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On
Remembering
Leadbelly he hits the ground running with the attack and
spirit that so symbolized
Leadbelly. Baldry
successfully bridges the gap between emulating a great artist
and bringing his own voice to the recording. You will never feel
like Baldry is either simply trying to imitate or replicate
Leadbelly and at the same time, there will be no feeling of an
artist who doesn't care about the source of his remembrance.
This is most evident on Baldry's takes on "Rock Island Line"
and "Birminghamton Jail." While understandable, it's a
bit disappointing that he didn't choose to record "Goodnight
Irene",
Leadbelly's signature tune. Sometimes artists
feel that signature tunes are best left alone; however, I feel
that Baldry would have knocked it out of the park and recorded a
version that would make
Leadbelly smile. Also, curiously
included on this recording is an interview with Alan Lomax,
who is credited with finding
Leadbelly and you have more
of a complete picture of the artist being paid homage to then
your traditional tribute-type record.
Remembering Leadbelly
will appease fans of great traditional Blues, as well as serve as
a top-of-the-line modern day exploration of a legend
and his music. - by Charlie B. Dahan -
All About Jazz |
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FFWD Weekly ·
Two giants clash,
everybody wins. - Remembering Leadbelly -
Stony Plain Records
-Much as Anthony Hopkins managed to play the part of
Richard Nixon without looking or particularly sounding
like ol' Tricky Dicky himself, so Long John Baldry
succeeds here in capturing the essence of Blues pioneer
Huddie Ledbetter without descending into mere impersonation.
The result is a CD that matches and even, on occasion, surpasses
the original artist. Mind you, at times Baldry does sound eerily
close to
Leadbelly's baritone growl, especially on
'Go
Down Old Hannah' and 'Here Rattler'. But he's never
restrained by an inflexible reverence for the original, instead
often modifying both the melody and lyrics of old standards that
form the core of
Leadbelly's considerable legacy. Thus
'Midnight
Special','Rock Island Line' and 'John Hardy',
among others, get a good going over and are all the better for
it. What emerges in the end is a curiously timeless album that
sounds like it could have been recorded at any point over the
past 50 years. This is only one of its many strengths. In a
perfect world,
Leadbelly
would have died rich and famous,
Long John Baldry would be a household name across Canada,
and every serious music fan would have a copy of this CD.
David Bright -
FFWD
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