Cry Baby Cry

Ramsey Lewis: Cry Baby Cry and Dear Prudence
From: Mother Nature’s Son [Cadet, 1969]

At least 90% of cover songs are pointless exercises. This percentage is getting higher every year. For a cover song to prove it’s worth and justify it’s existence it needs to bring something else to the party rather than rehashing the original. Whether that something else is the vocals of the artist, the different genre they perform in, or a reimagining of the song itself, when it works the results can be amazing.

Proving that, when done right, it’s certainly worthwhile is the cover album Ramsey Lewis’ Mother Nature’s Son. Recorded just months after the White album the record is Ramsey’s own tribute to the Beatle’s double vinyl. I seem to remember Oliver posting the great track Julia from this album on Soulsides in 2004 but there’s no way I could do a series of posts on covers and not include one of my favourite cover albums of all time.

While a big fan of Ramsey Lewis – I’m always surprised by how slept on much of his output is – what really sells this collection is the production work of Chess/Cadet supremos Charles Stepney and Marshall Chess. As mentioned in my post on Rotary Connection, I’m a major fan of their brand of sound.

The first track I ever heard off this collection was on the outro to The BUMS Lyfe n Tyme as Ramsey’s cover off Cry Baby Cry accompanied their spoken word agenda. Instantly hooked I tracked it down and it’s been regularly played out since. It’s hard to put my finger on what kills me on this but I love the way the song starts off as a faithful lounge style cover before Ramsey expands the sound, turning the original’s intentionally simple melody into something on a grander widescreen scale.

Dear Prudence is another cracking cover, Ramsey building the track from it’s mellow beginnings to an epic orchestral piece with that trademark Chess layered sound. Just listen to the crash of the drums on this and the momentum that builds as the piano playing become more frantic and the strings get louder, majestic stuff. A great covers album and a great album cover as well.