Listening to Bobbie Gentry... part 1

(I wrote this career overview for one of my favourite artists back in 2013, just so you know.)

A wonderful artist and well worth a complete career overview. I've spent a couple of years tracking down as much of her music as I could: first through compilations (The 'American quilt' comp on Raven is the best one, IMO. You can't really go wrong, but the Shout! comp focuses a little too much on the first two albums and glosses over the rest of her career, and 'Ode' has got too little of her own songs, which is a big oversight), then copies of the original albums until Raven Records reissued the albums (except for the Campbell-collaboration).

There are 7 albums and a couple of stand alone singles:

Ode to Billie Joe (1967)

Side 1

1."Mississippi Delta" – 3:05

2."I Saw an Angel Die" – 2:56

3."Chickasaw County Child" – 2:45

4."Sunday Best" – 2:50

5."Niki Hoeky" (Jim Ford, Lolly Vegas, Pat Vegas) – 2:45

Side 2

1."Papa, Woncha Let Me Go to Town With You?" – 2:30

2."Bugs" – 2:05

3."Hurry, Tuesday Child" – 3:52

4."Lazy Willie" – 2:36

5."Ode to Billie Joe" – 4:15

A hurriedly recorded first album after the success of the single (actually 'Ode to Billie Joe' was the b-side to 'Mississippi delta'). At this point there was clearly some mileage in the idea of Bobbie Gentry as a succesfull writer-singer. Apart from 'Niki Hoeky', all the songs are her own. (I still don't put too much stock in the Jim Ford rumors, and in the meantime I've heard some of his own songs. Nope, can't see it.)

Gentry herself complained later that she wasn't ready, and I hear it. I mean, this is an introduction to an artist capable of greatness, who already has a grasp of her own writing style, very literate, very Southern, very much concerned with parts of women's life experience that had not been voiced in songs much before. Many of the songs on the album are good to very good (I really like 'Sunday best', 'Papa won't you let me go to town with you' and 'Hurry tuesday child' a lot), but only one is great. Gentry always prided herself on the fact that she (co-)arranged her own records, but she's not nearly ready on that front: some nice touches, but many songs share the same mood and occasionally the 'interesting' arrangements cross over into quirky touches.

So, this record is certainly worth your time, but she got better - fast.