TopTenREVIEWS presents the music career and reviews of Etta James
Etta James
CAREER SPAN:
Decade
Album Score
# Albums
Ratings and rankings are based on all available critic reviews for each album.
Overall Band Score:
3.0457
Etta James Album Rankings
1
After spending a few years in limbo after scoring her first R&B hits "Dance With Me, Henry" and "Good Rocking Daddy," Etta James returned to the spotlight in 1960 with her first Chess release,At Last.
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2
Simply one of the greatest live blues albums ever captured on tape.
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3
The Essential Etta Jamescomprises 44 tracks summarizing the long and brilliant Chess tenure of "Miss Peaches," Etta James, opening with her 1960 smash "All I Could Do Was Cry," and encompassing her to
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4
Leonard Chessdispatched Etta James to Muscle Shoals in 1967, and the move paid off with one of her best and most soul-searing Cadet albums.
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5
The singer in her precocious formative years, headed by her 1955 R&B smash "Roll With Me Henry" (aka "The Wallflower").
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6
As the title suggests, this is the definitive edition of Etta James'Tell Mamalong-player.
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7
Etta James tore up audiences while at Chess Records in the Sixties.
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8
Originally released on Warners Brothers to scant acclaim in 1978, thisJerry Wexler-produced masterpiece finds James in astounding voice with a batch of great material to apply her massive interpretive
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9
I never thought I'd become the referee in a blues "grudge match".In this corner, claiming the title of "Queen Of The Blues," is Chicago's pride and joy, Koko Taylor.
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10
While several best-ofs from Etta James' Chess period have been available over the years -- with the two-disc, 44-trackEssential Etta Jamesat the top of the list in giving the big picture -- this 20-tr
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11
Etta James is one of the towering figures of the blues, the foremost female blues vocalist of the second half of the 20th century, and the foundation of her legacy is her recordings for Chess Records
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12
How Strong Is a Woman: The Island Sessionscollects the highlights from Etta James's late '80s and early '90s stint at Island Records.
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13
The legendary blues singer indeed lives up to the silly cliché about being able to sing the phone book and make it sound rich, meaningful, and soulful.
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16
The singer in her precocious formative years, headed by her 1955 R&B smash "Roll With Me Henry" (aka "The Wallflower").
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17
Love's Been Rough on Me is a terrific latter-day album from Etta James, capturing her at the peak of her powers.
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20
The concept of this album, a tribute to the great male blues and soul singers that Etta James admires, is an inspired one.
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22
It's a little surprising to realize that after decades of recording, Etta James finally released her first holiday album, 12 Songs of Christmas, at the late date of 1998.
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30
"Got my mojo working, but it just won't work on you," is the first sauntering line Etta James delivers on Blues to the Bone .
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32
Paging Joe Henry! The producer who guided soul-senior-citizen Betty Lavette's achingly triumphant 2005 opus of covers to critical acclaim would have been a fine choice to help this R&B great regain h
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46
At one time, laying claim to the title Queen of the Blues was of paramount importance to powerhouse singers like Koko Taylor and Etta James, because it translated into financial success, if only withi
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49
James was fighting serious substance-abuse problems when this record was recorded, commuting to the sessions from a rehab center. It was a triumph simply to complete the record at all.
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50
Though the album was recorded in Hollywood, Gabriel Mekler's production of one of the great soul singers sounds as though it were made in Muscle Shoals, circa 1966—the sight of great past session
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56
Drawn almost entirely from her Argo/Chess recordings of the '60s (although there are some cuts from the early '70s), Love Songs is a fine selection of romantic music from one of the greatest blues si
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57
It is tempting to report that Etta James 's latest CD, Let's Roll , is a return to form that echoes her best R&B work from the 1950s and '60s, but that isn't exactly true.
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59
The popular Etta James usually performs raunchy single-entendre blues so this surprisingly subtle outing is a real change of pace.
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