The Ruth Copeland recordings for INVICTUS
brazuka | Curitiba, Brazil | 10/19/2009
(4 out of 5 stars)
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Demon Edsel, 2009, 2 CDs, 22 tracks
Ruth Copeland was the first white artist to record for the Invictus soul label in the early seventies. Her music is a miscellaneous of folk, rock and funk, thanks to the collaboration of George Clinton and his band mates from Parliament.
The double CD comprises her two solo albums for the Invictus label, SELF PORTRAIT (July 1970) and I AM WHAT I AM (November 1971), more five single edits that not appeared on the Castle edition from 2002: "The Music Box", "A Gift of Me", "No Commitment", "Hare Krishna" and "Gimme Shelter".
One song that closed the original first album appeared for the first time on CD:
"Un Bel Di" (One Fine Day) from the Opera "Madam Butterfly" (Giacomo Puccini), with orchestral arrangement, an electric solo guitar from Eddie Hazel and the soprano voice by Ruth singing in italian (very dispensable for a pop/rock album).
The booklet is very informative, with many photos, annotations from Tony Rounce and the lyrics from the first album.
The sound is average (a new edition but the same remastering from the 2002 Castle edition, that was the same remastering from the 1997 Deep Beats edition, not so good as the other releases from the Holland-Dozier-Holland back catalogue edited in 2009 by Edsel Records).
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Finally, The Complete Ruth Copeland On Invictus!
rollo | usa | 12/17/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Hooray, Ruth Copeland's music has finally been released in a collection that contains all of the songs from her two 70's albums for Invictus Records. "Un Bel Di' from Madam Butterfly is included here on cd for the first time. There is a surprise version of "A Gift Of Me' appearing here with a full band to contrast the acapella version also included. All rock and soul fans will really enjoy this stuff once exposed to it. I beg to differ with the previous reviewer who says that this is the same quality of sound derived from the Deep Beats scratchy phonograph records dubbing and remastering job of 10 years ago. This entire collection has been skillfully remastered in Europe by the same people who did the Castle Music, Sequel Records versions of these albums and the sound is excellent. Three cheers for this compilation!"
Track Listings (10) - Disc #1