2 Original Albums: Etta James & Sings For Lovers

Etta James (1938 – 2012) was famed for her recording of AT LAST with her powerfully deep and earthly vocal versatility embracing blues, rhythm and blues, soul and rock plus jazz and gospel during a career which commenced in 1954. Being plagued by personal problems did not prevent Etta from winning six Grammys and other numerous awards and she was ranked among the best popular singers of all time by the magazine “Rolling Stone”.This Jasmine release is aimed at differing aspects of the singer’s recording career which amounted to around thirty albums, with the 1962 album ETTA JAMES, released on the Argo label, typically combining many of the above styles but with soul and blues foremost in their conception. However YOU CAN COUNT ON ME and rockin’ gospel flavoured SOMETHING’S GOT A HOLD ON ME are more uptempo as is IF I CAN’T HAVE YOU. Those latter two songs plus folksy WAITING FOR CHARLIE TO COME HOME (co-penned by Bacharach/Bob Hilliard) and SPOONFUL all enjoyed US chart success as singles so the album can be viewed as a hit collection combined with some newer numbers.Argo also released SONGS FOR LOVERS in 1962 and the Etta James versions of ballad standards is quite striking with the Dean Martin favourite HOW DO YOU SPEAK TO AN ANGEL? coming up fresh along with FOOLS RUSH IN and their release as hit singles obviously assisted the album’s popularity with SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME and PRISONER OF LOVE among the ten selections.Four bonus songs released as singles in 1962 make their mark on this second Jasmine collection by Etta with original album notes and remastered mono sound (why not in stereo?) making these two first-time-on CD albums worth their weight in audio gold.