1. Anything to Say You're Mine - Etta James, Thompson, Sonny 2. My Dearest Darling - Etta James, Gayten, Paul 3. Trust in Me - Etta James, Wever, Ned 4. A Sunday Kind of Love - Etta James, Belle, Barbara 5. Tough Mary - Etta James, Manley, Lorenzo 6. I Just Want to Make Love to You - Etta James, Dixon, Willie 7. At Last - Etta James, Warren, Harry 8. All I Could Do Was Cry - Etta James, Davis, Billy [3] 9. Stormy Weather - Etta James, Arlen, Harold 10. Girl of My Dreams - Etta James, Clapp, Sonny 11. My Heart Cries - Etta James, James, Etta 12. Spoonful - Etta James, Dixon, Willie 13. It's a Crying Shame - Etta James, 14. If I Can't Have You - Etta James, James, Etta
Amazon.com essential recording
This is Etta James's first full-length album, recorded for Chess Records' Argo subsidiary in 1960. It taps all aspects of her then-blossoming talent. There's the crooning rock ballad "My Dearest Darling" and the elegantly symphonic "Sunday Kind of Love." Her classic, brokenhearted "All I Could Do Was Cry" follows the sweet title track and the bawdy blues stomper "I Just Want to Make Love to You." And there's a version of Harold Arlen's "Stormy Weather," which Lena Horne made famous. James's fine way with such a wide embrace of material wouldn't again be this well displayed on a single album until she was united with producer Jerry Wexler for 1977's Deep in the Night. --Ted Drozdowski Amazon.com
The R&B queen's classic collection is augmented this time around by a long-overdue digital remastering, plus a few bonus tracks, presumably for those who found the original album a little on the brief side. In addition to James's well-known hits, including "I Just Want to Make Love to You" and "Stormy Weather," there are four additional songs: "My Heart Cries," "Spoonful," "It's a Crying Shame," and "If I Can't Have You." Although one might cynically suggest that these were added to give Etta fans something to purchase besides The Essential Etta James, it's definitely true that these tracks are worth hearing. --Genevieve Williams
|
Click on Product Listings for Details!
At Last!
- Audio CD: 0 pages (1999-07-27)
- Publisher: Mca
- Label: Mca
- Format: Extra tracks, Original recording remastered
- Studio: Mca
- Average Customer Review:
based on 68 reviews
- Sales Rank in Music: #1072
Avg. Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating: 
Summary: poor disc quality 2008-11-19
Comment: I order this disc twice...both were listed as new. The first disc would not track properly in my auto CD player. Returned the first and recieved the replacment...same problem with first. Will not track properly in the car CD player. I burnt the disc onto a generic CD-R and it works fine. I've been told that occasionally music labels will use less than quality material and have results similar to mine. too bad considering the cost of quality CD's today. No reason to cut corners.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Shipping Issue 2008-08-27
Comment: I'd ordered several of these CDs, which were put into one bubble envelope, but not individually wrapped -- consequently, they arrived with three of the jewel cases cracked.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Gotta Get Etta, at last! 2008-01-30
Comment: So glad I got this album! It's all here! Won't point out my fav cuts; if you're a blues/Etta lover you'll figure yours out - they're all there. If you're not(yet), this will be your epiphany - this stylist and the selections are astounding. [Note "Sunday Kind Of Love" and "Stormy Weather".]
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Etta James at last! 2008-01-26
Comment: The music quality had been fixed up,(do'nt know the word) to sound really great! I listened to the music when I was a teen, forty-five years ago. It sounded better now, even though I truly thought it was the best & loved the songs then!
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Etta James, National Treasure 2007-12-30
Comment: This is one of the most pleasurable CDs on the market. This collection of Etta's songs showcases her considerable talent as a blues singer. Though the instrumentation is dated on some of the songs (the strings soar a little too high), her voice saves the day, alternately powerful and vulnerable.
Her version of "I Just Want to Make Love to You" rocks harder than the Rolling Stones version, and that is no small feat. 'At Last' is a great song, and her vocal interpretation is the best out of many artists who attempted it. 'Sunday Kind of Love' is another masterpiece, as is her rendition of 'Stormy Weather'. Not a bad song on the record.
Etta James is a national treasure. Thanks for the beautiful, heart-felt music.
As an aside, does anyone else see a resemblance between Etta's singing and Janis Joplin?
|