LIVE REVIEWS:

CD REVIEWS FOR HOWARD TATE 2006/7 :

A Portrait Of Howard

Basement CD Spotlight - New Material
Having been disappointed with Howard Tate's elsewhere-acclaimed 2003 comeback album, 'Rediscovered', I approached this set with a degree of trepidation, wondering if I could stand any more of his once 'trademark falsetto' being overworked in the contrived fashion of his being prodded with a stick every few minutes to get it going. Fortunately, I need not have worried, this excellently-crafted set, enacted by many real musicians, being designed, in track order, to be a biography of Tate's somewhat troubled life, a number of songs being written for the occasion by producer/arranger, Steve Weisberg, while others come from such diverse names as Randy Newman, Carla Bley, Lou Reed and Nick Lowe. It is perhaps fitting that respect be paid regarding the story being told that the review be done in track order... Newman's, drum and orchestra-supported 'I'll Be Home' begins the tale, Val McCallum's guitar taking centre stage at one point but not to detract, especially as Tate's voice seems to have found a new strength. Not sure I ever thought I'd hear Howard Tate sing 'Close To You' but the Bacharach/ David song fits into the context just fine and, once again, it's in an orchestral setting. Nick Lowe's 'Homewrecker' moves into the territory of slow funk, while 'With You No More', penned by Tate with Weisberg, is a moody, doomy item, supported by organ (Larry Goldings), piano, guitar and bass. Chrissie Hynde wrote 'Gone' with Nick Lowe. Walking pace but with a distinct tune, Howard's clear feel for the song adds depth and his story has the listener gripped - there's a full book here. Lou Reed's 'How Do You Think It Feels' is remarkable in context, with brilliantly arranged viola and cello work and Reed himself on guitar. This is not just a collection of songs, it's an opera, so much so that when the tempo lifts and brass come in on 'One Hit', it comes as a bit of a shock at first. A pair of Newman songs follow: 'Every Time It Rains' carries a strong melody over choral support, moving on to what has become something of an American anthem since Hurricane Katrina, 'Louisiana 1927'. Tate offers up one of the strongest versions. The man's appeal to the church is initiated by Weisberg's gritty 'Dear Lord', moving on to the organ and horn-driven 'Hell (Is Just A Place On Earth)' and the grinding, brass-fuelled 'Left For Dead (On Hold)', another Tate-Weisberg composition. The jazz-rooted Carla Bley penned (and plays piano on) 'The Lord Is Listenin' To Ya, Hallelujah', a gentle item with a slight country lilt, before we return to a short burst of 'Every Time It Rains', used as an intro to the powerhouse closer (except for bonus short versions of the two openers), 'Solid Ground', featuring the femme vocals of Donna Washington and taking this outstanding set out in positive and pulsating fashion. Absolutely unmissable.
This review, with complete track listing, appears in the current In The Basement No.46

Howard Tate
“A Portrait of Howard”
Solid Ground (www.amazon.com)

Jimi Hendrix, B.B. King, Janis Joplin, Ry Cooder, the James Gang and South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela are just some of the artists who covered songs by unsung R&B vocal great Howard Tate in the 1960s. After a three-decade descent into drugs and homelessness, a clean and sober Tate re-emerged a few years ago with his remarkably soulful voice stronger and more supple than ever.

On his second album in the past three years, Tate is joined by such musical admirers as Lou Reed, jazz greats Carla Bley and Steve Swallow, former Frank Zappa band member Tom Fowler and Elvis Costello’s rhythm section. Whether belting out a gospel rave-up, such as his self-penned “Solid Ground,” or breathing new life into weathered gems by Reed (“How Do You Think It Feels”), Bley (“The Lord Is Listenin’ to Ya, Hallelujah”), Nick Lowe (“Homewrecker”) or Randy Newman (“I’ll Be Home” and “Louisiana 1927”), Tate soars time and again, as befits a soul survivor of the highest order.  george.varga@uniontrib.com

For more from George Varga, and a chance at free albums, Union-Tribune subscribers can log onto www.utsubscriberperks.signonsandiego.com.

Howard Tate
A Portrait of Howard
Solid Ground Productions

It’s likely that you’ve never heard of soul singer Howard Tate. He merits no mention in Peter Guralnick’s overview Sweet Soul Music, and his smooth, lush sides recorded for Verve (not exactly a label known for its gritty Southern style) are out of step with the tough brand names like Atlantic and Stax, known only to the most fervent of Northern soul collectors. While the songs Tate recorded with producer Jerry Ragovoy remain obscure, the fans who revered him are not. Ry Cooder, B.B. King, and Hugh Masekela covered him, and Tate echoes throughout some of the ’60s’ biggest names: Jimi Hendrix and the James Gang expanded on his classic side, "Stop," while his version of "Get It While You Can" became the blueprint (and showstopper) for Janis Joplin. Presumed departed from this earth, and with his fine Verve collection Get It While You Can woefully out of print, Tate’s reemergence in 2001 was a cause for jubilation among aficionados. Tate is living history, one of the finest treasures of the era still intact. Despite time spent as a homeless drug addict, the man can still reach those tear-rending falsetto heights with tremulous, honeyed, yet resoundingly deep pipes, as his  A Portrait of Howard proves. Expertly arranged by Steve Weisberg, the album shows the respect the soul man garners, with Carla Bley, Steve Swallow, and Lou Reed contributing to a mix of originals and smooth covers of Randy Newman and Burt Bacharach.   by Andy Beta

These old soul men are still in fresh voice Philadelphia Inquirer

October 07, 2006

Howard Tate’s new album attempts to realize an ambitious concept: using originals and songs by others to trace the arc of his life. He goes from his early R&B success to loss, addiction and homelessness, and then on to the personal and musical redemption the 68-year-old Burlington County resident and former Philadelphian has enjoyed in recent years. When the second cut is a string-laden rendition of the syrupy Carpenters hit ’Close to You,’ the project doesn’t seem to hold much promise. But A Portrait of Howard (Solid Ground ***1/2) ends up working magnificently.

Mixing creamy smoothness with classic R&B toughness, Tate invests even the nonoriginals here with the weight of his own experience, reaching to the depths of despair and the heights of gospel-fired transcendence. If it’s hard to figure what Randy Newman’s ’Louisiana 1927’ has to do with Tate’s life, some of the internal sequencing works brilliantly: Nick Lowe’s ’Homewrecker’ flows into ’With You No More,’ by Tate and Steve Weisberg, his main collaborator here. That segues into Lowe and Chrissie Hynde’s ’Gone,’ followed by Lou Reed’s ’How Do You Think It Feels,’ with Reed providing appropriately corrosive electric guitar.

Columbus Dispatch

Thursday , November 30, 2006

‘ A Portrait of Howard ’ 

Howard Tate

It’s dauntingly ambitious to sum up the story of a long life on a single album, but the rhythm-and-blues singer does it with a little help from his friends and a few wild leaps of faith.

A Portrait of Howard takes a familiar arc from innocence to dark experience and up the steep climb to redemption, but Tate makes that arc his own. Sometimes he does so with his bluesy material: On the frank With You No More, Tate, with the soulful Donna Washington, re-creates the argumentative end of a relationship.

But Tate’s earthy voice and unworldly falsetto also transform the work of other artists. It’s hard to imagine anyone further from Karen Carpenter than Tate, but he finds hidden depth on her Close to You.

On several covers of Randy Newman’s songs, he converts dry irony to warmth; and his cover of Lou Reed’s How Do You Think It Feels gets at the heart of drug addiction.

Less-than-reverent listeners might grow impatient with the album’s last few songs, all devoted to the glory of God, but clearly Tate and producercomposer-arranger-pianist Steve Weisberg view them as the blissful payoff for all the human confusion that precedes them.

— Margaret Quamme