Madeleine Peyroux – The Blue Room – Decca B 001810002, 43:01***:
(Madeleine Peyroux – acoustic guitar, vocals; Jay Bellerose – drums, percussion; Larry Goldings – Hammond B-3, piano, Wurlitzer piano; John ‘Scrapper’Sneider – trumpet; Dean Parks – guitars; David Piltch – bass)
In 1962, Ray Charles took a giant musical leap from his R&B roots to record Modern Sounds In Country And Western Music. This turned out to be one of Charles’ most insightful recordings which has stood the test of time. Madeleine Peyroux looked at this touchstone as an opportunity to cast her own reflection on the genre and thus in a re-defined form The Blue Room emerged.
Unfortunately, when trying to re-imagine the Charles ‘oeuvre both the artist and the producer Larry Klein made a jump—to use a war analogy—that was “a bridge too far”. Firstly Peyroux’s delicate voice is not entirely suited to material which demands something more robust and assertive. There is no doubt that it is Peyroux’s intention to express the complex convictions that are the foundation of these compositions, and she certainly does that starting with “Take These Chains” which is also enhanced by the spare support provided by the band. This course continues with the Everly Brothers hit “Bye, Bye Love” where Peyroux offers a classy version of the tune.
However in trying to find a thread that will tie together the core of the album, the process begins to unravel and that is principally due to the choice of tempo for a couple of the key charts. While offering crooner interpretations of “Born To Lose” and “I Can’t Stop Loving You” may assist in delivering sensitive and articulate interpretations of the material, making Leonard Cohen’s “Bird On The Wire” and John Hartford’s “Gentle On My Mind” come across as Chinese water torture, defeats the whole purpose of the exercise.
Madeleine Peyroux has a unique voice but appears to be trapped by the continuing comparisons with Billie Holiday. While she is to be commended for trying to find material to get out of this box, she and her producer need to spend some more time thinking about how this can be accomplished.
TrackList: Take These Chains; Bye Bye Love; Changing All Those Changes; Born To Lose; Guilty; Bird On The Wire; I Can’t Stop Loving You; Gentle On My Mind; You Don’t Know Me; Desperados Under The Eaves; I Love You So Much It Hurts
—Pierre Giroux
