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- Various Artists
Shout, Sister, Shout: A Tribute to Sister Rosetta Tharpe
M.C. Records
By Steve Cooper
 Tribute albums
are tricky. They are, by definition, less than the object of
the tribute. Who wouldn't rather hear Sister Rosetta Tharpe's
version of "Nobody's Fault But Mine" than the one here
by Joan Osborne? And, if there is an attempt to "re-invent"
the songs, then where is the tribute? Also, the choosing of
the various "various artists" is a lose-lose situation.
If the artists are too much like the source of the tribute,
the tribute sounds too much like the originals. If the artists
are too much unlike the source of the tribute, the tribute sounds
nothing much like the artist in tribute. Like I said--tricky.
Shout, Sister, Shout is a heartfelt tribute, with some
fine performances, some so-so performances, and (in the case
of Victoria Williams) one god-awful performance. All of the
performances are by women, with occasional backup by the Holmes
Brothers. I'm not sure why a tribute to Sister Rosetta has to
have all "sisters" singing. Maybe it's some sort of
social statement. I hope not. For variety's sake, some male
leads would have added stock to the stew.
Let's get the worst out of the way first. Why Victoria Williams
is seen as an essential voice for tribute albums is a mystery.
She sounds like a "Down From the Mountain" edition
of Carol Channing. Not since Leon Russell's first album have
I heard a more tortured singing voice. Leon, however, got better.
"Sister" Williams shows no signs of improvement.
"Irritating" and "affected" doesn't begin
to describe her singing. I cannot physically listen to her sing
a song all the way through. It follows that her take of Tharpe's
"My Lord and I" is a must to avoid. It's not just
that she can't sing; it's that she's jive as hell in the attempt.
Okay (deep breath), let us now draw some happy, little clouds.
Joan Osborne does a soulful, thankfully-understated (she sometimes
over sings, folks) "Nobody's Fault But Mine." The
Holmes Brothers help keep the spiritual in church, not allowing
"Sister" Joan to genuflect the thing too much. The
backing is Muscle Shoals tight, driven by Seth Farber's keyboards
and Wendell Holmes' guitar.
A surprise for me is Maria Muldaur's strong take of "My
Journey to the Sky." Her voice has deepened with resonance
from her hippie-chick cute days with Jim Kweskin and company.
Bonnie Raitt abets on some essential slide guitar, putting the
cry into this weeper. Not surprising is Odetta's fine version
of "Two Little Fishes and Five Loaves of Bread." Her
low, melodious wail is just as engaging now as when she burst
on the folk revival scene in the early 1960s. Wendell Holmes
plays some nasty, note bending acoustic guitar on the breaks.
Two more pleasant surprises for me are the performances by
Michelle Shocked and Janis Ian. Not being a special fan of either,
I'm happy to report that they do Rosetta proud. Shocked's adaptation
of "Strange Things Happening Every Day" is slowed down,
extended, and given a bit of slow funk. The groove is established
by Sean Dancy's lazy-but-right organ (he also did the arrangement).
It would seem that turning a spiritual into a slow-burn, soul
chant would be a disaster, but it is anything but. Shocked turns
down her tendency toward affectation (a la Rickie Lee Jones)
and sings with emotion and verve.
And, who would've thunk that the purveyor of the maudlin,
self-pitying "At Seventeen" could take a Tharpe standard
like "This Train" and nail it? Janis Ian, just her
and her little guitar, turns in an unadorned gem. Her voice
is spiritually in the right place, moaning, low, but rich. And,
her guitar licks are cutting and deft, in the Rosetta Tharpe
tradition.
The title track, with Maria Muldaur, Tracy Nelson, Marcia
Ball, and Angela Strehli trading leads on the verses and harmonizing
on the choruses, is fetching, in an Andrews Sisters kind of way.
The brass arrangement evokes Louis Jordan's Tympany Five when
they backed Tharpe on many of her secular hits.
Some of the Tharpe renditions on Shout aren't quite
as engaging as they could have been. Phoebe Snow's "Beams
of Heaven" is just plain over-sung. Too much note-bending
with too little purpose. I've never noticed it before, but Snow's
phrasing is a lot like that of Boz Scaggs, though she has much
more range. Ms. Snow is capable of powerful vocalizing when
she keeps the histrionics to a minimum. Here she's painfully
overwrought.
Marcia Ball's slightly cornball turn with "I Want a Tall
Skinny Papa" isn't entirely her fault. The song itself
walks a delicate line between soulful and hokey. Hokey edges
out soulful here. Produced and arranged by Maria Muldaur, the
brass is a little too sassy, and the response back-up vocals
a bit too predictable.
Of the remaining cuts (the album has a generous 18), the highlights
are Marie Knight's jamming version of "Didn't It Rain"
and Sweet Honey in the Rock's inventive, a cappella "Precious
Memories." Almost as fine is an "Up Above My Head"
duet with Maria Muldaur and Tracy Nelson trading and belting
vocals. Unfortunately, there are a few cuts (Joanna Connor's
"Don't Take Everybody to Be Your Friend," Rory Block's
"Stand By Me," Angela Strehli's "That's All,"
Toshi Reagon's "Rock Me") that aren't bad, but aren't
that uplifting either. And, when you do a tribute to Sister
Rosetta Tharpe, you've got to make it uplifting.
All things considered, I give Shout, Sister, Shout
a "B-." One shout instead of two.
Contact Steve Cooper at: cooper-at-rockzilla.net
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