Bobbie Gentry had a huge hit in 1967 with "Ode to Billie Joe," the
haunting single that introduced her strong, sultry voice and flair
for combining Southern Gothic drama with details so vivid that it
feels like listeners are living her stories with her. She expanded
on the world she built with that song on 1968's full-length The
Delta Sweete, but unlike "Ode to Billie Joe," it was not a huge
hit; its pioneering symphonic-country-folk-pop didn't even crack
the top 100 of Billboard's Top LPs chart. Fortunately, the acclaim
for Gentry's work grew as the years passed, and Mercury Rev's
Bobbie Gentry's the Delta Sweete Revisited reflects her latter-day
status as a country icon. Of course, Mercury Rev also knows
something about being underappreciated. During the '90s, their
experimental rock and dream pop earned glowing reviews, but little
in the way of label support or commercial success. That changed
with their 1998 breakthrough, Deserter's Songs, which added touches
of Americana that they return to on Revisited. Enlisting an
all-star roster of established and up-and-coming female vocalists
-- including Lucinda Williams, Vashti Bunyan, and Phoebe Bridgers
-- Mercury Rev heighten the mystical qualities of Gentry's music as
well as their own. Many of Revisited's best moments play like a
beautiful dream of the original: "Okolona River Bottom Band"
combines sweeping strings and brass and Norah Jones' dusky voice
into a shimmering creation myth that sprinkles the album with
stardust as it calls it into being. The band couldn't have chosen a
better singer than Marissa Nadler to transform "Refractions" into a
phantasmagorical reverie, and their collaboration with Laetitia
Sadier on "Morning Glory" is truly inspired; her intimate
performance and the band's sunny symphonic pop make for one of
Revisited's sweetest standouts. Throughout the album, Mercury Rev
skillfully balance their signature sound with period-faithful
details. The swirling flutes and brass squalls surrounding Rachel
Goswell on "Reunion" evoke Boces as much as they do Deserter's
Songs. Later, the harmonica, glockenspiel, and whistling that adorn
Beth Orton's reverent performance on "Courtyard" hark back to 1968
without feeling slavish. As the band puts The Delta Sweete through
their prism, they filter out some of the album's earthy realism
with mixed results. Hope Sandoval's hazy sensuality makes "Big Boss
Man" subversively flirtatious instead of defiant like Gentry's
version, and the ornate arrangement on "Tobacco Road" glosses over
the song's tale of lifelong struggles. On the other hand, the band
intensifies "Parchment Farm"'s foreboding with the help of a stoic
Carice van Houten, while Margo Price's flinty twang makes "Sermon"
a showstopper. Since "Ode to Billie Joe" is so inextricably linked
with Gentry's legend, it's not surprising that Mercury Rev included
it on their version of The Delta Sweete even though it didn't
appear on the original. With its lavish arrangement and Williams'
gritty performance, the band find new ways of celebrating one of
the great underappreciated artists of the '60s and '70s --
something that's true of Bobbie Gentry's the Delta Sweete Revisited
as a whole. ~ Heather Phares
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