Artist Lounge: Etta James
Moggers' favorites by Etta James
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I know its been mere minutes since my last post, but I have to try to get work off my mind, plus, I can't get this other song out of my head. I remember the first time I heard it and I asked who it was and my friend grinned and told me he was hoping I'd ask because the DJ was playing in Perth the following week. I showed up to the gig with no knowledge of this guy except this one track, but golly I was blown away. P.S. I'm sorry if everyone's already heard of this guy. ... MORE
I must have 10 versions of this song, by Pavarotti, Lenotyne Price, Nat Cole, etc, all beautifully sung, and yet, it's this version i keep coming back to.
She breathes after virtually every syllable, and it's some of the most excreable french ever sung...also, don't miss her rendering of the line Noel-elll, Noel-Hell!
...and still, it works...
Miss Etta James needs to be in more jazz dj's rotation this time of year, that's all I have to say. I don't think she makes it on "O Holy Night" but this track certainly adds some sexy to your eggnog.
Few R&B singers have endured tragic travails on the monumental level that Etta James has and remain on earth to talk about it. The lady's no shrinking violet; her autobiography, Rage to Survive, describes her past (including numerous drug addictions) in sordid detail. But her personal problems have seldom affected her singing. James has hung in there from the age of R&B and doo wop in the mid-'50s through soul's late-'60s heyday and right up into the '90s and 2000s (where... MORE
one day i will wake up on a peaceful sunday morning in the arms of someone who loves me...until then, it's just me and etta...
- Billie Holiday Lyrics
This blog (James Wolcott's blog led me to it) posted a lovely tribute to 45 RPM labels, in all their multicolored, eternally recognizable, scratched, faded glory.
Would anyone care to tell us about a favorite, or missed, or memorable one? Which was the label with the skyline and the moon-- Old Town? I liked that one. Also, of course, anything with Nipper, the RCA dog.
"If it had been left solely up to her, she would have checked herself out of the hospital and started the tour reg... MORE
Etta James Sings Funk [Cadet, 1970]"As you can read on the back, funk isn't a style or something like that--it's just, well, Etta. Etta with chorus, Etta with full brass, Etta with strings even. Etta singing a Gershwin song, Etta singing a Bee Gees song, Etta singing three Acuff-Rose songs, Etta singing four Pearl Woods songs. (Pearl Woods?) Highlights: the Acuff-Rose songs. B" From Robert Cristgau's Etta James Page So, apparently even an "OK" Etta joint gets a B. This a... MORE







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