Etta James is widely regarded as one of the finest female blues, R&B and soul singers of the modern era, second only in some eyes to Aretha Franklin - Atlantic's Jerry Wexler called her "the greatest of all modern blues singers". After a chequered early life, she was discovered in Los Angeles singing with a vocal group at the age of 16 by Johnny Otis, who signed her to Modern, and she scored an R&B No. 1 in 1955 with her debut recording "The Wallflower (Roll With Me Henry)", a re-working of Hank Ballard's "Work With Me, Annie", following it up with another Top 10 R&B hit "Good Rockin' Daddy". After recording briefly for Modern subsidiary Kent, she signed to the Chess label, and began recording material that combined the intensity of R&B with the accessibility of pop and the Polish of jazz, switching to the Chess sister label Argo in 1960, and hitting the pop and R&B charts with more than fifteen records between 1960 and '62, including Top 5 successes like "All I Could Do Was Cry", "My Dearest Darling", "At Last", "Trust In Me" and "Something's Got A Hold On Me", before aspects of her life began to unravel in subsequent years. This great-value 52-track 2-CD set comprises all her A & B sides during those first important years of her career, plus a bonus album version of "Dance With Me Henry", so it's a comprehensive overview of her early work.
1 The Wallflower (Roll with Me Henry) - Etta James & the Peaches
2 Hold Me Squeeze Me - Etta James & the Peaches
3 Hey Henry
4 Be Mine
5 Good Rockin Daddy
6 Crazy Feeling
7 W-O-M-A-N
8 That's All
9 Number One
10 I'm a Fool
11 Tears of Joy
12 Shortin' Bread Rock
13 Tough Lover
14 Fools We Mortals Be
15 Good Lookin'
16 Then I'll Care
17 Market Place
18 The Pick-Up
19 By the Light of the Silvery Moon
20 Come What May
21 Sunshine of Love
22 Baby, Baby Every Night
23 I Hope You're Satisfied - Betty & Dupree
24 If It Ain't One Thing - Betty & Dupree
25 How Big a Fool
26 If I Can't Have You - Etta James & Harvey Fuqua
- Disc 2 -
1 My Heart Cries - Etta James & Harvey Fuqua
2 Spoonful - Etta James & Harvey Fuqua
3 It's a Crying Shame - Etta James & Harvey Fuqua
4 All I Could Do Was Cry
5 Boy of My Dreams
6 My Dearest Darling
7 Tough Mary
8 At Last
9 I Just Want to Make Love to You
10 Trust in Me
11 Anything to Say You're Mine
12 Fool That I Am
13 Dream
14 Don't Cry, Baby
15 Sunday Kind of Love
16 It's Too Soon to Know
17 Seven Day Fool
18 Something's Got a Hold on Me
19 Waiting for Charlie to Come Home
20 Stop the Wedding
21 Street of Tears
22 Next Door to the Blues
23 Fools Rush in
24 How Do You Speak to An Angel
25 Would It Make Any Difference to You
26 Dance with Me Henry
Etta James is widely regarded as one of the finest female blues, R&B and soul singers of the modern era, second only in some eyes to Aretha Franklin - Atlantic's Jerry Wexler called her "the greatest of all modern blues singers". After a chequered early life, she was discovered in Los Angeles singing with a vocal group at the age of 16 by Johnny Otis, who signed her to Modern, and she scored an R&B No. 1 in 1955 with her debut recording "The Wallflower (Roll With Me Henry)", a re-working of Hank Ballard's "Work With Me, Annie", following it up with another Top 10 R&B hit "Good Rockin' Daddy". After recording briefly for Modern subsidiary Kent, she signed to the Chess label, and began recording material that combined the intensity of R&B with the accessibility of pop and the Polish of jazz, switching to the Chess sister label Argo in 1960, and hitting the pop and R&B charts with more than fifteen records between 1960 and '62, including Top 5 successes like "All I Could Do Was Cry", "My Dearest Darling", "At Last", "Trust In Me" and "Something's Got A Hold On Me", before aspects of her life began to unravel in subsequent years. This great-value 52-track 2-CD set comprises all her A & B sides during those first important years of her career, plus a bonus album version of "Dance With Me Henry", so it's a comprehensive overview of her early work.
