THE CHAMBERS BROTHERS: BARBARA DANE AND THE CHAMBERS BROTHERS (1966)
1) It Isn't Nice; 2) You've
Got To Reap What You Sow; 3) You Can't Make It By Yourself; 4) Pack Up Your
Sorrows; 5) I Am A Weary And A Lonesome Traveller; 6) We'll Never Turn Back; 7)
Come By Here; 8) Freedom Is A Constant Struggle; 9) Go Tell It On The Mountain.
Both technically and substantially, this is a
Barbara Dane album rather than a Chambers Brothers album — all the material is
chosen (and some of it written) by Barbara, she takes lead vocals on all the
tracks, using the brothers largely for backup, and the record was released on
the Folkways label, with which Dane had already had an association. However,
since this is one of the best albums ever to feature The Chambers Brothers anyway,
and also because I am unlikely to ever separately cover Barbara Dane — not
because she does not deserve it, but because her discography is such an utter
mess — I might as well drop this short, but grateful evaluation along the way,
as a reasonable detour before continuing along the main road.
Apparently, Barbara Dane, of whom I'd never
even heard before digging in the Brothers' discography, had been a permanent
fixture on the jazz/blues/folk circuit since the late Fifties, performing solo
as well as in various liaisons with everybody from Louis Armstrong to Muddy
Waters and beyond, earning much critical praise but fairly little publicity —
mass audiences were not particularly interested in listening to a white girl
putting on the shoes of Bessie Smith, even if most had to admit that they fit
her fairly well. On the social side, though, she was more akin to Nina Simone
than to Bessie — constantly revitalizing old blues and spirituals with new
lyrics, making her sound thoroughly relevant back in the day, but somewhat
dated today, now that even American audiences will probably have trouble
remembering who McGeorge Bundy and Robert McNamara were in the first place.
Regardless, what does not sound dated is the voice: Barbara Dane was an admirable singer,
and the nine tracks here, more or less evenly spread between light folk, dark
blues, and multi-colored gospel, are more than enough to prove it. Without
trying to engage in a discussion of just how close to «authentic
African-American» her voice is, I will just state the simple and obvious — it
is a strong, rich, energized sound that she delivers, with a great sense of
phrasing and just a small touch of humor and irony and irreverence, to ensure
that the listener be not obliged to treat the songs as sacred vessels of the
divine human spirit (looking at you, Joan Baez). It is even pleasant to listen
to her brief spoken introductions to some of the songs on the first side, with
an ever so slight Arkansas accent and a subtle aura of bittersweet wisdom; and
as for versatility, there is quite a distance from the friendly, but still
troubled optimism of the Appalachian upbeatness of ʽPack Up Your Sorrowsʼ to
the doomed self-resignation of ʽI Am A Weary And Lonesome Travellerʼ (a
particularly harrowing number of the kind of which I sure wish there'd been
more on here: one too many gospel stompers can seriously distort the picture).
The Chambers Brothers, though relegated to
purely secondary services, still provide them loyally on every track. The first
side of the album features instrumental backing, usually in the form of a quiet
rhythm section and one or two electric (always electric, although Dane herself
sometimes strums an acoustic in addition) guitars, sometimes with extra harp
thrown in by brother Lester; the second one, however, is completely a cappella,
with the brothers' harmonies providing the only support for Dane's lead, and
this is where they really become inexpendable — their harmonization with Dane
is perfect, and the sound engineer also has to be thanked for near-perfect
channel separation, so that, by slightly adjusting your ear, you can
concentrate either on each individual pitch, or on all of them together. The
effect is so cool that, with only a few people present at the mikes, you still
get an «all the people» feel from the performances, much stronger than from
quite a few gospel choirs.
Commenting on the melodies or on the meanings
of the songs is rather pointless — one look at the titles is probably enough to
make you realize you've probably heard it all before, with the possible
exception of the lead-in track, Barbara's self-penned ʽIt Isn't Niceʼ which is
a fairly catchy folk protest tune of the Peter, Paul, & Mary kind. What
matters is not the source material, but the sound of it, and it all really
works — ironically, The Chambers Brothers' first truly outstanding service to
mankind is in the capacity of a support act. This is why the predictability of
the melodies, or the dragged-out length and repetitiveness of the tunes is
never a big bother: as long as they got this great groove going, with Barbara
as the inspiring leader of the pack and The Chambers Brothers as the inspired
members of the back, nothing else really matters. Thumbs up, for an album that may
have never properly transcended its time but is still worth revisiting just to
remind yourself of the rather unique type of fun that time was capable of.
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