Patti LaBelle & The Bluebelles 1966 Album "Over The Rainbow" Celebrates It's 50th Anniversary!
Patti LaBelle gives us just a tiny taste of what's to come on the 1966 album "Over The Rainbow". The album is a mix of polished Girl Group Pop and "The Gospel According To Patti LaBelle". Backed by The Bluebelles (soon to be Supreme Cindy Birdsong, and the extremely talented Nona Hendryx & Sarah Dash) Patti LaBelle belts her way through their first official studio album. The album contains the minor hits "All or Nothing" and "Ebb Tide", along with their signature take on the classic "Over the Rainbow". The rest of the album is made up mostly of sophisticated Soul covers of classic hits at the time, which makes this a very fun album to add to your collection, if you don't have it already! To hear some of my favorite tracks off the album, and a few more fun facts, please follow the link below.
Patti Labelle is a what i will be referring to on my blog as a 5 Decade Diva, meaning her awe-inspiring voice has graced the world on a recording for 5 decades in a row, to the anniversary of this year. That is an incredible accolade many other artists cannot account for. If Patti LaBelle releases music of some sort in 2016, following her contributions to from 2006, 1996, 1986, 1976, & 1966, she will be bumped to a 6 Decade Diva. You can click on the 5 Decade Diva tag to read about others i stumble across in my journey through music.
I mentioned earlier "The Gospel According To Patti LaBelle", it is not only a reference to the name of an album she would release 40 years later, but also the perfect way to introduce this video that needs to be seen by the world! This is a 1966 live performance of "Over The Rainbow", the title track of the album. Judy Garland's original version is legendary. With the modernized arrangement and the ferocity of Patti's vocals, The Bluebelles give us an equally legendary version. Give yourself some time, as you may want to watch it a few times in a row.
Next is The Bluebelles version of the often covered classic
"Unchained Melody", most notably covered by The Righeous Brothers. Instead of a sweeping power ballad as expected (and
maybe secretly hoped for), they give us a poppy little ditty with
Patti's powerful vocals keeping true to the Soul of the song.
Patti Labelle & The Bluebelles version of the Barbra Streisand classic "People" may be my favorite version of the song, a song many a Diva have covered. Patti's vocals can rival Barbra's any day, any song, as they are both powerhouse performers. It's a matter of perfectly crafted Pop versus spontaneously raw Soul. Being as though i love both of those styles of singing, choosing a favorite is not an easy task. Check out The Bluebelles version to decide for yourself.
"All or Nothing" is perhaps the most memorable song from the album. It grabs your attention quickly, as it goes back and forth between tenderly sung verses to Patti loudly demanding "It's all or nothing, nothing at all" in the choruses. Easy to see why it was the most successful single released from the album.
The rest of the album continues the theme of these songs I've shared with you. There is a lovely folksy cover of The Beatles "Yesterday", and if i didn't already know Patti's eyes were brown I would deem this an any early Blue Eyed Soul classic. Another cover song most notably sung by The Righteous Brothers, and given the Patti treatment is "Ebb Tide". The Bluebelles really showcase their talent for vocal power and harmonizing as the song builds it way up to the very climactic ending. The girls provide us a few more booming ballads with "Who Can I Turn To", "Try To Remember", and "He". Also on the album are the peppy upbeat song "More", and the inspiring "Patti's Prayer", a peek at future sounds to come from these very original young ladies.
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