"...Do Right Woman..."
It's arguable that all
eleven of the 2001 American Reissues listed below in Universal's fabulous
"Blues Classics: Remastered & Revisited" CD Series are must-buy
winners – guaranteed to put a pep in your step, a glint in your eye and an
animated wanton in the trouser area (if I may be so rude on a wet Monday
morning). But after spending 57 minutes in the company of their lone Etta James
entry "Tell Mama..." - you can’t help feeling that this CD
compilation is just a little bit more special than all the others. Here is a
proper little sweetheart of a release available to us good Limey folks for
notta-lotta wonga. Here are the shimmy-shimmy details...
US released May 2001 –
"Tell Mama: The Complete Muscle Shoals Recordings" by ETTA JAMES on
Universal/MCA/Chess 088 112 518-2 (Barcode 008811251826) is a 22-track CD
compilation and plays out as follows (57:09 minutes):
1. Tell Mama
2. I'd Rather Go Blind
3. Watch Dog
4. The Love Of My Mind
5. I'm Gonna Take What He's
Got
6. The Same Rope
7. Security
8. Steal Away
9. My Mother In Law
10. Don't Lose Your Good
Thing
11. It Hurts Me So Much
12. Just A Little Bit
Tracks 1 to 12 are the LP
"Tell Mama" – released January 1968 in the USA on Cadet LP 802 (Mono)
and Cadet LPS 802 (Stereo). Although the "Tell Mama" album was
released in supposed 'Stereo' – Universal's tape research shows that true
stereo mixes for Tracks 2, 3, 4, 5 and 10 were never made - fake Stereo was
used on the issued LP - so they've been replaced here with the true Mono mixes.
Bearing that in mind - Tracks 1, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11 and 12 are in STEREO – Tracks
2, 3, 4, 5 and 10 are in MONO.
BONUS TRACKS (all in Mono,
only Mono Masters exist):
13. Do Right Woman, Do Right
Man (recorded 30 Nov 1967)
14. You Took It (recorded 2
Aug 1968)
15. I Worship The Ground You
Walk On (1968 USA 7" single on Cadet 5606, B-side of "I Got You
Babe")
16. I Got You Babe (1968 USA
7" single on Cadet 5606, A)
17. You Got It (recorded
August 1968)
18. I've Gone Too Far
(recorded August 1968 – Previously Unreleased)
19. Misty (recorded August
1968 – Previously Unreleased)
20. Almost Persuaded (1969
USA 7” single on Cadet 5630, A)
21. Fire (1968 USA 7"
single on Cadet 5620, B-side of "You Got It")
22. Do Right Woman, Do Right
Man (Alternate) (recorded 30 Nov 1967 – Previously Unreleased)
This CD will allow fans to
sequence the A&B-sides of four US 7" singles using the following
tracks:
1. Tell Mama [1] b/w I'd
Rather Go Blind [2] (Nov 1967, Cadet 5578)
2. Security [7] b/w I'm
Gonna Take What He's Got [5] (March 1968, Cadet 5594)
3. I Got You Babe [16] b/w I
Worship The Ground You Walk On [15] (June 1968, Cadet 5606)
4. Almost Persuaded [20] b/w
Steal Away [8] (Jan 1969, Cadet 5630)
The four-way foldout inlay
has new liner notes by LEE HILDEBRAND (it also reproduces the original Morry
Roth LP liner notes) as well as track-by-track annotation. There are colour
photos of Etta in the Studio with the seated horn section of James Mitchell, Charles
Chalmers and Floyd Newman - another with the rest of the band – Calvin Scott,
Billy Foster, Jimmy Ray Johnson and Albert Lowe, Jr. – and a final shot of an
smiling Gene "Bowlegs" Miller with Producer and owner of Fames
Studios – Rick Hall. It’s nicely done if not a tiny bit slight – but that
cannot be said of the fabulous ERICK LABSON remasters. Labson has handled as
many as 1000 remasters overt the decades including the vast majority of the
huge Chess Records catalogue as well as prestigious Rock catalogues like
Steppenwolf, Three Dog Night, Neil Diamond, Wishbone Ash and The Who (to name
but a few). But his work here is gorgeous – especially on those stunning Stereo
cuts.
The LP is very much a
product of the 60ts R&B times – fast-slow, fast-slow and so on. A fast
belter opens proceedings with the Stereo take of "Tell Mama" putting
hairs on your chest – which is followed by the magnificent ache of "I'd
Rather Go Blind" (Christine McVie would almost make the song her own with
Chicken Shack on Blue Horizon who covered it that year). Etta doesn't
appreciate her jealous lover in "Watch Dog" as she tells us
"...I don't want no man of mine everywhere I go...he's right behind...he's
like the FBI!” You on the other hand will love this groovy shimmy and shake dancer
penned by Don Covay. Time for Ed Townshend's "The Love Of My Man"
where Etta tells us he's the greatest chap in the whole wide world. Shortly
after she’s telling us in uncomfortable sucker-mode that even though 'he beat
on me and he cheat on me' her man's ok really because in private he can be so
sweet (what a guy).
The chipper Lloyd
Webster/Leonard Caston number "The Same Rope" advises that if Etta's
man leaves he maybe using that rope to hang himself when he realises what he's
done (stunning audio on this especially in the rhythm section). She does a
great job with Otis Redding's "Security" and the sexy arrangement she
gives Jimmy Hughes' "Steal Away" is refreshing while still retaining
the brilliance of that wicked original. Etta has a family itch she needs to
scratch in the cautionary "My Mother In Law" where she tells us that
she's "...Sick and tired of your mother...always sticking her nose in my
business...seems like I married her...instead of you..." (oh dear). And on
it goes to her slinky cover of Rosco Gordon's "Just A Little Bit" - a
wicked hip-wiggler bound to put your arteritis out to pasture...
The 10 bonus tracks offer
three Previously Unreleased (18, 19 and 22) while her single-only cover of
Sonny & Cher's "I Got You Babe" is Previously Unreleased on
album. Unfortunately it's easy to hear why her cover of "Misty" was
canned – its jazzy arrangement feels dated, out of place and just doesn’t suit
her. Better is the boogie of "You Took It", the Don Covay dancer
"You Got It" and the chugging Clarence Carter funk of Willie Dixon's
"Fire".
A wicked CD Reissue
currently retailing at just over three quid from certain sellers. "I'm on
fire! I'm hot!" Etta assures us on the funky R&B winner
"Fire"...and I think she’s right...
Titles in the "Blues
Classics: Remastered & Revisited" CD Series are:
(1 and 2 are SUHA GUR
remasters, 3 to 11 are ERICK LABSON - I've reviewed most)
1. Bad News Is Coming -
LUTHER ALLISON
(1972 Gordy LP, 2001 CD
Remaster + Four Previously Unreleased Bonus Tracks) - Universal 440 013 407-2
(Barcode 044001340727)
2. Luther’s Blues - LUTHER
ALLISON
(1974 USA 9-track LP with 3
Previously Unreleased bonuses, 70:28 minutes)
Universal 440 013 409-2
(Barcode 044001340925)
3. Two Steps From The Blues
- BOBBY BLAND
(1961 USA 12-track LP on
Duke with 2 bonuses, 35:12 minutes)
MCA 088 112 516-2 (Barcode
008811251628)
4. The Real Folk Blues/More
Real Folk Blues - JOHN LEE HOOKER
(October 1966 and September
1991 LPs on Chess, 2LPs on 1CD, 79:44 minutes)
MCA/Chess 088 112 821-2
(Barcode 008811282127)
5. The Real Folk Blues/More
Real Folk Blues - HOWLIN' WOLF
(January 1966 on Chess and
January 1967 on Chess, 2LPs on 1CD, 66:45 minutes)
MCA/Chess 088 112 820-2
(Barcode 008811282028)
6. Tell Mama: The Complete
Muscle Shoals Sessions - ETTA JAMES
(January 1968 US 12-Track LP
on Cadet - 13-22 being bonuses, 57:11 minutes)
MCA/Chess 088 112 518-2
(Barcode 008811251826)
7. Live At San Quentin -
B.B. KING
(1990 13-Track Compilation
on MCA, no extras, 64:09 minutes)
MCA America 088 112 517-2
(Barcode 008811251727)
8. At Newport 1960 - MUDDY
WATERS
(1960 US 9-Track LP on Chess
with 10-13 being 4 Mono Studio Tracks from June 1960 as bonus tracks, 44:41
minutes)
MCA/Chess 088 112 515-2
(Barcode 008811251529)
9. Fathers & Sons -
MUDDY WATERS (with Paul Butterfield, Otis Spann, Mike Bloomfield, Donald 'Duck'
Dunn and Buddy Miles)
(Tracks 1-10 and 15-20 is
the August 1969 2LP set on Chess in Full with Tracks 11, 12, 13 being
previously unreleased - and 14 previously unreleased in the USA). (77:38
minutes)
MCA/Chess 088 112 648-2
(Barcode 008811264826)
10. The Real Folk Blues/More
Real Folk Blues - MUDDY WATERS
MCA/Chess 088 112 822-2
(Barcode 008811282226)
11. The Real Folk Blues/More
Real Folk Blues - SONNY BOY WILLIAMSON
(January 1966 and January
1967 LPs on Chess, 2LPs on 1CD, 65:28 minutes)
MCA/Chess 088 112 823-2 (Barcode 008811282325)
MCA/Chess 088 112 823-2 (Barcode 008811282325)
