holy, is good old style R&B and one of the best on the album. A Bible And A Beer is very rousing. The Tina Turner comparisons will still be around but she is her own woman, as shown by the fact that she originally had reservations about recording the song as her mother is a preacher. The album is finishing strongly and Happiness Is Mine, co-written by Betty, continues with the more up-tempo beat to end with.
http://www.evidencemusic.com/
David Blue.
60s legend, The True Soul Queen of New Orleans, Betty Harris has released a debut solo album filled with 16 original songs on Evidence Music. She is probably best known for her version of Solomon Burke’s Cry To Me and was under the wing of Big Maybelle in her early years. She recorded often with Alain Toussaint and toured with Otis Redding on what was to be his final tour. After a few years in retirement to raise a family her daughter found a number of internet sites devoted to her and coaxed her to start performing again.
Is It Hot In Here brings immediate comparisons to Tina Turner but this mid paced R&B/rock is good enough in its own rite. Isolation (Someone To Hold) is R&B/soul and nothing out of the ordinary. Intuition is slow but it’s certainly no ballad. Her vocal is deliberately slurred at times and the subject matter is certainly a bit different. Backing vocals from Bekka Bramlett, who wrote the lyric, are a welcome inclusion. Still Amazed is a raunchy R&B and a Rolling Stones song if I’ve ever heard one. It was written by the same team that wrote Midnight Train for Buddy Guy, Jon Tiven and Roger Reale. Buddy Miller lends his not inconsiderable talents on vocal harmony and lead guitar. Since You Brought Your Sweet Love is a duet with Freddie Scott and the Tina Turner likeness re-surfaces. A Fool Can Always Break Your Heart is another Stones style R&B and probably the strongest performance here. With lyrics by Keith Reid, who produced some of the most recognisable words in popular music history – A Whiter Shade Of Pale, how could it fail?
You Do My Soul Good is slow and soulful. Guitarist Jon Tiven goes off on a riff but the song doesn’t really go anywhere and there’s not enough variety. How To Be Nice is mid-paced R&B, Who’s Takin’ Care Of Baby is sultry R&B and Time To Fly is a Bonnie Bramlett written grinding soul/R&B with attitude. It Is What It Is – how philosophical! Written by Jerry Ragavoy, this needs to be paid attention to. Need, a collaboration with legendary songsmith Don Covay, is classic soul and I love the feeling behind it – take it and shove it! She Stays On is a tale of domestic abuse and a slow soul/R&B that a number of artists have tried to record but Betty is the only one to have nailed it. She did not want any Gospel songs on the album but Tell It To The Preacherman, although it flirts with religion and you would think from the title that it would be overtly holy, is good old style R&B and one of the best on the album. A Bible And A Beer is very rousing. The Tina Turner comparisons will still be around but she is her own woman, as shown by the fact that she originally had reservations about recording the song as her mother is a preacher. The album is finishing strongly and Happiness Is Mine, co-written by Betty, continues with the more up-tempo beat to end with.
http://www.evidencemusic.com/
David Blue.
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