Screamin' For My Supper - Beth Hart

CD Review: “Screamin' For My Supper” – Beth Hart (1999)

== Beth Hart? Isn’t she a little more rockier than your usual fare? ==

Well, yes, she is – regular readers of my reviews will have by now detected that I’m fond of Americana, roots, alt-blues, alt-country and alt-folk female singer-songwriters, with the odd shot of electronica thrown in for good measure, but I’ve also been known to supplement this diet quite often with ...
...come complete with an absolutely killer of a voice – just like Beth Hart’s whiskeyed-tones. Tell the truth, though, I wasn’t entirely sure I’d go for this album as much as I did – it initially sounded too much like “rock” for my tastes. However, dipping in a track at a time recently, I’ve come to love it – and now wonder why I ever doubted Beth’s talents. Despite this album being made ten years ago, when compared with similar fare from more contemporary ... more

CD Review: “Screamin' For My Supper” – Beth Hart (1999)

Beth Hart? Isn’t she a little more rockier than your usual fare?

Well, yes, she is – regular readers of my reviews will have by now detected that I’m fond of Americana, roots, alt-blues, alt-country and alt-folk female singer-songwriters, with the odd shot of electronica thrown in for good measure, but I’ve also been known to supplement this diet quite often with hefty slices of out and out rock, especially when they come complete with an absolutely killer of a voice – just like Beth Hart’s whiskeyed-tones. Tell the truth, though, I wasn’t entirely sure I’d go for this album as much as I did – it initially sounded too much like “rock” for my tastes. However, dipping in a track at a time recently, I’ve come to love it – and now wonder why I ever doubted Beth’s talents. Despite this album being made ten years ago, when compared with similar fare from more contemporary artists, it might well have been released yesterday – and it still holds up pretty well against anything from the same mould today.

“Screamin' For My Supper” wasn’t Beth Hart’s first album, but it was the first one of hers that came to my attention, since I heard “LA Song” some years ago and thought she sounded like a harder version of Canadian artist Amanda Marshall, who I’d also “discovered” at around the same time – and probably more like another Canadian, Holly McNarland, who I’ll bet hardly anyone reading this has ever heard of, let alone heard (mental note to self – review her CD “Stuff” sometime in the future!). In fact, Beth also reminded me of Sheryl Crow in her “Tuesday Night Music Club” days, not necessarily in terms of the exact voice but more the sense of “fun” and experimentation her and the band were having. Whilst there’s definitely an AOR stamp all over this release, there’s enough variety in the songs to keep it interesting, and today I really can’t get tired of hearing Beth’s raw-edged vocals, even though she’s got something of an “all or nothing” style on several of the tracks.

Beth Hart & “Screamin' For My Supper”

Beth started learning the piano at the tender age of four. As she got older, her musical heroes changed from first classical composers such as Bach and Beethoven to the likes of Led Zeppelin and Rush, then finally towards names such as Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding and Billie Holiday. She entered the LA High School for the Performing Arts as a vocal and cello major, but soon dropped out to concentrate on her song-writing, as she was also singing five nights a week on “open mic” nights at the Comedy Store, which played hob with her school attendance record. Beth appeared on and won several TV talent shows during the early 1990s, winning a prize fund of $100,000 for “Best Female Vocalist” during one particular year.

By 1993 she was a regular performer on the LA club circuit: hooking up with veteran Israeli session bassist Tal Herzberg and guitarist Jimmy Khoury that year, she added drummer Sergio Gonzalez in 1994 and created the “Beth Hart Band”, playing impromptu evening gigs on a Santa Monica promenade, light only by candlelight. Word of mouth soon brought Beth to the attention of a local record label who signed them up, helping them to release their debut album “Immortal” – whilst she was heavily addicted to drugs and alcohol. The band broke up after a long US and European tour and Beth Hart appeared to be finished as a performer. She dropped out of sight and relocated to Alabama, choosing inside to sort herself out and concentrate on writing songs.

Five months later, Beth was back in LA, working on her next album. She had turned to the likes of blues legend Etta James for inspiration, the fruits of which would become 1999’s “Screamin' For My Supper”. A much harder edged release, it reflected a series of tragedies and the artist’s rehabilitation – “LA Song (Out Of This Town)” reached No.5 in the American Adult Contemporary Chart but was one of the quieter songs on the CD. Beth wanted to produce part of the album herself, and managed to get both Tal Herzberg and Jimmy Khoury back on board – she even ended up producing eleven of the tracks herself. Dismissing any notion of talent behind the scenes, Beth simply says “we just let fly” – a party atmosphere was generated which ended up being a three-month long session in the studio. Only one more single was produced from the album – “Delicious Surprise”. At this time she was also singing the lead role in an off-Broadway musical, “Love, Janis” – based on Janis Joplin’s letters to her mother. Beth Hart, not surprisingly, has been compared to Joplin on numerous occasions.

Beth followed up “Screamin' For My Supper” with a further release, “Leave The Light On”, in 2003, and 2007’s album “37 Days”. Despite being resident in LA, she tours extensively in Europe with her current band, seeming to have more of a fan base in Holland and Denmark than in her native country.

Track Listing

There are thirteen tracks on “Screamin' For My Supper”, plus a “hidden” fourteenth:

01. Just A Little Hole
02. Delicious Surprise
03. LA Song (Out Of This Town)
04. Is That Too Much To Ask?
05. By Her
06. Get Your Sh*t Together
07. Stay
08. G.O.P.
09. Skin
10. Girls Say
11. Sky Is Falling
12. Mama
13. Favorite Things
(14. House Of Sin)

Just A Little Hole

“In December I got your letter
And by the springtime they let me know you were gone
If I only loved you better I’d see you smile again
But what’s done is done”

There’s a quite deceptive little intro to “Just A Little Hole” – a quiet percussion backed piece to lull the listener into a completely false sense of security. Within fifteen seconds, though, you’re treated to Beth’s opening salvo, a billowing, bluesy induction of breath that leads into her first growling, drawling lines, all delivered with so much feeling and conviction that you think she’s about to burst open. It’s a clear statement of intent – this is what you’re going to get for the next sixty-one minutes, like it or lump it! Everything’s enunciated perfectly, though – and there’s a whole gamut of little nuances to her vocals, making it a joy to listen to this track again and again, picking up on new fractured chords, held notes or the tiny guitar reverbs on each fresh occasion. Surprisingly, though, she’s never harsh – there’s a curious sweetness to her verses that tempers the volume and tremors used in the choruses. Said growl gets really deep later on, when Beth lets fly towards the song’s climax – yet you can’t help thinking that she is still holding something back – the live performances of this one must be something to witness. A cracking tune and a worthy opening track for the album.

Delicious Surprise

“If I was a movie star
I’d sip honey from a pickle jar in the back of my limousine
And they’d call me an icon
And I’d be looking back at you from the cover of the People Magazine”

Listening to the first half-minute of “Delicious Surprise”, you can’t help wondering whether Beth Hart is trying to hide her light under a musical bushel – once again there’s a deceptive intro that really fools you into thinking she’s some sweet-tongued diva. This falsehood doesn’t last, but enjoy it while you can – it’s really rather good, jangly little guitars echoing Sarah Marshall, Sheryl Crow and a whole raft of iconic artists. Beth’s even playing along with the joke for a little while, giving us some light-hearted banter that belies the power she suddenly injects into the end of the verses without so much as a bat of an eyelid, a seamless transition from sweetly sung to an “in your face” attitude that really makes you sit up and take notice. She’s actually shifted into that powerful, trembling and growly delivery but curiously you’ve not really registered the fact – until she starts belting out that first wonderful chorus. Get to the end and Beth’s really shouting it out big style, but even this doesn’t seem forced or manufactured. This wouldn’t ever be background music – it’s far too demanding for that, yet extremely cultured in its own way – think of Canuckistan’s once-finest squawker Alanis Morrisette finally managing to control her vocal outbursts and you’re pretty much on the mark. Country queen sweetie Jo Dee Messina covered this song back in 2005 but this wasn’t as good as Beth’s original – Messina’s is faithful to a point, but otherwise much weaker in comparison – stick with this one, you’ll not regret it.

LA Song (Out Of This Town)

“She hangs around the boulevard
She’s a local girl with local scars
She got home late, she drank so hard the bottle ached
And she tried, but nothing’s clear in a bar full of flies”

This song was my first exposure to Beth Hart and, with together with “Delicious Surprise”, "Is That Too Much To Ask", "Get Your Sh*t Together" and "G.O.P.", remains one of my favourites to this day. There was a slight tremor to her vocals that seemed to set her apart from other more distinguished artists, whilst she injected plenty of soul into her raspy delivery – yet strangely all of this is confined to the choruses and those are extremely muted in comparison with what precedes this song on the album. My description of a harder-edged Amanda Marshall rang true, a strong singer with a powerful yet still beautiful voice, and all the while I couldn’t help thinking that there was plenty more in reserve – how right I was. “LA Song” trades attitude for simplicity and beauty, a multi-instrumented Beth on form with her piano generating most of the audible backing, drums and harmonium providing depth. It is a semi-autobiographical account of how a relationship-gone-sour gave her the impetus to sort her life out, and serves as evidence that she’s able to perform power ballads too – whilst the piano underpins this song, her voice really holds it together and everything else seems a distant second. Whilst it’s an accomplished song and a really strong, enjoyable ballad, it’s nowhere near being the best track on the album in my humble opinion – that much I found out after hearing the next track!

A live version of “LA Song” can be found on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrZw8RToN2Y

Is That Too Much To Ask?

“All I want is a brand new truck
One eyed Jacks and beginners’ luck
The doctor’s script for the perfect drug
Get it all while I can”

When I first heard “Is That Too Much To Ask?”, I wondered why it hadn’t been released as a single – for a start, it’s a much more radio-friendly song despite being one of the more seemingly disorganised numbers on the album. It has a sense of fun and yet a resigned tone both at the same time, the bouncy guitars, shaker percussion and wildly over the top harmonica reminding me of several Sheryl Crow songs in spirit, the harmonica giving the song more than a slight whiff of traditional “West” Nashville. That’s not a bad thing, since it’s another of the diverse influences on show within “Screamin' For My Supper”. Beth joins in this wonderful party atmosphere with a mocking tone reminiscent of Gretchen (“Redneck Woman”) Wilson, adding to the country feel, though she’s still able to distance herself from the standard C&W tropes with another stand-out performance, keeping the verses light and airy, delivering some of the lyrics in an almost speaking, lazy-eyed fashion and ramping up the choruses a bit – though the volume levels of the latter are nowhere near those experienced elsewhere. As an introduction to Beth Hart, however, this would work equally as well as “LA Song” – though I expect it was considered too cluttered and “all over the place” to work as a single release, and in the end it doesn’t give the listener any idea what she’s really capable of. Despite all this, I still love it to bits, and for my money it’s one of the five best songs on the album.

By Her

“She got a poet’s spirit
She burns among the clouds
She never stops believing
She only dreams out loud”

For someone who’s clearly got a reputation as being a bit of a rocker, there’s a trio of surprisingly quiet songs plonked right in the middle of “Screamin' For My Supper” – this is the third. Once again Beth has opted for a deceptively quiet opening, a simple acoustic guitar and drum loop providing a lilting, pleasant introduction that continues throughout the remainder of the first verse, ending with an exquisite string section piece that orchestrates its way into the chorus. Beth herself is also remarkably restrained, in fact rather sweet and delightful, proving once again that she’s able to demonstrate a healthy control over her volume that still allows plenty of latitude with her considerable range. There is a hook buried in the song but the beauty here is Beth’s quieter, more intimate side – an artist who knows when it’s best to hold back and when it’s better to “let fly”.

Get Your Sh*t Together

“Hello again my friend
It’s been some time
I try and read you
In your shifting eyes
Your hands are trembling
As I hold ‘em in mine”

Police sirens, a dog barking, shots and screams in the night, helicopters flying low overhead, all laid over a simple acoustic guitar track – and that’s all in the first fifteen seconds – a completely unexpected entrance to unquestionably the most pure rock song on the CD, no question. This is evidence – if ever needed – that Beth knows just when it’s right to give it all she’s got. She’s still trying to deceive the ears of the listener before the first chorus kicks down the door, though – almost serenely delivering the lines of the first verse and even yawning her way through at least one word. This lyrical awakening can’t last for long though, since Beth finally unleashes herself in a stunning rampage through the chorus, fighting and punching her way towards the next verse, and there’s no going back from that point. It’s clearly auto-biographical in nature and attitude – you can tell that there’s a lot of the artist within – but it equally works well as a straight-up piece of unadulterated rock. For me, this is what Beth Hart is all about – and why I label this song as one of my two favourites from the album.

Mama

“Confused by my own illusions
She said that it’s only my pride
And even the simplest solutions
Still won’t heal my mind”

For a minute I thought I had Amanda Marshall’s album “Tuesday’s Child” on – this didn’t seem like Beth Hart at all. Her delivery sounded almost subliminal in the opening verse, with only faint echoes of the angst and raw emotion she puts out elsewhere. Then it clicked – this is Beth at her tender-most, laying her “inner soul” out for the world to see. Whilst I’m not necessarily fond of too much of the “touchy-feely” stuff, I’m not entirely blind to it, either – and this song works to a point as she’s injected a healthy amount of jazz and, less audibly, blues into the arrangement to give it a kick here and there. Without this, “Mama” would meander its way through its four-and-a-half minutes and not really get anywhere – with this, then it’s lifted from a severe case of the maudlin to something that piques your interest in places but ultimately doesn’t quite deliver the goods.

I always like to leave a favourite track out of my descriptions - in this case it's "G.O.P." - it's a real "shout out loud while driving the car" type of song, and I'll just leave it at that! :)

CD Inlay and Artwork

Most – not all – of the songs have lyrics attached, but they’re laid out in “hand-written” format and some are incomplete whilst others are completely missing. If you’re that bothered, though, they’re all available on the Internet. There are plenty of monochrome photographs of Beth Hart throughout – she’s certainly a striking lass if not pretty, and the back cover of the inlay contains a Jackson Pollock-esque rendition of the track listing, which is incredibly hard to read!

Conclusion

I’ve read someone describe “Screamin' For My Supper” as being an album where the artist is better than the material. That’s possibly true to a certain point, but I feel the CD is worth acquiring simply down to Beth’s voice alone – she’s a naturally skilled singer whose song-writing talents might be confined to second place but which are still worthy enough to enjoy. Towards the end of the album, she seems to conserve more energy than she expends, possibly due to what’s been delivered in the first half of the record, but there’s a convincing argument for getting “Screamin' For My Supper” purely for the first six tracks alone, even if you never listen to the final half-dozen.

This is another album that I bought, listened to and put away, only thinking one or two of the tracks had any impact. However, I dusted it down a few months ago, and started listening to it a few times recently, sometimes even just a track at a time. I then began to wonder why I was ignoring such a talented vocalist – Beth Hart had joined the ranks of the other artists who I’ve happily changed my mind about in the last couple of months. Clearly my original instincts in buying “Screamin' For My Supper” were still justified!

Plenty of artists have learned that if they’re to get anywhere in the music business, they have to scream, shout and berate their way through songs. Whilst Beth Hart might sound as though she’s really piling it on in all of these departments, she’s actually exercising a surprising amount of control throughout, though you’d never quite believe it when you hear something like “Just A Little Hole” or “Delicious Surprise”. In the end, however, this is not the out-and-out screamer of an album you’d expect just from listening to those tracks – Beth actually becomes mellower the further through the CD you get (well, except for "G.O.P.", maybe!), right through to “Mama” where she’s finally spent and reducing to pouring her heart out.

So – “Screamin' For My Supper” – an album that surprised me on several counts, all of them positive.
 

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