My Tennessee Mountain Home
Dolly Parton
RCA APL1-0033
1973
I bought this several years ago in an antique store in Jamestown, ND - the home of the World's Largest Buffalo (it is a giant statue.) I sometimes buy country albums from the 1970s for artists I really like even though almost all of them were primarily singles artists. If I were smart I'd just buy compilations. The two big exceptions to that are Willie Nelson and Dolly Parton. Since they mostly wrote their own material, their albums have a higher quality than the single plus filler formula most of their peers employed. Parton made many fine albums in the 1970s but this is my favorite. It is a concept album focused on her childhood. The cover of the album depicts the house she grew up in and there is a picture of the home she was born in inside the gatefold along with pictures of her as a child as well as some family members. It also has liner notes written by her father and mother. The album begins with "The Letter" in which she recites a touching letter she wrote home when she first came to Nashville in 1964. The only music is a harmonica playing "Home Sweet Home." "I Remember" is a heartfelt tribute to her parents. It is enhanced by her gift for evocative descriptions. "Old Black Kettle" is a lively tune that describes cooking with the kettle of the title and provides a rosy picture of growing up in the country. "Daddy's Working Boots" as you probably can guess pays homage to her hard-working father. Parton has always had a way with symbols and metaphors and the boots serve that function in this song. "Dr. Robert F. Thomas" is an ode to the doctor who delivered her as a baby. The song celebrates his good deeds and perseverance as a country doctor. Side one concludes with "In the Good Old Days (When Times Were Bad)" which is a remarkable song that vividly describes her hardships growing up with mixed feelings of nostalgia and relief as reflected in the chorus when she sings "no amount of money could buy from me the memories that I have of then, no amount of money could pay me to go back and live through it again." The song is an old song that she originally released as a single in 1968 but it fits the theme of the record so well it is hard to blame her for wanting to re-record it for this album. On a record suffused with nostalgia, it provides some much needed realism. Side two begins with "My Tennessee Mountain Home" which was the single off the album. It is an idealized vision of her childhood that has great resonance. Its emotional impact is a testament to her genius as a songwriter and a performer and it is one of my favorite songs in her enormous catalog. "The Wrong Direction Home" describes how she misses her mountain home. In "Back Home" she joyously does return home. "The Better Part of Life" is more nostalgia enlivened by her richly expressive remembrances. "Down on Music Row" recounts her early experiences in Nashville. The story she tells is very detailed and celebrates RCA which is a little misleading since she did not sign with RCA until years later. Still it makes for a happy ending and gives the album some satisfying closure. I have to admit that the sentimentality and nostalgia that permeates this album would probably annoy me in the hands of a lesser artist. Parton's skill with imagery and her incomparable sincerity as a vocalist are able to convince a city-slicker like me that she really did have a wonderful childhood growing up impoverished in the country. It also helps that her musical accompaniment is so tasteful and subdued, allowing her voice and the lyrics to convey the feelings in the song. She is so full of love for the subjects of her songs, that she charms me and persuades me of the truth of her vision. This is a flawless album that is essential for Parton fans and recommended to anyone looking for a little warmth and affection to brighten up their lives.
Aretha Live at Fillmore West
Aretha Franklin
Atlantic SD 7205
1971
This was the first Aretha Franklin album that I owned. I bought it as a teenager in the used record store that briefly existed in my suburban home town. It was a small enough store that I could go through all the records in the pop music bins which is how I noticed it. My taste in soul back then was more Motown than Atlantic. I was familiar with Franklin's big hits but I was not yet a fan. This album totally changed that, but I originally bought it primarily because it was recorded at the Fillmore which I was obsessed with at the time. It is still my favorite of Franklin's live albums. It was re-released in a greatly expanded version on CD covering all three of her nights at the auditorium including King Curtis' performances. I'm sure it is wonderful but I'm happy with this smaller sampling. It is a flawless album, over forty-five minutes of greatness. The vinyl version kicks off with her explosive performance of "Respect" taken at a much faster pace than her classic single. It is an amazingly energetic performance that blows me away every time I hear it. At the end of the song Franklin promises the audience that they will enjoy her show as much as any they have ever seen. It is a bold promise but I think she delivered. She changes pace with Stephen Stills' "Love the One You're With" which she slows down and makes it sound like a gospel song. It is a brilliant interpretation that I greatly prefer to Stills' own version. She also makes Simon and Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water" sound like a hymn. She sings it with such feeling and passion, she absolutely slays me. I like the original but it sounds stilted and phony in comparison. The most remarkable cover on the album is her uptempo performance of the Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby." Supported by propulsive back up vocals from the Sweethearts of Soul, Franklin utterly transforms the song into an exciting and upbeat workout. Curiously she sings the song in the first person which makes it seem more personal. I think the Beatles' melancholy version is more suitable for the lyrics, but Franklin's cover is a lot more fun. Her biggest challenge on the record is taking on David Gates' sappy "Make It With You." I've always loathed the original single by Bread. It is a testament to her genius that she makes this lightweight song seem powerful and meaningful with her heartfelt performance. Side one concludes with a lively version of "Don't Play That Song" which was a hit for Ben E. King in 1962. Franklin covered it on her album "Spirit in the Dark" in 1970. I am a fan of King and like his version, but when Franklin covers a song, it becomes hers. Side one is devoted to showing the hippies that she can beat them at their own game with her absolute dominance of some of their classics. Side two showcases her own music. It opens with her and Ted White's "Dr. Feelgood." It is a slow, smoldering blues that gradually builds in strength leading to some explosive vocal pyrotechnics that take my breath away. It is a sensual song but at the end she takes the audience to church with her incredible spirit. Which is an appropriate segue for her performance of "Spirit in the Dark" which is her spiritual ode to the power of music. It is an incredibly compelling performance and just when you think it can't get any better than this, she brings out Ray Charles, literally her only peer in soul singing. What a thrill it must have been for the audience to see the King and Queen of Soul together on that stage. Charles slows down the tempo for a funky interpretation of the song featuring a dazzling call and response with Franklin. Then Charles takes Franklin's place at the electric piano and delivers a smoking piano solo that gets me bopping. Charles resumes singing and rouses the crowd with his mesmerizing gospel style vocal. At the end of the song Franklin proclaims him to be "the Reverend Righteous Ray" to which I can only reply "Amen!" When I heard this song as a teenager it instantly converted me into a fan of soul music. I had never heard anything like it and it still thrills me all these years later. This album is a must buy just for that song alone. The record comes back to earth to conclude with her robust vocal on Ashford and Simpson's "Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)" which had been a hit for Diana Ross the year before and I suspect she picked it just to show Ross who is the boss. What a show! The band is excellent and Franklin is inspired. I wish I could have been there. This is one of my favorite live albums. It has so much feeling and atmosphere, it is everything a good live album should be. I consider it one of her essential recordings. It fully displays her unparalleled skill as an interpreter and the boundless expressiveness of her voice. Recommended to fans of Ray Charles, her only rival when it comes to the soulful interpretation of pop music.
