专辑简介

by Thom Jurek

Two years after she simultaneously released three separate recordings on her own Mighty Sound imprint, Michelle Shocked is back with a live album. Don't plan on hearing live versions of Shocked's classics from Short Sharp Shocked, Arkansas Traveler, or Captain Swing. In fact, don't plan on hearing much of her old material at all (four tunes). To Heaven U Ride is a live gospel recording done with a killer gospel band and small choir from Los Angels churches, recorded at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in 2003. Shocked begins with a funky bluesy groove and does her own extrapolated cover version of Sister Rosetta Tharpe's "Strange Things Happening Every Day," and follows it with a Sunday morning version of Robbie Robertson's "The Weight," before warming up enough to deliver an intensely funky version of her own "Quality of Mercy." The choir and the band's rhythm section add considerable punch to Shocked's delivery. She can sing with the best of them with that throaty contralto of hers, but she is really pushed by this group. The set is released as it happened, so not a lot of editing was done in order to keep its energy and flow intact. That's both a good thing and a bad thing -- musically it's terrific, because all that crackling energy is on offer and the sound is awesome. Then there is the talking and sermonizing, which is part of a Sunday church gig: authenticity was what she was going for, so you can't blame her (there's some social activism tossed in with her gospel rap). Still, hearing that stuff once is enough. The raps on all live records are best heard once. ... Read More...