All too often, a promising-sounding tribute album is hastily assembled featuring an impressive array of artists, which falls short at the final hurdle, today’s contemporary acts failing to deliver something even half as good as the original. No such shortcomings here, however, as ‘God Don’t Never Change‘ is amongst the finest collections of its kind – certainly in recent memory anyway. Pretty much every track here is gold.
One of the first names on the team sheet, when dealing with a true great of the blues or gospel canon, surely has to be the inimitable Tom Waits. One of my favourite pastimes over the years has been playing the raspiest, most madcap Waits numbers to friends and relatives who favour a rather more conventional musical persuasion. Normally I’m met with looks that represent horror, confusion and perhaps even a little nervous trepidation.
Waits, like his storied compatriot, country superstar Lucinda Williams, contributes two songs here – the first, a masterful reading of ‘The Soul Of A Man‘. The scratchy blues of Blind Willie Johnson‘s original, in Waits’ hands, is replaced by the leery, animated preacher bonding joyously with his congregation. This character is reprised in a rather more demented form on the Californian pioneer’s other appropriation here, arguably Johnson’s best-known composition, ‘John The Revelator‘. The track has been covered so many times that you wonder what more anyone can bring to the table, but of course, Tom Waits could bring darkness and paranoia to a parade of Easter bunnies, and his intense adaptation effortlessly outstrips those of any former pretenders.
To their eternal credit, though, The Blind Boys Of Alabama have somehow managed to eclipse even Waits with their showing here. ‘Mother’s Children Have A Hard Time‘ is transformed from its humble beginnings into something of a lost soul classic befitting of Otis Redding, Al Green, or the late blossoming revelation that is Charles Bradley. It truly is a wonderful recording and can perhaps be pinpointed as the most crucial gem of this treasure trove of riches.
Williams’ rendering of ‘It’s Nobody’s Fault But My Own‘ and ‘God Don’t Never Change‘ are conceivably two of the most faithful reproductions on this compilation (though Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi give her a run for her money in that respect), and of course, that earthy Southern vocal twang commandeers proceedings so firmly that, written by Johnson or not, she’s still going to make goddamn sure that the hymn sheet will be awash with her own fingerprints.
The truest representation of the life, love and remarkable work of this legendary bluesman, however, is former Waits cohort Rickie Lee Jones with her sincerest reprisal of ‘Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground‘, a starkly solemn religious hymn that somehow seems the perfect way to end, as it does, this eleven song strong set. And ‘strong’ is the operative word – I do not wish to do any of the acts included a disservice by omitting them, so here is the full track listing, practically all of which, are sublime.
1) Tom Waits – The Soul Of A Man
2) Lucinda Williams – It’s Nobody’s Fault But Mine
3) Derek Trucks & Susan Tedechi – Keep Your Lamp Trimmed And Burning
4) Cowboy Junkies – Jesus Is Coming Soon
5) Blind Boys Of Alabama – Mother’s Children Have A Hard Time
6) Sinead O’Connor – Trouble Will Soon Be Over
7) Luther Dickinson & The Rising Star Fife And Drum Band
8) Lucinda Williams – God Don’t Never Change
9) Tom Waits – John The Revelator
10) Maria McKee – Let Your Light Shine On Me
11) Rickie Lee Jones – Dark Was The Night
