Review CD Review - Beth Hart - You Still Got Me

album review

TageRyche

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BETH HART
You Still Got Me
Provogue Records - 2024

Singer Beth Hart's 11th solo studio album, You Still Got Me, serves up plenty of musical styles across the album's eleven tracks. Produced by Kevin Shirley (Iron Maiden, Joe Bonamassa), the stated aim of the album to explore Hart's vocal power and emotional depth is not just PR hype.

Between her incredible voice and the song lyrics, there's so much to dig into that you have to give the album multiple spins to really grasp everything going on.
That's fine with me because it should come as little surprise that Beth Hart is one of my favorite performers...ever!

And while I'm mostly a rock and metal fan, there's something about Hart's music that ropes me in regardless of the various other musical styles she employs in her music.

But for the album's opening two tracks, Hart is dishing out a smoking hot helping of blazing blues rock. She co-wrote the songs with frequent collaborator Rune Westberg and their well honed partnership shines as Hart kills it on the opening "Savior with a Razor". There's a thumping beat to the music and her voice is flat out killer on the song. Guns 'N Roses guitarist Slash makes a guest appearance on the song.

Up next was "Suga N My Bowl", which is another foot stomping bluesy romp that showcases guest guitarist Eric Gales wonderfully. There's a different tone to each of these first two songs but if you are jonesing for some good time rock and roll, these are the songs that are going to get your blood pumping.

But Hart's musical path charts new courses after those opening two songs. On "Never Underestimate a Gal", the music reminded me of a kind of Russian folk song. And while it is far slower in tempo, that music choice reminded me a little of the way it was employed on the heavy metal song "Train Ride in Russia" by U.D.O.

In my mind's eye, hearing the song "Drunk on Valentine" conjured up images of a big band orchestra in a 1940s or 1950s night club. The song has a slow smoky vibe going for it and I can picture how I would direct a video for the song.

Co-writing the song "Wanna Be Big Bad Johnny Cash" with Glen Burtnick (formerly of Styx), Hart gives listeners an uptempo number that has every bit of a classic country song that you could possibly wish for. There's something in the way Hart performs the vocals that gives the song a grittier edge to it, particularly in the song's chorus.

The mixed tempos of "Wonderful World" lends a feeling of a traditional "Standards" vibe to the song. In the main lyrical passages you get a slower delivery, but when you hit the chorus the pace picks up a bit. As the song hits the last part, it breaks out into more of a full uptempo style.

Given how much Beth Hart pours herself into the songs, the fact she turns out some incredible lyrics is of little surprise. Whether revealing parts of herself, or just a well crafted line, you will always find things that blow you away when you hear them. There's plenty of that in the material I've already mentioned, but for me the stakes got raised on the lyrical front on the song "Little Heartbreak Girl". It was the first song released from the album before the official album release. I was reading about the origins of the song which once again finds Hart mining her own personal life and putting it out there for all to see. I don't know that I could ever go as far as she does which is maybe why the song appeals to me so much. The musical score has a midtempo groove through most of the track. But amongst some impressively emotive lyrics there is the line "You got a fire that could scare the rain". I mean, holy cow, that is an incredible line! Each time I played the album, I was floored anew by that lyric. And the artwork that accompanies the lyrics in the CD booklet (each song has one, BTW), it makes such an emotional connection between Hart and the listener. Or at least THIS listener anyway.

I can't quite remember where I might've heard the opening musical flourish on "Don't Call The Police" but it struck me very familiar for some reason. However, after that intro, the song shifts down and then it is the piano that features as the main musical fuel for the song until the song's chorus when that familar flourish that opens the song returns. The song runs nearly 6 1/2 minutes which surprised me the first time I listened to it.

The showcase track of the album is almost certainly the title track. It's vibrant, dramatic and I'm guessing deeply personal since it seems to go into Hart's relationship with her husband. Once again, it is Hart's piano that provides the main musical thrust and the song is full of tempo changes that give a perfectly cast ebb and flow to each part of the song.

I have to admit that I remain flummoxed by the weird juxtaposition going on in the song "**** Like That". The song is a slow moving number, fueled by the piano but the lyrics make it seem like the POV of the lyrics comes from an actual ****. I've listened to the song a number of times and I remain unable to figure out just what's going on with this particular track.

There's a heavy sense of dramatic tension in the closing track of the album. "Machine Gun Vibrato" finds Hart's vocals performed in a hushed and/or almost whispered style. But when you combine it with the mid-to-uptempo soundtrack, it's got its own mini cinematic vibe going on at the same time. I'm not sure if I'm reading more into the song than Hart perhaps intended but regardless I ended up liking the song.

And that's the thing that always amazes, confounds and impresses me when it comes to Beth Hart. No matter what style of music she plays, it always comes out in such an impressive manner that I find myself continually drawn to her work. For a mostly emotionless bastard like myself, Hart's music and lyrics always get to me in some unexpected and emotional way. With You Still Got Me, Hart has once again delivered an album that continues to reinforce my belief that she is one the most important musical voices we have going for the entirety of music. I said it earlier in this article, but it bears repeating, Beth Hart is one of my all-time favorite performers and this superb album gives plenty of examples of why I feel that way.
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I gave that one for Christmas to my wife and she loves it, and so do I. Brilliant. ( on vinyl)

Great review!!
 

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