Rating: 5/5
Review:
An interesting period piece
This is a re-release of the original 1969 album with no extras. Note that it is *not* the Rhino release from 2001 which had a dozen or so bonus tracks and singles added but which is almost impossible to find at the time of writing.
As an album...well, it's OK. It's a reminder of what a good singer Cher was, even without the gloss and electronics she went in for later. She has a fine natural voice which she uses very well, there's a good band with a quality horn section added at times and as a period piece it's decent music making. Frankly, though, the material lets it down.
It's largely good material: Dylan, Stills & Young, Otis Redding...they're classy names. However, if you're going to cover a song which a great artist has already recorded in a classic version, you need to do something very different or very special, and Cher doesn't really manage either here. After four and a half decades the generic late-60s sound and arrangements sound pretty bland, and much of the real soul, passion or eroticism is drained out of these songs. Dock Of The Bay has none of Otis's agonised hopelessness and "Lay Baby Lay" (!) lacks any of Dylan's laid back, sexy delivery, for example, and the same is true pretty well throughout.
For me this is an interesting collection to look back on, but a good singer is largely wasted here, I think. It's available pretty cheaply so you may want to give it a try, but it's not one I'll be taking out and playing much, I'm afraid.
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