A SOUL queen of the old school, Bettye LaVette is well qualified to take on the Bob Dylan catalogue.
While Dylan himself has been taking on the American songbook, it is fitting that LaVette returns the compliment. Smartly avoiding the wordy torrents in favour of latter songs, Dylan’s simpler style is a better fit for LaVette’s crunchy, Muscle Shoals brand of soul.
The title track (Dylan’s jaded millennial masterpiece) seems happier in its new skin, while Keith Richards plays second fiddle on the timely, measured Political World. Seeing The Real You At Last manages to better the original.
If the arrangements merge into one, there's no denying the groove achieved by this crack session band. With soul, all eyes are focused on the voice, and LaVette’s is wonderfully leathered, cracked and oozing character. This instrument, not His Master’s words, lingers longest.
Like Mavis Staples, she inhabits a song: the reason why she has endured in a tough business that didn’t care for LaVette, but thankfully things have changed.
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