The phenomenon of tribute albums has been a mixed blessing. Certainly the post-Beatles if-you-don't-do-your-own-material-you-stink syndrome, never all that artistically valid in the first place, has been dealt a long-overdue blow. Then again, some songs simply should not be redone, as anyone who bought the Zeppelin pastiche The Song Retains the Name found out in a big hurry.
The greatest of all the tribute albums, therefore, skirts the issue by paying its homage, not to a performer, but to a songwriter, and one of the best ever to be translated into wax: Doc Pomus, born Jerome Solon Felder in 1925 and reborn in the Forties as a bluesman par excellence. Not exactly what one might have expected of a Jewish kid from Brooklyn with polio, but once Doc got his groove, first as a singer and then as a songwriter, you couldn't imagine him doing anything else.
Pomus wrote hundreds of songs. Some, notably with collaborator Mort Shuman, are revered as pop classics. Some are the purest kind of R&B. And some simply defy categorization. The fourteen songs included in this collection add substantially to the level of defiance. Los Lobos pounce on "Lonely Avenue" and extract from it the maximum degree of fright. Lou Reed strips "This Magic Moment" to its emotional core. Shawn Colvin finds the uneasy undercurrents beneath "Viva Las Vegas". Dr. John imbues "I'm on a Roll", which he wrote with Pomus two weeks before Doc died in 1991, with all the what-the-hell attitude that defines New Orleans. Rosanne Cash, struggling to maintain her reserve during "I Count the Tears", actually makes me cry. The only real misfire here is Brian Wilson's attempt at "Sweets for My Sweet"; his ravaged voice and shrill pseudo-wistfulness serve only to remind us how much we miss the Drifters. The Searchers, even.
There are two or three good reasons to drop everything and go buy this disc. For one thing, you'll be helping out the Rhythm & Blues Foundation, which gets the proceeds. Gerri Hirshey's liner notes get to the heart of the man as easily as to the subtexts of the songs. And, perhaps more to the point, if you've ever wondered about the precise meaning of the term "labor of love", here is Lesson One-A. You'll never hear these songs quite the same way again, and you'll be grateful for the enlightenment.
Further exploration: Visit the official Doc Pomus Web site, now under construction.
Track listing:
- Lonely Avenue (Pomus) Los Lobos
Produced by Los Lobos - Boogie Woogie Country Girl (Pomus-Ashley) Bob Dylan
Recorded by Bob Dylan - Viva Las Vegas (Pomus-Shuman) Shawn Colvin
Produced by Larry Klein - A Mess of Blues (Pomus-Shuman) John Hiatt
Produced by Matt Wallace - This Magic Moment (Pomus-Shuman) Lou Reed
Produced by Lou Reed, Paul Kolderie and Sean Slade - Blinded by Love (Pomus-Rebennack) B. B. King
Produced by Stewart Levine - Young Blood (Pomus-Leiber-Stoller) The Band
Produced by The Band and Aaron L. Hurwitz - There Must Be a Better World Somewhere (Pomus-Rebennack) Irma Thomas
Produced by Scott Billington and Irma Thomas - Turn Me Loose (Pomus-Shuman) Dion
Produced by Joel Dorn - I Count the Tears (Pomus-Shuman) Rosanne Cash
Produced by John Leventhal - I'm on a Roll (Pomus-Rebennack) Dr. John
Produced by Dr. John - Still in Love (Pomus) Solomon Burke
Produced by Selassie, Elizabeth and Candy Burke - Sweets for My Sweet (Pomus-Shuman) Brian Wilson
Produced by Brian Wilson and Andy Paley - Save the Last Dance for Me (Pomus-Shuman) Aaron Neville
Produced by Joel Dorn
Executive producers: Richard Foos, Sharyn Felder, Will Bratton & Robin Lerner
Creative consultants: Gary Stewart & Geoffrey Felder
Mastered by Bill Inglot & Dan Hersch at Digiprep
