Latest releases reviewed

BETTYE LAVETTE
I've Got My Own Hell to Raise Anti
****

A veteran soul and r'n'b growler of some 40 years standing, Detroit's Bettye LaVette has assembled a cult audience without ever tickling the curiosity of the mainstream. This despite spells with the Atlantic and Motown labels, and the patronage of James Brown and Otis Redding. Whether an album featuring LaVette covering the work of 10 contemporary female singer-songwriters will change this is in the lap of the gods, but it should cause some to go in search of her earlier work. Here, songs such as Sinéad O'Connor's I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got and Aimee Mann's How Am I Different are just stepping blocks to the real heart of the matter. Over a sparse, chilling loop, LaVette finds a weight of hurt, rejection and sometimes even redemption in these tunes that even their writers somehow overlooked. It's all down to that rasping, dusky, dusty voice, one you won't forget in a hurry. www.anti.com Jim Carroll