Published on Nov 8, 1997
Usually, whenever I’ve had a pretty crappy day, be it for
personal or work-related reasons, I like to turn to the blues to
pick me up. I find the blues to be a great catharsis, and even
though it doesn’t solve the problems I have, it helps me deal with
them with a smile on my face.
Today was ruined by a call with news I didn’t expect. Wham – out
of the kitchen, into the Pierce Archives (ouch, my ears, my ears)
and to the CD player with the latest disc from Miss Lavelle White,
It Haven’t Been Easy.
White’s style of blues isn’t pure; it’s more of a crossbreed
between the blues, R&B and a touch of jazz thrown in for good
measure. And while White creates an enjoyable album here, I would
have preferred hearing something a little more pure.
A legend of the blues scene (and once a fixture of Chicago blues
clubs), White’s voice doesn’t have the grit and all of the power
like Koko Taylor, but she holds her own quite well, thank you very
much. On numbers like “I’ve Never Found A Man To Love,” “Wootie
Boogie” and the title track, the emotion is what matters. And from
the first listen to the last, you can tell that White is telling
her life story in these twelve songs.
White could very easily pose as a nightclub torch singer at
times; “Lay Down Beside Me” is as sultry of a crooner as any I’ve
heard, while she shows off her roots in the birth of rhythm and
blues on “Can’t Take It (I Don’t Give A Damn)”.
In a sense, I shouldn’t be critical of White’s blending into
other genres; it’s very difficult to hear pure blues these days.
Lonnie Brooks definitely has one foot in rock and roll; so does
Lonnie Mack, The Kinsey Report, George Thorogood and Eric Clapton.
So White is in good company when it comes to the mixing of
genres.
But something – albeit a minor detail – is missing in this
instance. Maybe it is the “it’s been a tough life” grit in her
voice that I wish I heard.For that case, maybe I’m nitpicking and
still wishing that I had grabbed a purer blues album. Whatever it
was, the end result still put a smile on my face – but it was
shorter-lived than it might have been.
Don’t get me wrong,
It Haven’t Been Easy is a solid album, and one worth your
time, attention and money. Guess it’s just hard to review
positively when I’m pissed off. (Then again, the old joke says,
“Better pissed off than pissed on.”)
It Haven’t Been Easy is a nice snapshot of the life of a
founding member of the rhythm & blues genre, and has some solid
performances on it. It’s a nice way to spend 50 minutes trying to
relieve the stresses of the day.