Patti LaBelle - Patti LaBelle Live In Washington, D.C. '2008

Tracks list

Live in Washington, D.C. serves up nearly 80 nonstop minutes with all the energy
and attitude that define Patti LaBelle in performance. The venerable R&B diva --
heard here in front of a very responsive crowd -- is captured on the road
supporting her then most recent long-player, 1982s The Spirits in It. That
early-80s project marked LaBelles multi-album run on Kenny Gamble and Leon Huffs
Philadelphia International Records label. And according to their liner notes
essay, it was in Gamble & Huffs tape vault that this concert has languished for
the better part of three decades. The ensemble backing LaBelle includes her
longtime musical director and keyboardist, James Budd Ellison, who leads the
musicians through a thoughtfully chosen sampling of selections ranging from
material from her concurrent effort and reaching all the way back to the days
when she was the namesake of the glam-funk trio simply named LaBelle, alongside
Nona Hendryx and Sarah Dash. The artist pumps every ounce of her musical being
into the riveting and edgy update of the chart-topping Lady Marmalade. Likewise,
the LaBelle ballad Isnt It a Shame retains all the command of the original.
Patti LaBelles most recent solo output dominates the remainder of the set. She
certainly knows how to work the assembled masses as she quips, [A]nything you
want me to sing, just ask me baby and Ill do that for ya, adding, Thats what I
came here for. LaBelle is greeted with an eruption of approval as she launches
into a stunning reading of Come What May from 1979s Its Alright with Me. Two
more tunes from that album -- Music Is My Way of Life and the title track -- are
presented in a medley along with the last of the vintage LaBelle classics, What
Can I Do for You? Although it would be another three years before Patti LaBelle
would release her version, another standout comes from none other than the
Gamble & Huff songbook as she reworks If You Dont Know Me by Now into her own
statement. Other inspired inclusions are the groovy Joy to Have Your Love and
the highly personalized and otherwise showstopping adaptation of Over the
Rainbow.



Tracks:

01. Patti LaBelle - Overture (Live) [02:11] 
02. Patti LaBelle - The Spirits In It (Live) [05:00] 
03. Patti LaBelle - Pattis Welcome/Come What May [08:29] 
04. Patti LaBelle - Joy To Have Your Love (Live) [05:51] 
05. Patti LaBelle - Shoot Him On Sight (Live) [06:56] 
06. Patti LaBelle - Lady Marmalade (Live) [05:52] 
07. Patti LaBelle - Interlude (Live) [07:14] 
08. Patti LaBelle - Isnt It A Shame (Live) [07:06] 
09. Patti LaBelle - If You Dont Know Me By Now (Live) [06:33] 
10. Patti LaBelle - I Dont Go Shopping (Live) [06:26] 
11. Patti LaBelle - Medley [02:55] 
12. Patti LaBelle - Band Introductions (Live) [06:16] 
13. Patti LaBelle - You Are My Friend (Live) [04:56] 
14. Patti LaBelle - Over The Rainbow (Live) [02:44]

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