Etta James - Call My Name

Until this issue, this Cadet album had been unavailable for many years (go figure!). The original album is augmented by a generous 12 tracks of other Chess material. Pretty much a must have for any Etta fan.

Etta James - Seven Year Itch (1989)

In the Bluesless desert of the late 1980's, this album was a saving oasis for me. A Rhythm & Blues classic by one of my favourite female vocalists - Etta is up there along with Bessie Billie and Aretha.
Here is what Etta said about 'Seven Year Itch'...:
"That's the title I gave my first album on Island, 'cause it'd been seven years since I recorded for a major company...We cut a horn-heavy Stax/Volt-sounding soul record, with fat charts by Jim Horn and a selection of songs that included choice Otis Redding ('I Got The Will')- I'll never get tired of singing Otis- and a ballad I really loved, 'Damn Your Eyes'. The record didn't burn up the charts, but it was solid, nominated for a Grammy, and sold well enough where Chris Blackwell wanted another one."
(From 'Rage To Survive - The Etta James Story' by Etta James & David Ritz - A great read by the way !)

It's an album I still play regularly and thoroughly recommend.

Musicians include : Barry Beckett, Willie Weeks, Roger Hawkins, Art Neville, Steve Cropper, Jim Horn and others...Enjoy

Etta James - Rocks The House

Searing stuff -- easily one of Etta James' greatest albums! The set is a non-stop jam, recorded live at the New Era Club in Nashville before a small and screaming crowd -- a perfect performance all the way through, one that showcases Etta as she rarely sounded on vinyl during the 1960s. The whole album runs away like a train on fire, and it's filled with incredibly lively readings of tracks like "Something's Got A Hold On Me", "Baby What You Want Me To Do", "Money", "Seven Day Fool", and "Woke Up This Morning" -- all taken at versions longer than the usual under-3 minute single takes!
Though the studio albums Etta James made for Chess in the 1960s usually had the blues singer surrounded by lush production and string-heavy arrangements, this live date finds her performing with only a rhythm section, organist, guitarist, and tenor saxophonist. The singer seems to respond to both the stripped-down setting and the enthusiastic audience with noticeable abandon. In fact, James the classy balladeer, a role she sometimes plays on her studio albums, is nowhere to be found on this blazing set. The only time the band slows down is on the tearjerker story-song "All I Could Do Is Cry" (though what the tune lacks in tempo it makes up for in emotional intensity).
The rest of the set is straight-edged blues and R&B, including covers of some hits of the day, like "Money (That's What I Want)" and Ray Charles's "What'd I Say." Jimmy Reed's "Baby What You Want Me To Do" (on which James does a growling, harmonica-imitating vocal solo) steps up the blues quotient, as does the band's finale of Willie Dixon's "I Just Want To Make Love to You," with James's gospel-drenched pipes wailing all the while. ETTA JAMES ROCKS THE HOUSE indeed.

Year:
Recorded live at The New Era Club, Nashville, Tennessee on September 27 and 28, 1963.
Label:
Chess/MCA
Quality: Bitrate:
flac
Scans - Artwork:
full scans 
Total Size:
302mb

Album Info & Personnel:

Etta James (vocals);
David Walker (guitar);
Gavrell Cooper (tenor saxophone);
Vonzell Cooper (organ);
Marion Wright (bass);
Freeman Brown, Richard Waters (drums).

Tracklist:

01. Something's Got A Hold On Me
02. Baby What You Want Me To Do
03. What'd I Say
04. Money (That's What I Want)
05. Seven Day Fool
06. Sweet Little Angel
07. Ohh Poo Pah Doo
08. Woke Up This Morning
09. Ain't That Lovin' You Baby  (previously unreleased)
10. All I Could Do Is Cry   (previously unreleased)
11. I Just Want To Make Love To You  (previously unreleased)

Links in Comments:

Etta James - Losers Weepers

One of the best ideas that anyone at Ace has come up with in 2011 occurred when my colleague Mick Patrick proposed a series of expanded versions of several of Etta James’ Argo, Cadet and Chess albums that has hitherto eluded digitisation. It’s quite astounding how many of the albums that Etta released during her 15 years as the Chess group’s flagship female singer have not been issued on CD, especially given that the format’s now been with us for almost 30 years. But thanks to Mick and Kent, the number is gradually decreasing, with two “expanded editions” so far this year and the promise of more in 2012.
Etta’s 1970 album “Losers Weepers” is the latest to receive the treatment – and the wait has been well worth it. Recordings from this period of Etta’s five decade-long recording career have been somewhat neglected by the reissue market – but no more. This expansion of “Losers Weepers” really brings a full-on focus to some great music that more or less fell by the wayside when originally released, partly because of Etta’s personal circumstances at the time but mostly because she was regarded by many as having had her day as an R&B chart force.
Etta was in pretty bad shape when she made these recordings, but her rampant narcotic dependence did not stop her making the terrific music that you hear here. ‘Heavy Soul’ was a phrase that you heard frequently in the late 60s/early 70s and the intensity in the two-part title track completely defines the term. Etta’s sublime versions of ‘I Got It Bad (And That Ain’t Good)’, ‘The Man I Love’ and ‘For All We Know’ are the logical continuation of her immortal collaborations with arranger Riley Hampton, at the other end of the 60s, which produced the timeless “At Last” album.
Elsewhere Etta makes a relatively obscure Bee Gees song ‘Sound Of Love’ sound like it was written by three bruthas from Birmingham, Alabama rather than three brothers from Manchester, England. Her vocal on her revival of the Falcons’ R&B classic ‘I Found A Love’ is almost as riveting as that of the song’s original singer, Wilson Pickett. A revival of one of Etta’s old Modern recordings ‘W.O.M.A.N’ almost matches the original take for sass and sexiness. Etta’s take on the Association’s pretty 1966 near-chart topper ‘Never My love’ will leave you wishing Ms James had spent lots of time working in Philly with Bobby Martin, rather than cutting just the one session…
…And these are just bonus tracks folks!
No matter how well you might think you know Etta James, this set of songs will increase and enrich your knowledge of the lady’s work no end. It’s a tragedy that Etta is not likely to ever again be able to grace a recording studio, but fortunately her catalogue is full of delights like “Losers Weepers” that will keep her name alive for many years to come.

By Tony Rounce (Ace Records)

Year:
released November 15, 2011
Label:
Kent
Quality: Bitrate:
my cd > flac
Scans - Artwork:
full scanned booklet
Total Size:
438mb

Tracklist:

1. Take Out Some Insurance
2. I Got It Bad And That Ain't Good
3. I Think It's You
4. Someone
5. Losers Weepers
6. Weepers
7. You're The Fool
8. Hold Back My Tears
9. For All We Know
10. Look At The Rain
11. Ease Away A Little Bit At A Time
12. The Love Of My Man
13. Tighten Up Your Own Thing
14. Quick Reaction And Satisfaction
15. Nothing From Nothing Leaves Nothing
16. Sound Of Love
17. The Man I Love
18. I Found A Love
19. W.O.M.A.N.
20. Tell It Like It Is
21. Never My Love
22. I Never Meant To Love Him

Links in Comments:

Etta James - The Complete Modern and Kent Recordings

Time to tackle the other "Fillmore Girl", the great Etta James. Born January 25, 1938 as Jamesetta Hawkins in Los Angeles to a 14 year old mother, Etta was subsequently fostered in often abusive homes for most of her early life; she was moved to The Fillmore with her mother at 12 years old. Like her older cousin Sugar Pie DeSanto, she spent her formative teen years in that cultural hotbed.

In Los Angeles she received some Gospel training from James Earle Hines of St. Paul Baptist Church in South Central. As a precocious young girl in San Francisco, she formed a girl doo wop group called The Creolettes (all the girls were mixed). The group got discovered by Johnny Otis who renamed the group The Peaches, and the then 16 year old lead (not 14 as often cited) became Etta James (a wise choice, Jamesetta Hawkins doesn't exactly roll off the tongue) and signed them to the Bihari's Modern Records.

Otis used the group to record his answer to Hank Ballard's hit 'Work With Me Annie', originally titled 'Roll With Me Henry', it was sanitized to 'Dance With Me Henry' then 'The Wallflower' shortly after release. The young singer apparently had enough input into the final product that she was given a co-writer's credit. The song climbed to #1 on the R&B charts and 'Good Rockin' Daddy' was a solid follow up. White singer Georgia Gibbs, in classic Pat Boone fashion, quickly covered the song and stole the potential crossover hit. Still, Etta was put on Little Richard's tour during the period that he was going nuclear and it was likely there that she first acquired the heroin habit that dogged the rest of her life.

The Biharis were clearly impressed by their singer because they recorded far more sides on her than are normally mentioned in most sources. The release dates actually cross over into the Chess era but they were recorded earlier in L.A. Of the 42 tracks here, 6 or so are dreadful, but the rest are fine West Coast R&B with bands assembled from members of Otis' band or from the Maxwell Davis Orchestra. There are even five songs recorded in New Orleans with Dave Bartholomew and the gang from J & M Studios (Side one, 12, 13, 14 Side two 3, 14). Despite their dogged persistence, the Bihari's never strike gold again with Etta, her next success came in 1960 after signing with Chess and moving to Chicago.

At least one longtime friend claimed that at 16 James was dating label mate B.B. King and that it was for her that King rewrote the lyrics to an earlier song to become the mega-hit 'Sweet Sixteen'. It was also during this time that she first met and sang with Harvey Fuqua, who would later be her steady beau and label mate at Chess.

The FAME Studios Story 1961 - 1973: Home Of The Muscle Schoals Sound

This 3 disc comp is nothing short of excellent.  The story of FAME is told through the music - from the pop side all the way to the gut bucket r&b side.

A wide range of artists worked with this legendary outfit, but one thing ties them all together... success!!

I'm sure you guys already have alot of these tracks but they made a huge effort to include some rarities;  undoubtedly for the collector types.

Enjoy!!!

Certain studios and labels occupy almost mythical stature in American musical history and FAME Studios, home of the Muscle Shoals sound, is among the elite. During the '60s and into the early '70s, the rotating crew at FAME Studios cranked out single after single, building a legacy that rivals such '60s stalwarts as Motown, Stax/Volt, and Chess, yet despite being the point of origin for such timeless 45s as Wilson Pickett's "Land of 1000 Dances," Arthur Alexander's "You Better Move On," Joe Tex's "Hold What You've Got," Etta James' "Tell Mama," Clarence Carter's "Patches," James & Bobby Purify's "I'm Your Puppet," and Aretha Franklin's "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)," the label and studio aren't as well known as their peers. Ace's peerless three-disc box The FAME Studios Story: 1961-1973 should go a long way in firming up the label and studio's reputation in the eyes of the mass public. Anchored on those big hits, the compilation tells the story of FAME in exhaustive yet exciting detail, digging up a wealth of rarities (ranging from an unedited acoustic version of "You Left the Water Running" by Otis Redding and a version of "Another Man's Woman, Another Woman's Man" whose singer is unknown to a bunch of singles that rarely pop up on reissues), but this is hardly something for crate-diggers. This is a big, bold set filled with surprises for even seasoned record collectors and much of that has to do with context. Expertly compiled by Alec Palao, Tony Rounce, and Dean Rudland, The FAME Studios Story doesn't shy away from the moments when the Muscle Shoals sound seeped into the mainstream: very early in the set, teen idol Tommy Roe pops up with "Everybody" and toward the end the Osmonds come in with their Jackson 5 knockoff "One Bad Apple" and the revelation is how the FAME musicians gave these teenybopper stars some real swing and funk. That turns out to be the key to the FAME sound -- while Stax/Volt always had grit on the soles of their shoes, FAME was a little lighter, able to ease into slicker crossover material, something that served them well whenever they cranked out some bubblegum or backed Bobbie Gentry or, especially, when they cut effervescent pop-soul/Northern soul singles by Spooner & the Spoons ("Wish You Didn't Have to Go") and David & the Giants ("Ten Miles High"). Which isn't to say FAME didn't get down and dirty (of course they did -- witness Wicked Wilson Pickett's "Hey Jude," complete with guitar from Duane Allman), but they were versatile, adapting to the needs of either the performer or the song. And that very versatility may be part of the reason why FAME isn't as immediately recognizable a name as Motown or Stax -- the Muscle Shoals crew could cop both of those sounds, after all -- but it's also the reason why this set is such a wildly entertaining listen, in addition to being a historically necessary document housed in a very handsome hardcover book.

- Stephen Thomas Erlewine/AMG

Early Black Rock 'N Roll Vol. 1 & 2

Shakey Jake

This post is born out of a couple things. 

Firstly, I took an interest in the Trikont label after KC's most unusual post of Black Country.  As a result I picked up more than a handful of incredible comps.  This is a label which select tracks meticulously and remaster them to perfection.  All have been a real joy to listen to and worth every cent.

More recently, KC and I were discussing how to incorporate some of the more rock type figures into Chitlins.  Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley were discussed and I was basically tasked with bringin these heavys to all of you followers.




Well, I thought to break the ice I would share these two amazing comps - guaranteed to have your media player on repeat.  We are revisited by more than a couple of artists which KC has profiled extensively;  Little Willie John, Howlin Wolf and Ike Turner to name a few.  But we are introduced to many seminal figures in the birth of rock like Shakey Jake, the Bill Davis Trio, Lazy Lester and Slim Harpo.



Vol. 1 1948 - 1958

 These two stellar mixes are mostly important for us at this juncture for the women they feature.  I'm certain KC has some greats comin down the line, so for now we get a taste of Big Maybelle, Etta James, Ruth Brown and several others.

The music here is so infectious, it's a guarantee that you'll be boppin around once you are into it.  It's easy to see why rock took off like it did, there's nothing but fun to be had listening to this stuff.  Even lyrical themes of love lost, aging and other downbeat subjects are given the uptempo, dancable treatment.

Translated from the Trikont site:

Long before Elvis had rolled his pelvis, or the Rolling Stones tapped into the Mississippi-Blues, and the legions of white bands made their electrified guitars roar, black Blues-Gospel & Jazz artists had laid the cornerstone for the musical revolution known as Rock n Roll! Besides well-known names like Chuck Berry, Howlin’ Wolf, or Bo Diddley. This comp also features many unjustly overseen musical pioneers.



Vol. 2 1949 - 1959

 From gospel singer Rosetta Tharpe, to Jimi-Hendrix-idol Johnny Guitar Watson, from Ike Turners early Rockabilly-blueprints, to the Doo-Wop-Rock of Ruth Brown. Other artists, including Magic Slim, Andre Williams, Big Maybelle, Rufus Thomas, Lazy Lester, Etta James, and Jesse Stone are featured on this release.

Big Maybelle

“Whatever you call it, it’s wonderful, spirited stuff, ranging from the primal blues spirit of Howlin’ Wolf to the rocking gospel of cover star Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the most influential female guitarist since the legendary Memphis Minnie. Fischer’s selection focuses on the seamier R&B which swept away the eunuch sentimentality of 1950s white pop “like a window being opened to let out the stale air”, as Nik Cohn characterised it: the lascivious snarls of Big Mama Thornton and Little Esther Phillips, the latter’s complaint of “Hound Dog”; the lothario charm of Johnny Guitar Watson; the automotive sex metaphors of Chuck Berry and Billy The Kid Emerson; the hypnotic-exotic rhythms of Rosco Gordon, John Lee Hooker and Bo Diddley; the black rockabilly of Tarheel Slim; and the downright weird, borderline tasteless fantasies of Andre Williams and Sly Fox.”    

(4/5 Stars, The Independent, UK)



Trikont Records
US-0392 / 0412
released 2010