Bettye LaVette: Things Have Changed Label: Verve Year: 2018 From Nina Simone to Joan Baez to Edie Brickell many woman have taken Bob Dylan’s songs and had great success. Enter Bettye LaVette. Things Have Changed features a great band, great production and great songs. However, this is unequivocally Bettye’s show. “It Ain’t Me Babe” is soul drenched, “Political World” is funkified and “Don’t Fall Apart On Me Tonight” leaves the ear shaking its head. The groove on “Seeing The Real You At Last” is filthy and the emotional depth that Bettye displays on “Mama You Been On My Mind” was unheard of in 2018. By the seventh track “Ain’t Talkin’” it hits home that Bettye ain’t singing Dylan’s Greatest Hits as by and large these are deep cuts she’s making her own. “What Was It You Wanted” is digging deep and “Do Right To Me Baby (Do Unto Others)” is yet another example of the bottomless bag of ideas Bettye and the band possess. Perhaps others have done Bobby’s songs as well, but no one has done them better and certainly not for the duration of a whole album, yet Things Have Changed could have been a double album or even a box set. That folks is called a career defining artistic statement.
Bettye LaVette: Things Have Changed
Bettye LaVette: Things Have Changed
Bettye LaVette: Things Have Changed
Bettye LaVette: Things Have Changed Label: Verve Year: 2018 From Nina Simone to Joan Baez to Edie Brickell many woman have taken Bob Dylan’s songs and had great success. Enter Bettye LaVette. Things Have Changed features a great band, great production and great songs. However, this is unequivocally Bettye’s show. “It Ain’t Me Babe” is soul drenched, “Political World” is funkified and “Don’t Fall Apart On Me Tonight” leaves the ear shaking its head. The groove on “Seeing The Real You At Last” is filthy and the emotional depth that Bettye displays on “Mama You Been On My Mind” was unheard of in 2018. By the seventh track “Ain’t Talkin’” it hits home that Bettye ain’t singing Dylan’s Greatest Hits as by and large these are deep cuts she’s making her own. “What Was It You Wanted” is digging deep and “Do Right To Me Baby (Do Unto Others)” is yet another example of the bottomless bag of ideas Bettye and the band possess. Perhaps others have done Bobby’s songs as well, but no one has done them better and certainly not for the duration of a whole album, yet Things Have Changed could have been a double album or even a box set. That folks is called a career defining artistic statement.