When Dolly Parton was selected for induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, she initially declined the honor, stating she hadn\u2019t earned the right to be in such an exclusive group. After finally accepting the induction, she stated she would have to release a rock album in order to justify her inclusion.<\/p>\n
The thing is, if you look at Parton\u2019s career, she doesn\u2019t need to justify it. The song \u201c9 To 5,\u201d at its core, has more in common with rock and roll than it does country; similarly, \u201cHere You Come Again\u201d feels more like an AOR pop song you\u2019d hear often on radio in the 1970s than as a country and western song. So\u2014at least in this reviewer\u2019s opinion\u2014she already had more of a claim to inclusion than some of the nominees.<\/p>\n
That said, Parton followed through with her promise of releasing a rock album with Rockstar<\/i>, a 30-song extravaganza that sees her partnering with some of the genre\u2019s biggest names. Did the gamble work? Well\u2026 yes and no.<\/p>\n
The title track is a mess, solely because of how Parton\u2019s vocals are overly distorted and hidden in the mix. The song itself is decent enough and had there been better production work on this one it might have been a more powerful track. Fortunately, Parton is able to redeem herself on the follow-up track (and lead-off single) \u201cWorld On Fire,\u201d even if there are still a few too many effects placed on her vocals at times.<\/p>\n
The bulk of Rockstar<\/i> ends up, as other reviewers have called it, akin to the greatest night of karaoke ever, with Parton recreating classic rock songs with the artists who initially performed them. This is not in and of itself a bad thing; often Parton shows she does indeed deserve to be held in the same echelon as established rock musicians. Duets with Sting (\u201cEvery Breath You Take\u201d), John Fogerty (\u201cLong As I Can See The Light\u201d), Peter Frampton (\u201cBaby, I Love Your Way\u201d) and Miley Cyrus (\u201cWrecking Ball\u201d) all serve as ample proof.<\/p>\n
Even when Parton is left to her own devices, without having the services of another as-famous musician or singer, she proves she can knock the material out of the park. Her take on \u201cPurple Rain\u201d would have undoubtedly pleased Prince, had he lived to hear it. And while it\u2019s still a \u201cduet\u201d of sorts, albeit without additional vocals, she takes \u201cStairway To Heaven,\u201d complete with Lizzo on flute, and does an admirable job with material that, to most rock fans, is sacrosanct.<\/p>\n
The originals tend to be the strongest arguments for Parton as a rock singer, even with the occasional weak moment or two. Kid Rock sounds creepy at the end of \u201cEither\/Or,\u201d and regardless of what you think of the man otherwise, the collaboration otherwise works. Similarly, her duet with Steven Tyler is as natural of a pairing as ham with eggs; \u201cI Want You Back\u201d proves to be one of the strongest tracks on the disc. \u201cBygones,\u201d her duet with Rob Halford, is one of the most powerful on the disc, but it would have worked better had Halford been given the range to let loose with his falsetto screech at least once. And as for \u201cYou\u2019re No Good,\u201d her new trio with Emmylou Harris and Sheryl Crow? Let\u2019s be honest: Parton was born to sing that particular song, it\u2019s such a natural fit.<\/p>\n
Not all of the duets work as well as one would hope. \u201cWhat Has Rock And Roll Ever Done For You\u201d (co-written by and featuring Stevie Nicks) is not the female vocal one-two punch that it could have been, though this seems to be a weakness on the source material mostly. Likewise, her duet with Melissa Etheridge (\u201cTried To Rock And Roll Me\u201d) and Elton John (\u201cDon\u2019t Let The Sun Go Down On Me\u201d) fail to hit the bullseye, and come close to missing the target completely. (The less said about \u201cI Dreamed About Elvis,\u201d the better\u2026 yeesh.)<\/p>\n
Similarly, some of the covers have to be questioned \u2013 did we really<\/i> need another take on \u201cWe Will Rock You \/ We Are The Champions\u201d? (That said, her cover of 4 Non Blondes\u2019 \u201cWhat\u2019s Up\u201d is surprisingly powerful\u2026 and I despise<\/i><\/b> the original.)<\/p>\n
None of this criticism, however, is meant to suggest that Parton fails in her attempt to move into the rock music world. Sure, there\u2019s a twang in her vocals\u2014hell, Ronnie Van Zant had that, and no one ever accused Lynyrd Skynyrd of being a country act. While there are times that her singing shows she\u2019s on the wrong side of 70, overall her delivery remains powerful, and she remains respectful to the source material. In short, she pulls it off in that regard.<\/p>\n
If anything, Rockstar<\/i> is an album that should have come sooner in Parton\u2019s career; it would have cemented the fact that Parton occasionally blurred the lines between country and rock throughout her career. Perhaps, had some of the covers been trimmed back and more focus had been placed on originals featuring only Parton\u2019s vocals, this album would have been even stronger. As it is, it\u2019s on the long side, but is relatively harmless fun.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34918,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6780],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-46785","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-dolly-parton","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=46785"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=46785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}