Etta James
At Last!
© Chess/MCA
January 26 - February 1, 2025
Year of Release: 1999
Rating:
Anything To Say You're Mine
My Dearest Darling
Trust In Me
A Sunday Kind Of Love
Tough Mary
I Just Want To Make
Love To You
At Last
All I Could Do Is Cry
Stormy Weather
Girl Of My Dreams
(Rendered As
'Boy Of My Dreams'
My Heart Cries
Spoonful
It's A Crying Shame
If I Can't Have You
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Another great female Blues singer gets the review this week, as female Blues singer Bettye LaVatte was last week's
review. This week, is another great blues singer, (and her debut here), that I'm sure everyone knew her my name: Etta
James. Her song "At Last" was her most famous hit, and it's the title of her 1960 (debut studio) album. Her album
At Last! is this week's review, and not only that, her birthday was January 25, 1938. She was portrayed by Beyonce
in the movie Cadillac Records. She has recorded Blues albums that reached #1 on Billboard's Blues Albums Chart.
And, this week on the Billboard Blues Albums chart, her album At Last! is spending it's third week at #1. (It's
amazing how an album that was originalliy released decades ago, has reached the current #1 position, decades later. At
Last would begin her career, and her legacy, as a great, professional Blues singer.
"Anything To Say You're Mine" is the opening track, and with the orchestration and her voice, it's a great
song. Not only it's Blues style, it could also pass as Jazz, and Easy Listening/Adult Contemporary. The same can be said
for the next track, "My Dearest Darling." She sure has the grit in her voice in this song. "Trust In Me"
is also another great Blues and Jazz number. "A Sunday Kind Of Love" is a classic, covered by many. Etta's
version joins that list. "Tough Mary" is more of a 1950s/early 1960s Rock & Roll record. "I JUst Want To Make
Love To You" was recorded by many also, (Foghat's version is the one I most remembered), as Etta James' version has
all the genres of Rock, Blues, and Jazz. And the grit in her voice returns, as her version is just word: GREAT.
Her signature song is next - "At Last." 'Nuff said. "All I Could Do Is Cry" is another soulful tune,
just as "At Last." Great tune. "Stormy Weather" is another standard, covered by many. Her version is
definitely unique, more upbeat, in its own Blues/Jazz style, as many covers have been done in a slower tempo. "Girl
Of My Dreams (Rendered as 'Boy Of My Dreams')" has another 1950s/early 1960s Rock n Roll style. "My Heart Cries"
could also pass as an early Rock & Roll record. "Spoonful" is another Blues classic, covered by Cream, Koko Taylor,
and many other Blues artists. Etta James' version is no exception. She records her version in her own special way.
Harvey Fuqua (of The Moonglows) guest duets on "Spoonful," and other songs: "My Heart Cries," "It's A Crying
Shame," and "If I Can't Have You."
"It's A Crying Shame" -- Early Rock & Roll. "If I Can't Have You" is another great (slow) Blues-driven
song. "Spoonful," "It's A Crying Shame" and "If I Can't Have You" were all bonus tracks for the 1999 reissue
of the album At Last!.
A classic album, a Blues album, a Jazz album, a Rock & Roll album. Etta James began her career in 1954, recording on
the Modern and Kent record labels. The Argo label (a subsidiary of the Chess label), which began her potential. Working
with producer Leondard Chess, he believed she had crossover potentional in the pop market and backed her material with
orchestrl arrangements. (This is heard throughout on her album At Last! The crossover was met successfully, on the
R&B and Pop charts. She remained with Chess Records until 1975, although her popularity had declined in the 1970s decade.
Drug and alcohol addictions were faced next, and by 1989 she made a comeback with the album Seven Year Itch, released
on Island Records. She continued with Elektra in the early 1990s. She moved to the Private Music labe, and recorded ten
albums there (1997-2002). In 2004 she signed with RCA Victor, recording two albums, one in that year, and the other in 2006.
Her last album was in 2011, on the Verve Forecast label.
In 2010, she had been hospitalized to treat an infection caused by MRSA, a bacterium resistant
to many antibotics. During her hospitalization, her son Donto James revealed that in 2008, she had been diagnosed with
Alzheimer's disease. In 2011, she was diagnosed with leukemia. Etta James passed away on January 20, 2012. She was 73,
and days short of her 74th birthday.
Etta James' most famous years were the 1960s. Her songs such as "At Last," "Something's Got A Hold On Me," "Tell
Mama" and "I'd Rather Go Blind" gained her fame, and become one of the best female Blues singers of all time.
Three studio albums (including At Last! reached #1 on Billboard's Blues Albums chart, and two compilations were #1
there also. She was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 1993. Listen to how it all began, with her 1960 studio
debut album, At Last! A legend, a diva in her own right. A Blues Legend, the great, Etta James.
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